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

[Sally8]

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

I am so glad I ran into your post. My coop started out looking like the taller half of yours. Somehow my chicken count went from 9 to 25 , not counting 3 turkeys. So now winter is coming with no room for staying inside. We could easily remodel, adding another room, so to speak. Hope you don't mind that I borrow your idea.
I live closer to the south western part of New York. It's not uncommon for winter temps to be below 0 in the daytime. I do use a heat lamp, trying to help keep the water thawed but that doesn't work always. I have plans to insulate the coop and I'd forgotten about tar paper. I could use that also. No worries about it being too air tight! Lol
The run is 42 ft square, I've covered the back and side of the coop with a tarp to protect from the sun and should help with the snow. I'm still brainstorming. (All summer we spent with my mother, who became very ill and has been recently diagnosed with cancer). Spending time with her is very important to me.
I'll keep my nosed poked in here to see if I can find other ideas that will make my life easier. Oh, one thing I had forgotten to do was to be sure that there was room to store the feed and scratch in the coop. I carry buckets of water quite a distance but now found room for the feed. Thanks. Sue

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Don't forget the sun. Water often melts off the roof in the sun, even in cold temps. Provide a black water bowl for it to collect into and it will help chickens get through some of those cold snaps. Rubber buckets are also easier to knock ice out of, and tend to hold sun heat longer. They will also eat snow for water, but of course you can't depend on that for sustained hydration. I'm so glad I don't live in Alaska..

 

[off-grid hen]

I have a coop like JackE's in the picture, but not as pretty.

I close the top and side windows, but leave the front open. That's how I winterize.

For the run, I give a good rake-out scraping the top couple of inches of dirt. Then I throw some sand mixed with wood ashes down in the run. I throw some more sand on top of that, so it is a little deeper than before I started.

I have some plastic shallow bins used for storing things like wrapping paper- that store under the bed. In these I put some fresh dirt mixed with a little wood ashes for dustbathing in the winter. I cover it to keep the weather out, and store it under the coop. I get it out every day when the weather says "clear skies". If it's a long stretch of wet/snowy weather, I put one bin in the coop. I'd put both, but they're heavy.

When it gets so cold that the water starts freezing during the day while I'm at work, I break out the heated pet bowl.

 

[juststruttin]

Winter is coming! And for those of us further north, there are things to consider : Light or no light, insulate or not, defrosting water, battening down runs, extra bedding etc....

As for me, I live in Boise, ID where even winter temps are fairly mild. Usually doesn't get below 15-20F at night so I am opting not to light or insulate. I want my girls to take their natural time off of laying in the winter and relax. I am planning to tarp my entire 10X20 foot dog run against the chickens bain....DRAFTS but I want my girls to build up a natural coat of feathers and fat against the cold. I have 5 hens and 2 Indian Runner ducks. Some of the hens have larger wattles and a friend of mine recommended vaseline. I plan on keeping the coop ventilated and moisture free so hoping that won't be an issue. I want to hear your thoughts and ideas!!!

I tried tarping last year and it didn't work very well. We live in a wind tunnel and the tarps' eye rings ripped out pretty quickly. We then decided to staple the tarp to the 2x4's and then stapled a 1x1 on top of that and then tacked the whole thin down. This worked well and the tarp stayed in place Make sure you slant the tarp so the water can run off otherwise you will be building a swimming pool above you run and it will eventually give. I leaned that lesson the hard way.

 

[blondiebee181]

I tried tarping last year and it didn't work very well. We live in a wind tunnel and the tarps' eye rings ripped out pretty quickly. We then decided to staple the tarp to the 2x4's and then stapled a 1x1 on top of that and then tacked the whole thin down. This worked well and the tarp stayed in place Make sure you slant the tarp so the water can run off otherwise you will be building a swimming pool above you run and it will eventually give. I leaned that lesson the hard way.

Oh yeah....my run is already peaked in the middle so I think I'll be good. Yeah Boise thankfully isn't too bad wind-wise but I am going to lace the tarp to the run fence and reinforce it with bungee cords. Thanks for the tip!

 

[SuzanneW]

We do nothing with our chicken hut as it is already winterproof so to speak. We have experienced some awful wintery weather in the past and as soon as I enter their pen, I feel the warmth and they certainly seem happy enough. The only difference is feeding them more - especially in snowy season and feeding them inside; food gets all soggy outside! Last winter, we had eggs throughout the winter and that was with no artificial lighting.

 

[blondiebee181]

We do nothing with our chicken hut as it is already winterproof so to speak. We have experienced some awful wintery weather in the past and as soon as I enter their pen, I feel the warmth and they certainly seem happy enough. The only difference is feeding them more - especially in snowy season and feeding them inside; food gets all soggy outside! Last winter, we had eggs throughout the winter and that was with no artificial lighting.

I hear that a lot of folks hens lay through the winter....hope mine do for a while! They are first year layers.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Mine laid well through the winter, they also started brooding in Feb so we had chicks in march during snowstorms. They were fine, but it was a mild winter compared to the two before that. Hope its mild this year too.

 

[Sally8]

Mine laid well through the winter, they also started brooding in Feb so we had chicks in march during snowstorms. They were fine, but it was a mild winter compared to the two before that. Hope its mild this year too.

mine also laid all winter. I have a dim bulb in the coop, not for the chickens but because I want to be able to see in the coop from the house. Just now when I was outside, they were all roosting with their heads hanging, looking like little zombies.

 

[monkahi]

how do you keep them from flying out of the kennel?