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The purpose is for tick control.
I want the shelter elevated on poles so nothing can get in that can't fly such as racoons, foxes, etc. Will hens have nests anywhere besides on the ground because your right, unless she is very lucky she will have a hard time not becoming dinner if she is setting for weeks? The shelter and feeder can be built but there is no electricity on the property so keeping water unfrozen may be hard. Maybe if I put a water feeder in the shelter their body heat will be enough to keep in liquid? How warm do most coops stay in the winter if no lamps are used?
Thanks for all the comments. I'm not gonna do this unless I think it can be done.
I don't think you'll have any luck getting them to go into the shelter......mine don't even go into any of our barns or the building they were raised in.....they prefer roosting in the trees.
I don't consider what you want to do, not taking care of them. The only time mine even come up looking for feed is when there's snow on the ground......other than that they're content roaming where they want.
Cyn....mine don't get any grain from the cattle since we don't grain our cows at all. They really don't have access to any leftover grain in the field either since any field we grow grain on is over 1/2 mile away. I do see them out in the silage field after it's chopped, but there's not much left out there for them at that point in time. They spend a lot of time in the shelterbelt and where weeds have grown up along the fences.
If you get some don't get light colored ones.....the owls will pluck them out of the trees the first night!
