Cold col, what is too cold

[Rooster Rules]

Its -8f, windchill-20, and it is 30 inside coop, water is still not frozen, nice and dry inside. I have a 600 watt oil rad hater on low, and a brooder heat light over the water area, humidity is 50%. Birds all seem happy, being little Bantams, might be happier thanif it were 0 inside, with water not frozen, this takes the edge off for them...

 

[Gifa]

It's down to 24 degrees and still falling out there today. 30mph winds out of the Northwest, gusts up to 45mph and snow.


The solar powered Pullet Shut Door opens at 7... Sunrise is at 7:34. When I swung the door to the coop open this morning at 7:50 to clean it, the thermometer I keep in there read 32 degrees, and I already had two of the three eggs I am expecting to get today waiting for me.



I bring the water in at night... and set it out for them first thing in the morning... they're up on their roost all night, not using it... so, there's no need to keep it out there, and because it spends the night at room temperature when it's only 20-30 degrees outside, it takes all day for it to get cold enough to freeze, at which point, it's time to bring it in again for the night and let it warm back up... easy peasy. I imagine if it were in the teens or lower all day I'd run out there and top it off with a pitcher's worth of hot water around noon...

They aren't all huddled together or puffed out like a peep in a microwave... Not even my Leghorn... so, they don't look uncomfortable to me.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

It's down to 24 degrees and still falling out there today. 30mph winds out of the Northwest, gusts up to 45mph and snow.


The solar powered Pullet Shut Door opens at 7... Sunrise is at 7:34. When I swung the door to the coop open this morning at 7:50 to clean it, the thermometer I keep in there read 32 degrees, and I already had two of the three eggs I am expecting to get today waiting for me.



I bring the water in at night... and set it out for them first thing in the morning... they're up on their roost all night, not using it... so, there's no need to keep it out there, and because it spends the night at room temperature when it's only 20-30 degrees outside, it takes all day for it to get cold enough to freeze, at which point, it's time to bring it in again for the night and let it warm back up... easy peasy. I imagine if it were in the teens or lower all day I'd run out there and top it off with a pitcher's worth of hot water around noon...

They aren't all huddled together or puffed out like a peep in a microwave... Not even my Leghorn... so, they don't look uncomfortable to me.

I love your chicken coop! I love what you did for roosts too

 

[Gifa]

I love your chicken coop! I love what you did for roosts too

Thanks! Those are just for playing around on outside... I like to hang veggies at various levels for them around those...and they like to sit up there in the late afternoon when the sun is out. I also have a hanging basket on that end of the run that they like to occasionally use for laying eggs in if for some reason they don't feel like using one of the two nest boxes in the coop.

Their roost they use at night looks like this:

 

[MsChickenMomma]

That's even cooler! My chicken coop is very plain. I use 2x4 boards laying sideways so it's as long as their feet, and then I have 10 nest boxes and their water and feed. I free range my hens so they aren't inside during the day much so they don't really need much space.

 

[Gifa]

That's even cooler! My chicken coop is very plain. I use 2x4 boards laying sideways so it's as long as their feet, and then I have 10 nest boxes and their water and feed. I free range my hens so they aren't inside during the day much so they don't really need much space.

Yeah, because I'm in town, the ordinance forbids free ranging... so I thought to include some of nature's amenities (like tree branches) in their living space. This branch is basically 3.5 inches in diameter, which is like having a the flat side of a board to sit on, except it's a tree limb, which I think pleases my leghorn.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

Well your coop is full of neat ideas! What do you use for bedding by the way?

 

[Gifa]

Well your coop is full of neat ideas! What do you use for bedding by the way?

That's hardwood fuel pellets that I soaked with water in a wheel barrow to crumble them into finer particles and sifted through 1/4" hardware cloth and dried before putting in the coop, and a quarter of a bag of Stall Dry mixed in (what was leftover in the bag after filling the dustpan).

The dust bath pan up front is just straight up stall dry. They don't really like to use it as much as they like using the clean sawdust, so I'm nixing the dust pan idea it in March, the next time I change out the bedding.

I spend 5 minutes in the morning scooping that little line-o-doo under the roost. 99% of the poo is collected and composted, the other 1% falls through the scoop with the clean sawdust.



Pros:
$4-5 bucks a bag, and tax free in my state...
Only needs to be changed out every 4-5 months.
Keeps things clean and dry
helps insulate the floor of the coop
not overly dusty
easy to maintain
smells nice
composts very well.
Pellet form is suitable for use in nest boxes (if your girls like it).

Cons:
Takes a couple-few days to break down and dry before it can be used as bedding.

 

[MsChickenMomma]

That sounds like it would make really nice bedding! I just use fine shavings for my coop.