best ways for keeping chickens warm during winter?

[sunflowerenvy]

first all i would uncover the top of the pen with the plastic sheeting leaving about 1 inch gap for feash air on the human door i would leave a opening about 2 inch of the bottom and cover the rest with plastic. also i would put down hay in pen.

on your coop area i would put plastic on the north west side.
and put hay down under there roster.
for them to roster on i would get a board that is 2x4 with flat side up.
and make a cookie tin heater to put under your water so it does not freeze up. iam going to try a 60 watt light bulb in it to try it out but i am placing the cookie tin heater on cement pad first that will my heather in the coop for my first winter
cookie tin heater by hinkjc
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=107951

i am worry about the snow load on your coop and pen
if you get 1/2 of snow on your coop it will melt due to the sun and at night it will freeze back into ice and the chicken wire n plastic will cave in over time and so you will need a stronger pen roof too.
your coop will not support and weight on it too.
i would make coop doors for your coop and have only one open during the day
good luck
laura

 

[Carrie Lynn]

Cavendish, try not to be overwhelmed. I too hadn't thought enough about winter when I got my chicks in May, so I can relate!
Please remember that more chickens die from the heat than the cold. Over and over I read that excess humidity is the big culprit and something to be avoided. I will use a jigsaw to cut my vents, I imagine that would work well on an established coop.

Do you have more than one roost? I find it strange that your roo doesn't roost at night.

As far as snow load, I will probably find myself on a ladder, in the dark, with a push broom many evenings when I get home from work

Next year I'll make modifications, for right now I just have to finish this coop!!!

 

[Cavendish Chickens]

Aria: click on Uploads at the top of the page, find the picture(s) you want uploaded and right click on Img and copy. Then go back to the post you are making and paste it in. When you submit your post, it will be there.

So what about the chickens being in the snow? Wouldn't the cold snow hurt their little bare feet? If I let the snow go into their run, and they came out of their coop, the snow would be there, and you'd think it would be too cold on their little feet.

DixieDoodle: So true. We humans did raise chickens before we had heated homes. But then... we did have some sort of heat (fireplaces), but nothing for the chickens. I just don't want them to freeze to death.

Chick_In_The_Burbs: I like the heat mat idea. I might try to go that route instead of the heater fan. My roo used it as a baby chick in his brooder box. But it is really tiny, big enough to put with pillow in a pillow case. We don't have the money to buy the ones on that site, but I'm sure we can find some good ones for cheap around town that will work. Thanks for the great idea.

Carrie: Yeah... We put in two roosts. He's just never been a rooster. (No pun intended. lol) He doesn't get up on the chairs we put in the run, doesn't get up on the roosts. He never has. Even as a chick. He just always wanted held, or curled up to sleep in a corner. Still does. I'm sure he will some day. But I'm not going to push him.

ddawn: Gotcha. I was confused. lol We can't walk into our coop, obviously. But the pen we can, and it (the door) has gaps about an inch or so. Would that be good enough? And yet, wouldn't that let in a draft at the same time? We don't close the chickens doors. We leave them open day in and day out. If we closed off the rest of the pen, except the gaps around our door, would that be enough for them so long as we kept not closing their coop doors?

I cleaned the coop today and put about a foot/foot and a half of straw in there for extra warmth. My original heater plan was a space heater, up off ground on bricks, with fenced frame around it so they couldn't knock it down, get burned on it, etc. I was going to put that in the run. But decided against it. Thought it would be better to just heat only the coop. The frame on the top of the pen is basically a 16' x 9 ' rectangle with a 9' board in the center making it two squares. Then there is another 6' or 8' board from front board to center board to hang feeder and waterer from. If you can picture that in your head. Not the best at describing things. lol (I can post pics, tomorrow, if need be. Just let me know.)

Thanks everyone for your advice. I really appreciate all of it. It is really helping me a lot.

 

[TNHobbyFarmer]

This is my first winter also. I'm using a thermostat outlet. It will turn on at 35 and off at 45. I have my heat lamp connected to it above the water. As has been mentioned, the chickens have their own down jacket, so should b fine. I'm just trying to keep my water from freezing. A little extra heat in the coop is bonus.

 

[tanmichaelis]

You probably don't need the plastic sheeting -- it will prevent moisture from escaping. Moisture can cause frostbite.


Ventilation should be from small "windows" (vents), say 4" x 10" at the upper edge of the coop -- at the gable or along the roof line. A draft would be caused by a cross-breeze, while a vent simply allows moisture and excess heat to escape.


The extra straw is good -- they probably don't need a heat source. What they will need is a nice wide roost, so they can sit down on their feet, rather than have their feet wrapped around a dowel -- this way their body heat keeps their feet warm and prevents frostbite. Another frostbite prevention is to coat their combs with vaseline -- this only goes so far, but it does help.


I am still waffling on a small heater like you describe. One thing to keep an eye out for is a means to keep their water from freezing. There are a couple of different water heaters, like heated dog bowls to consider. Eben that little bit ofheat might be enough to bring up the temperature of your coop some.


Jenny

I saw on pintrest that I'm going to try. Hope this helps.