Can you help me?

[dldavis34]

I have a chicken coop that a gentleman built for me for my hens and on the front side of it, he left it open with chicken wire covering it. Which is good right now but am I going to need to cover it up during the winter so they don't freeze? I was reading a book and it said that they need plenty of sunlight and also ventilation in the coop. If I cover that front side, there won't be much sunlight coming in or ventilation. But I don't' want my chickens to freeze during the winter. I am fairly new at raising chickens so I am unsure. My hens are almost 20 weeks old white rocks if that helps at all. I live in the southwestern corner of Colorado. I think the lowest I have seen the temp get is maybe 10 degrees.

 

[horsejody]

Can you add a run to the front? Then you could put a wall where the wire is with a window and a pop door.

 

[dldavis34]

I have a run for them right in front of the coop.

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

I would be more worried about the chicken wire then the ventilation issue at the moment.

You need to get hardware cloth up ASAP. Preditors go right through chicken wire.

You could make a removable screen type board that you could latch on when it gets colder. I would make sure you still have plenty of ventilation elsewhere.

Could you post a pic so we could see the location of the open area, other windows/vents, and the roost area?