Eastern Washington

[NinetreesMom]

We had our first snow Sat on our farm in the foothills of the Blues. I love the weather, but since it was the only day I could work on my coop, I was NOT amused by the roaring wind. It adds a whole new dimension to hanging wire! I wasn't able to get the inside finished though...looks like my flock gets to hang for another week on the west side. At this rate they will be in the U-haul with the rest of our stuff . Looks like about 2 more weeks, then we do our final move. Excitement!!!

 

[lovinchickypoos]

My poor EEs are going thru a really rough molt! Feel sorry for them with the weather we've been having!

 

[fosterson]

Yeah. I just acquired a flock of 2nd handers (man, I'm a sucker) and they're in my quarantine right now. They're barred somethings and the poor things are nearly naked!

 

[ChaeBird]

We lost our Ruth to something. That's three hens since June we've lost to predation.

 

[Scram85]

Yay for Eastern WA! I am new to chickens and this forum. Just preparing for this spring and trying to research which breeds do well in our extreme temps. I have my husband eagerly awaiting my orders on building a coop. (Yea, he's not really all that excited but he wants to buy some new tools.) Any suggestions on breeds? We were concerned about insulation for the winter as we didn't want to make it smoldering in the summer. Thanks in advance.
Michele

 

[ChaeBird]

Marie's wing was wounded in last night's attack.
We're visiting family in Oklahoma, and our friends are staying at our house to look after the animals. They're doing their best to take care of Ada and Marie. I told them where the Vetricyn is. I don't know what else to do. We're going to be gone for another week.

 

[fosterson]

You might have a chat with the folks at Just Fowling Around in Brewster. They're a local hatchery with 20 or so breeds, several of which are extremely hardy in our semi arid climate.

Personally, I've got a mixed flock and a pretty basic coop and run. I'm using the deep bedding method of litter maintenance and all of them are doing very well so far.

If you want 'exotic', I could recommend Icelandic chickens and Swedish Flower chickens, both of which are pretty well weatherized. Any heavy, well feathered breed is going to do well in our winters, but might have some trouble with our hot summers. Sort of depends, really, on why you want the biddies! Eggs? Meat? Both? Showing? Pets?

 

[PalChick]

So sorry to hear about Ruth, Chae. You've really had some ups and downs this year.

Welcome Scram! I've had so much fun with my girls, and you have a lot to look forward to.
When I was researching housing for my chickens, I realized that protection from heat was going to be a bigger deal than from the cold. I read so much about chickens in winter, and insulation and heat lamps, until my eyes crossed, lol. And then I ran across some threads from long-time chicken-raisers from Fairbanks, AK. Wow, that was an eye-opener for me. They don't add ANY supplemental heat, and just provide draft-free housing and a heated water bowl. If that works in Fairbanks, it will certainly work on the Palouse. They reminded readers that chickens walk around in down coats all year, and other birds such as pheasant, quail and raptors do fine in even extreme weather. And not adding supplemental heat allows chickens to grow appropriate feather protection, naturally.

The summer heat, on the other hand, was a different story. Chickens overheat easily, and it got REALLY hot here this summer. So I worked on protecting them from that. There are great threads on these forums on optimizing ventilation in coops, cool treats, water misting, etc. I used this info as a guide, and have come up with something that has worked well so far for heat and cold. Basically, I have a 10x10 chain link run over which we built a pitched roof that includes 2" R-Max rigid insulation. The sides are wrapped in high quality heavy-duty tarps that can be reconfigured depending on the season. I maximize ventilation in the summer and eliminate drafts in the winter. I'm putting snow walls around the bottom 1/3 of the run, as it's not uncommon to have 3ft. of snow drifting/accumulating in the yard where the coop is located. The snow walls will be sturdier than the tarps against snow drifting against the run. This arrangement has worked very well, being noticeably cooler when hot outside, and draft free in colder/windy weather(taking winter ventilation to minimize moisture accumulation into account). There are 2 smaller wood coops inside, one the girls use for roosting at night, and the other (the one they grew up in as chicks) for nesting. So they are double protected from wind all year and winter cold There's still a lot of room inside run, so if they choose to not range outside in poor weather, they still have enough space and seem quite comfortable. And this arrangement held up very well in the high winds we recently experienced. The girls were definitely protected.

There are many breeds that do well in our climate. I have Barred Plymouth Rocks, Buff Orpingtons and Easter Eggers, and all have done well so far. Though we've had some good cold (including snow!), wet and windy weather, I haven't yet gone through a winter with them. I'm a little concerned about the large wattle/comb on one of my BRs, so will watch her closely when we start to get sustained extreme cold.

This might be way more info than you wanted

but hope it helps.

Have fun!

 

[fosterson]

Welcome Scram! I've had so much fun with my girls, and you have a lot to look forward to.
When I was researching housing for my chickens, I realized that protection from heat was going to be a bigger deal than from the cold. I read so much about chickens in winter, and insulation and heat lamps, until my eyes crossed, lol. And then I ran across some threads from long-time chicken-raisers from Fairbanks, AK. Wow, that was an eye-opener for me. They don't add ANY supplemental heat, and just provide draft-free housing and a heated water bowl. If that works in Fairbanks, it will certainly work on the Palouse. They reminded readers that chickens walk around in down coats all year, and other birds such as pheasant, quail and raptors do fine in even extreme weather. And not adding supplemental heat allows chickens to grow appropriate feather protection, naturally.

The summer heat, on the other hand, was a different story. Chickens overheat easily, and it got REALLY hot here this summer. So I worked on protecting them from that.

I'll second the bit about the heat (since I already mentioned it). Chickens will need LOTS of cool shade come summer -- I grew up in Texas and some summers were brutal on the birds. We always made sure we had a water sprinkler (they were true yard birds and had the run of the property in the daytime) that they could 'play' in and when it was really hot, we'd freeze 4 gallons of water in a 5 gallon cooking oil jug and set it out in the shade. The chickens would lay next to it and wave their wings over themselves ala an air conditioner and fan!

 

[lovinchickypoos]

Welcome Michele!!! Most breeds probably do fine here ( on my phone I can't see where you are) as long as they have draft-free cover. I would go ahead with the insulation but make sure to have ventilation near the roof line. In the cold weather not having ventilation is worse than the cold. You don't want air to flow directly on the birds but you need some airflow to prevent condensation. My coop is an old metal sided shed that was set up for birds when I moved here. We put insulation in the walls but we need to do something better for the roof. In summer I open the two windows (covered in wire). In winter I leave them both open just a crack to allow ammonia to escape. Breeds with smaller combs do better in winter since you don't have to worry about frostbite. But depending on how hot your summer gets be aware that featherfooted breeds don't deal well with the heat. I lost my Cochin this summer when it hit 104 :'(. The Easter Eggers do well with our weather but with my experience with them, they don't lay well in winter. I really like Wyandottes and plan to get more (good winter layers, small combs). Speckled Sussex and Faverolles are also on my list for cold weather eggs, but I've never had them. Unless you mail order or travel it can be hard to get more unusual breeds. It is easy to get Rhode Islands, Leghorns, Barred Rocks, red or black sex-linked, EEs, and sometimes Orpingtons (VERY sweet) here which are all decent birds to have. If you do get some with big combs just put vaseline on the combs when temps dive.
Hope this helps! I've only had them 2 years but they are fun and addictive. This website has been super helpful!