Chickens now roosting in barn. Worried about weather

[Ejeffas]

My coop has been attacked twice by possums. As a result, none of my crew will roost in it now. They have determined that the barn is their new home.

I'm not that concerned about a mess, etc. The barn was built out of reclaimed wood and is far from weather tight like their coop is. I know my Barred Rock will be fine when it gets cold, but I worry about the bantam crew. They are Old English Game chickens.

Any suggestions on something I can do to maybe enclose some roosts or am I just worrying about nothing?

 

[pdirt]

I see you're in Kentucky. How cold does it get there? I've never been there, but I always thought that being at that latitude, it was a relatively warm place. Not sure on that breed, but OEGH are originally from England, correct? I suspect it is WAY colder in England than in Kentucky, on average.

If that's the case, I'd be more worried about the predator-proofness of your barn. If possums got into your coop, I can't imagine your barn is any better on keeping predators out? A barn is just so much bigger and more potential opportunities for critters to get inside, dig under, crawl through cracks, etc.

Just found this on Wikipedia, does this relate to your experience in Scottsville?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottsville,_Kentucky#Climate
Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Scottsville has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.[12]

 

[Ejeffas]

Last year we had several below zero nights and 12" of snow for a week. I think they feel safer in the barn because of the space. They have more escape routes. I work nights, so I am late opening the coop in the morning. They've been up hours before I have They free range, and aren't too happy when confined to their run for that long. They prefer to be scattering my manure piles in search of bugs which is why I got them.

 

[pdirt]

Last year we had several below zero nights and 12" of snow for a week. I think they feel safer in the barn because of the space. They have more escape routes. I work nights, so I am late opening the coop in the morning. They've been up hours before I have They free range, and aren't too happy when confined to their run for that long. They prefer to be scattering my manure piles in search of bugs which is why I got them.

I don't know much about that breed, but a quick look up said "not feathered for coldest winters". Which I would take to mean as up near the Arctic Circle type of cold cold (-20 to -80F). Most folks I have read about in those climates do have heat available but most don't turn it on until it hits -20F. Up near the Canadian border where we live, we will get the occasional -10F (50 years ago it hit -30F), but we don't use any heat and they have been fine.

If a predator can find a way into your barn, I doubt the chickens would last long. They may have more escape routes, but chickens are not well suited to defend themselves. Perhaps you could build them a new coop inside the barn?

 

[donrae]

I think they'll be fine. I've had a few game hens that chose to roost in trees instead of in the coop and they lived for years that way. Mine didn't even have the shelter of a roof or walls.

 

[Folly's place]

I started with bantams that roosted in my pole barn, and it got very ugly often. Mornings would find body parts and wounded birds from raccoon and possum attacks at night. Birds are helpless when roosting in the dark, and my building was NOT a safe place for them. When we moved everyone to their safe shed- style coop, predator losses at night ended. Mary

 

[chickmomma03]

can you try to find where the opossums are coming in and fix it? If the coop is more weather proof for a cold winter I'd do that.

 

[Ejeffas]

The problem has been that I either close them up in the coop at midnight when I get home and don't let them out until I get up after 9 OR I leave the coop open and every few months a possum or coon finds them.

Going to look at re-doing the door for the run and putting one of the automatic doors on it. That way it at least has a more chickeny time table. At least I won't worry too much about the cooler temps until I get the modification made.

The lone guinea is also roosting in the barn with the chickens now.