Coop FAIL!!

[Pippin quail]

My hubby got the awnings up at the end of last week! They're on hinges so can be propped open or left down. When all the way down there's still a gap at the bottom, as you can see. I've left that side resting down as it's where the North wind and much of the snow has been blowing from. Still let's in air but it's so much more sheltered.
It was also a huge pain in the butt trying to drill and screw into the metal supports at the top of the coop with big gloves and frozen toes. My husband is just the best.

 

[Windrider]

Way to go! That looks like a perfect solution.

You've got a wonderful hubby to do all that in the freezing weather. We are the opposite here. I was working on some construction around the yard this morning but had to quit because it is almost 90 outside which is hotter than we had all summer in our mild coastal climate!

 

[3KillerBs]

My hubby got the awnings up at the end of last week! They're on hinges so can be propped open or left down. When all the way down there's still a gap at the bottom, as you can see. I've left that side resting down as it's where the North wind and much of the snow has been blowing from. Still let's in air but it's so much more sheltered.
It was also a huge pain in the butt trying to drill and screw into the metal supports at the top of the coop with big gloves and frozen toes. My husband is just the best.

Looks great!

 

[Pippin quail]

Way to go! That looks like a perfect solution.

You've got a wonderful hubby to do all that in the freezing weather. We are the opposite here. I was working on some construction around the yard this morning but had to quit because it is almost 90 outside which is hotter than we had all summer in our mild coastal climate!

I would like to feel bad for you....I know that's hot. But I'm just jealous. I miss summer.

 

[Windrider]

How are you and your chickens doing in the Frozen North? I spoke with my Canadian cousin the other day and thought of you and your worries that you'd have frozen chickens this winter.

 

[Pippin quail]

How are you and your chickens doing in the Frozen North? I spoke with my Canadian cousin the other day and thought of you and your worries that you'd have frozen chickens this winter.

Well this was after the first big snow

This was after shoveling and throwing down some hay. managed to get some straw bales and upgrade things a bit In the process of stacking bales for insulation. That was a hard 3 hours of work all by myself!
And then I also made them a nice area with the bales outside. They're loving it.

Even after it snowed last night I just raked up the straw in the run and the snow mostly fell underneath and the chickens all came back out to play. Currently it's -4 (24°F) and with the windchill says -10 (14°F). Which is not too bad, especially in the sun. So they've been doing well and going out most days unless it's really windy or below -15 or -20 (5 to -4 F) They even had their first night where it was -21 but -31 with the windchill. (-23F) It was definitely warmer in the coop where there was no wind and everyone was fine, though some of them were pretty grumpy.

 

[Windrider]

Looks like you are adapting! That's a lot of work moving all those bales. I used to work at an equestrian center and I know how tough that job is! I was wondering if you'd find that the uninsulated metal walls were too thin when you got to extreme temps, but you figured out a solution.

Chickens look good. Even the rooster looks like he only got maybe a tiny bit of damage on the tips of his comb, but that's a real accomplishment in those temps. They look happy scratching about in all that straw.

Temps here have been 60s during the day, but our soft coastal populace is starting to moan about the cold nights. Got a freeze warning coming up the next couple days for the desert and even coastal we'll be low 40sF. That is rare here and you'd think it was blizzard conditions judging by how people dress!

 

[Pippin quail]

Looks like you are adapting! That's a lot of work moving all those bales. I used to work at an equestrian center and I know how tough that job is! I was wondering if you'd find that the uninsulated metal walls were too thin when you got to extreme temps, but you figured out a solution.

Chickens look good. Even the rooster looks like he only got maybe a tiny bit of damage on the tips of his comb, but that's a real accomplishment in those temps. They look happy scratching about in all that straw.

Temps here have been 60s during the day, but our soft coastal populace is starting to moan about the cold nights. Got a freeze warning coming up the next couple days for the desert and even coastal we'll be low 40sF. That is rare here and you'd think it was blizzard conditions judging by how people dress!

I'm pretty impressed with how well my chickens are doing so far. Some of my cockerels seem to have a small amount of comb damage too, but I don't think there's much I can do to prevent that. And most of those guys are getting butchered this week, so I won't have to worry about too many combs.

The temp is supposed to drop this coming week here to lows of -28 (-18F) overnight. Hopefully the flock does ok! I'm sure it won't be the coldest temps of this year. And my husband reminded me today that there's "only 3 more months of winter"! The chickens that do the best this winter will be the ones I breed in the spring since we're stuck with this miserable climate. Haha.

Low 40s sounds balmy to me! Though I've been bundling up to do chicken chores as usual and end up sweating every morning halfway through... So I'm either working harder than usual, acclimating to the temperatures myself, or the straw bales really make that big of a difference. Or all 3. Haha.

 

[Windrider]

If you have a favorite cockerel or rooster that you are going to keep, maybe this would work for you for you during your coldest temps:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/warm-winter-hats-for-roosters.1435559/

I thought this was a very creative solution. I know the vaselining the combs has been proven to do nothing, but this seemed to work for this BYC member.

Might want to look into Chanteclers, Canada's national chicken breed. I think the partridge variety is stunning.

 

[Pippin quail]

If you have a favorite cockerel or rooster that you are going to keep, maybe this would work for you for you during your coldest temps:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/warm-winter-hats-for-roosters.1435559/

I thought this was a very creative solution. I know the vaselining the combs has been proven to do nothing, but this seemed to work for this BYC member.

Might want to look into Chanteclers, Canada's national chicken breed. I think the partridge variety is stunning.

Hmm that is very interesting. I can't see most of my boys to let me put one on... But might be worth a try.