Chickens are sleeping in tree and it's getting COLD!

[werttyy]

I've never had problems with the fact that my chickens like to roost in the pine tree. But I am afraid that it is getting cold (I live in Chicago and we have terrible winters). Any advice? By the way, my coop for the chickens are a bit dafty for the winter and has an entrance that doesn't have a door. If I were to make my chickens sleep in the coop during winter, would it help and how could I make the coop more properly vented and insulated?

 

[Wayne&Kim1963]

you would have to post pictures for me to give advice

 

[7L Farm]

A coop needs to be a place for the birds to feel safe in. Here's my coop's interior design. Once you have an adequate home for your birds my suggestion is to lock them up in the coop for a few weeks so they realize that the coop is their home. After this is accomplished you can let them out & just before dark they will return to roost for the night. At this time,after all birds have returned you will close the door & lock them up .
As far as being to cold . Make sure you keep the wind from blowing on your birds. You can block the wind off with tarps. I don't know what your coop looks like so its hard to answer your question. But the birds need a coop for pr

otection against predators & the weather.

 

[coonhoundmama87]

Our free range birds love to roost outside all summer. Come winter we gather them up at night and close them in the coop for a few days until they figure out to stay in there at night. Through to really cold times in winter I usually close them in anyways for their own good. I have a temporary run I attach so they can come out so long as it's not snowing and blowing.

 

[pawsplus]

Yeah, you have to make the coop welcoming--that means easily accessible, with HIGH perches (b/c birds feel safer up high), no drafts, etc. If it's not welcoming and safe-feeling, they'll go someplace that IS! Just remember that chickens are everyone's prey--safety is VERY big for them.

 

[ChickenMack]

Chickens really don't get cold- as we do, nature provided them the perfect coat but you do have to watch out for frostbite on combs and wattles. So a Chicago winter would stipulate that they have a protected area in which to roost at night and when the weather is really raging. My hen house is not insulated but is draft and leak free and I shut them up at night. I don't live in an area where the winters are as brutal as yours but I have to contend with coyotes, raccoons, mink and other vermin that love chickens, as I live in a rural setting.

Frostbite can be very painful for chickens as their combs and wattles are the areas in which there is a heavy blood supply that acts as a cooling mechanism for the birds.

So, yes, shore up their coop and give them a draft free place to spend the winter. They will thank you for it.