Can you assess my coop and if ok for this upcoming cold front?

[yls]

Hi, I have 5 chickens (5 months old.....I had 6 and our rooster, same age, suddenly died this past weekend, so we are down to 5. He was our accidental rooster but we're still very upset over the turn of events, think something with the crop happened, ,etc and don't want to lose any others!) We are in MI and they have been outside since 6 weeks. It has been cold before (it was 15 for the low around Thanksgiving). They are coldweather breeds (Barred Rock, Speckled Sussexes, and Welsummer). We bought our coop at Tractor Supply. It seems watertight. We have several inches of bedding at the bottom. We put up plastic on the run about a month ago when it was starting to get cold, so it would somewhat shelter them if they want to go outside. Winters can be long here and I figure they should go outside even for a little bit. The plastic can be put up (and on warmer sunny days we sometimes lift that up). It doesn't cover the couple of inches at the top. We didn't do the front of the wire door to the pen but are adding that now.
Do we have to do anything else???
I heard about people putting straw bales around the outside of the coop for extra insulation? (Although we are supposed to be getting a lot of snow too.....so if you put plastic over the straw, I would think it would start to mold,etc...if you don't, it will be in the elements and start to deteriorate as well).
Tractor Supply said they have plastic tarps to insulate the outside.....but I keep ready you want it draft free but well ventilated. If you cover up the building too much, then you start to not have good ventilation and won't that cause issues?? Or do you cover 2 sides and leave one open (like the door access)?

I am attaching photos of the coop. The first shows the plastic side coverings on the run.
The others show the front door and the one side. There are some cracks in the frames,etc to allow air flow but I think it's pretty draft free? (BTW we have lots of predators which is why we have such reinforcements;-)

I'm just not sure how to do this properly. As mentioned we just lost one and really don't want to lose any.
We don't have any electricity there (and I don't want to do a heat lamp as I hear they are such fire hazards). We will replace the water twice a day to prevent freezing (using warm water). Anything obvious that we are doing wrong or need to add?
Thank you so much!

 

[DobieLover]

I think you did a good job winterizing the run.
As long as there are no drafts across the roost space, don't worry about the cracks in the coop.
I would not advise using warm water when you replace water. Believe it or not, it will freeze faster (evaporation in the cooling process) and the steam can condense on the birds when they are drinking it and cause frostbite.
Just use cold tap water and replace/check it more frequently.
This is actually the best reason to run electric to your coop in the snow belt region; to be able to have a heated waterer so you don't have to worry about them not having drinking water.
I use this heated based waterer and it works very well.

I keep it in the run up on an old chimney block filled in with pea stone to act as a heat sink for the heated base. Having it elevated prevents wattles from dipping in when the birds drink and helps minimize debris getting kicked into the base from dust bathing.

 

[yls]

I think you did a good job winterizing the run.
As long as there are no drafts across the roost space, don't worry about the cracks in the coop.
I would not advise using warm water when you replace water. Believe it or not, it will freeze faster (evaporation in the cooling process) and the steam can condense on the birds when they are drinking it and cause frostbite.
Just use cold tap water and replace/check it more frequently.
This is actually the best reason to run electric to your coop in the snow belt region; to be able to have a heated waterer so you don't have to worry about them not having drinking water.
I use this heated based waterer and it works very well.
View attachment 3354480
I keep it in the run up on an old chimney block filled in with pea stone to act as a heat sink for the heated base. Having it elevated prevents wattles from dipping in when the birds drink and helps minimize debris getting kicked into the base from dust bathing.

Very interesting about the warm water as I thought I read that on my pet chicken that they did that (and I thought some friends did that....or maybe they even brought out really hot water in containers for warmth? I am vaguely recalling something along those lines, never see them but should ask....as I am not sure what they would store hot water in and now that I am thinking about it based on above maybe that would cause moisture in the coop??)
But our rooster had some mild frostbite..... which with the long waddle I thought that was the issue as it would get wet. I will have to rethink the warm water.

So you don't think I need to do straw bales on the outside or add tarps to the actual outside of the coop?
I am also pondering about the roosting boards as they are high up. Someone thread was saying to maybe have not too high in the coop and will look and see if I should put a board lower down......I would think they would be smart to pick the one that is warmer?? If there is a difference?

 

[yls]

does roosting board across the top (they sleep along that), look ok or too high up? If we put another board down it's quite a bit down......wasn't sure if that is too close to the roof line? They've always been up there but it's supposed to be getting down in single digits.

 

[yls]

 

[yls]

 

[DobieLover]

So you don't think I need to do straw bales on the outside or add tarps to the actual outside of the coop?

No. I don't think you need to put straw bales on the outside or add tarps to the coop.

I would think they would be smart to pick the one that is warmer?? If there is a difference?

Birds instinctively seek out the highest perch. If you want them to roost on the heated perch, put it even with the top perches.
Do the birds poop in the nest boxes when they roost over them? Have you considered adding a sloped top to them to keep the nests clean?

 

[yls]

Thanks!
We don't have a heated perch, I wasn't sure if the top one could have any draft from the roof somehow. I think it is probably ok. We put towels there, my kids want to do fleece too;-

The birds don't seem to roost over the nesting boxes, they like the fat board on the top perch to the left. But good idea about adding a sloped top. They haven't laid eggs yet. I am guessing winter is delaying things as they are 5 months old (and should be laying in winter)