Cover Coop on cold nights?

[tyk1989]

HI!

First winter with chickens - I have my chickens in the Gambrel Roof Coop from MyPetChicken, Their run and the run under it is covered in green house plastic as a windblock this winter. Its supposed to drop down to the single digits this weekend at night - should I put a blanket or something over the coop to help insulate it at night? Does anyone else do something like this? Thanks!

 

[aart]

HI!

First winter with chickens - I have my chickens in the Gambrel Roof Coop from MyPetChicken, Their run and the run under it is covered in green house plastic as a windblock this winter. Its supposed to drop down to the single digits this weekend at night - should I put a blanket or something over the coop to help insulate it at night? Does anyone else do something like this? Thanks!

No....not a good idea.
Ventilation is much more important than insulation.
Chickens have down coats on, all the insulation they need.

Pics of your coop and run might help garner some improvements.

 

[LizzzyJo]

No blanket - and probably no plastic wrap either. How is your ventilation? I googled your coop. Can you give us the dimensions of the henhouse and run? Do you have 6 chickens in there as they suggest, because the pics do not look like it is big enough for 6.

https://www.mypetchicken.com/catalo...oof-Chicken-Coop-5-6-chickens-Blue-p3114.aspx

 

[tyk1989]

Ventilation is good, when I wrapped the run, I did not make it air tight, there's a gap above the door and all around the top so lots of airflow. the sides aren't perfectly air tight either, the plastic is more of a wind block then making it air tight.

On the Coop I just wrapped the "run" portion under top. The structure has a vent in it, the chickens enter through a hole on the bottom that doesn't shut, and the doors are not air tight, so I know lots of air gets through there.

There are 6 birds in there right now. I think I'm going to upgrade this spring, when the birds get bigger I'm afraid they won't all fit. For right now, when I check on them at night they use 1 of the 2 roosting bars, and sometimes everyone is up on it and sometimes just a few are. The roosting bar they aren't using is in front of the doors on the front, I think the gaps in it are letting too much wind through from them to be comfortable.

The run is 6x8, they are in that most of the day, the floor is wood chips and then I add fresh pine shavings and diatomaceous earth every other week or so to help soak anything up and keep bugs at bay. They also have access to a dust bath inside.

There's a little area outside that I put them in on nice days, they were free ranging daily but then a hawk moved in and almost got one.

 

[jreardon1918]

No to covering your coop. The cold in our area has not been a problem for our girls. It looks like the coop could use more not less ventilation.

If anything, I would remove some of the plastic near the top of your run. We are your neighbors to the north. Near Gillette Stadium. Our run is far more open and we leave the windows open 24x7x365 in the coop. We will on really bad storms temporarily block some of the completely open side of the run. But just during a storm.

 

[RoosterML]

Hello neighbor, as others have said don’t cover your coop, dry and out of the wind is what they need. It’s gonna get down to the single digits this week/weekend

 

[aart]

There are 6 birds in there right now. I think I'm going to upgrade this spring, when the birds get bigger I'm afraid they won't all fit

They probably barely fit now.
The hole in the floor makes the coop even smaller.

 

[CHlCKEN]

No....not a good idea.
Ventilation is much more important than insulation.
Chickens have down coats on, all the insulation they need.

Pics of your coop and run might help garner some improvements.

X2! NEVER seal the coop for heat. It’s is more important that their coop can air out and has ventilation. They don’t need the extra warmth anyway, they’re built to withstand cold temperatures and you should not seal up the coop!