Alright y'all, I want to hear how you are all winterizing your coops!!

[kapie9969]

My chickens are in a green house with no heat.Ive been considering heat of some sort to keep the plants alive,im not to worried about the chickens though.Ive also considered a light on a timer to increase the hours of light.I would like to see a few eggs during the winter.My bantams werent bought for egg production,so im gonna see if i can get a few leghorn chicks and see if they well make it through the winter for spring eggs.
I try to visit my buddys twice a day,so ill bring them fresh bottles each morning that arent frozen.I have also read that a good idea was some corn late in the day,something about it as a heat product.This was an article i read somewhere about what helped keep chickens alive in really cold times.Kinda like having a belly full of good food to help you stay well,not get sick n weakly.

 

[7L Farm]

If I know its gonna be a cold night right before the birds go to roost I'll throw some scratch on the ground. It fills their crop up fast & helps them get through the cold night ahead of them. Kinda, like a bear does before they hibernate for winter. You will notice birds fluffing up & snuggling up to her flock mate on cold nights. They can generate a lot of needed heat for one & another. They suffer atleast where I live much more in the summer than the winter.My chickens are much easier for me to care for in the winter than the summer. Their born with a down jacket for a reason. I just block the cold wind from blowing on them. Don't totally seal the coop this will cause fost bite. They need to breath the fresh air. I would not use heat lamps for fear of coop catching on fire.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

IMO heat source for anything except mean subzero, and even then I wouldn't want to, would be a mistake. It would be too much of an adjustment to go outside...an what if there's a power failure? Let them adjust normally to the change in season and climate and they'll be fine. Just keep an eye on them for signs of distress, just cause you're cold doesn't mean they are, right? Mine seem to like the colder weather best.

 

[blondiebee181]

IMO heat source for anything except mean subzero, and even then I wouldn't want to, would be a mistake. It would be too much of an adjustment to go outside...an what if there's a power failure? Let them adjust normally to the change in season and climate and they'll be fine. Just keep an eye on them for signs of distress, just cause you're cold doesn't mean they are, right? Mine seem to like the colder weather best.

X2 on this. Also, yeah it doesn't super bother me that they want to sleep on the roof, but I still have 2 that sleep in the coop and I wante everyone together making the most of their heat. It's a scrawny Leghorn that sleeps in the coop and a fat old SLW who sleeps on the floor of the coop so I don't want poor Daisy (the Leg) to get cold! LOL. I have been stuffing the 3 usurpers back in the coop at about 8 30 or 9 because sometimes I work and am not around to see them all fly up there....sigh...and they poop all over the roof which I also don't preffer. Maybe I'll try putting something slick up there...

 

[DaisyFields]

Great info here everyone thanks! So - I've learned that they can go outside in the winter, I don't necessarily need to heat their coop (which is in a closed in pasture in my case), I need to keep their water from freezing, and some vaseline on hand for frostbite prevention...am I missing anything else critical?

Also - in addition to the coop in the pasture, I have nesting boxes and roosts on the wall in a horse stall, which half of them seem to prefer over the coop in the yard. I shut the door to this at night and some sleep in there, while others sleep in the coop. The stall is obviously bigger than the coop, so should I worry about enclosing that a bit more for winter? It's a 5-stall horse barn that stays pretty warm (only get an occasional thin layer of ice on any unheated buckets) and there are also 3 horses and 2 goats inside with the chickens. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Maybe they sllep on the coop because its too warm or too many chickens inside? How big is it? As long as they aren't in a direct breeze or the wind I think a stall would be fine. I've heard frostbite is caused more by moisture from their breath freezing when theres no ventilation...and just generally damp conditions, if they get cold they snuggle up next to their buddies then...lucky chicken in the middle , huh.

 

[kapie9969]

I once read an article where they talked about chicken houses with wire walls on one side left open all winter.The article seemed more concearned about fresh air preventing sickness.Id say if you have them somewhere that they have shelter from a direct wind it would be good.Ill close two windows but leave my screen door open enough fpr fresh air,i imagine the cool winter temps are a relief for chickens.

 

[JackE]

I read that article, below is the coop built from it.
Jack

 

[DaisyFields]

Wow that gives me a great idea...the stall has bars halfway down on one wall looking into the aisle, but maybe I should get my husband to do a "screen door" top piece for the Dutch door that goes outside to their pasture? That way I could just close the wire half if it's not really bad outside and they'd get the natural light. Right now both the top and bottom of the Dutch door are solid, so I could keep the solid one to shut over the wire one when it's really nasty outside.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Fresh air poultry...Norton press. It's a good read. I have a full moniter style and cut a large window into the south side. It has shutters but I haven't closed it and probably won't since rain doesn't seem to enter in. I do have to provide a better wind break on the north side and that's it. It stayed pretty cool this summer,and no rank odor. Fresh air is better for them. I like to look at coops for ideas, but all those airtight ones make me cringe for the poor chickens stuck in there.