First winter storm & lessons learned

[YourChickHasAPastyButt]

I don't know how big your coop is, but I've been very glad to have made mine so huge because of a few tropical storms, the ice storms here last winter, and the DRIVING rain that came ahead of this cold snap for us.

You're right. Some wind and precipitation combinations just cannot be kept out completely. But if the coop is big enough you still have a dry area out of the wind's reach.

Been rethinking how to handle winter going forward. I can block off the east and west louvered vents (and long lower louvered one on the front from the inside).

I am thinking about adding a detachable deflector with east/west louvered direction cuts that will angle in under the north facing eve. That way it won't lose ventilation and redirect the airflow from the winds out the sides. Hoping this will be the solution. The run is on the north end.

 

[catballou]

The arctic cold & wind has arrived in Iowa. Temps well below 0F, windchill in the -40F, winds gusting 50 mph and several inches of snow. Checked the birds this a.m. to find snow had blown in through ventilation on west side. Birds had all retreated to east side of coop. East side was dry but some birds did have snow on them.
Moved birds to the (unfinished) coop inside the barn. Laid down fresh, dry bedding and straw. Filled up food dishes and got water going. Threw a heat lamp in one corner just in case anybody needed it. Everybody appears to be moving around. May be a little frostbite here and there. Will monitor and plan to keep in the barn coop til spring. Should be able to finish it up today and get the doors on so its secure for night time.
Kind of a scare but I think the birds will be fine. Its a darn good thing we had the barn coop started, which was actually just going to be an add on. It may now serve as their winter coop. We also know now we have to cover ventilation in snow/high winds. I think furnace filters will do the trick. Heres pics of the 4-5 foot drift in front of the coop. Should have put up snow fence. Another lesson learned.
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So glad your chickens were ok. And I love the furnace filter idea!
I'm going to put them inside my coop and my new whole house generator because snow blew in there and shorted it out.

 

[catballou]

That is a great idea about garden cloth. It’s a bonus to find second life for things.

That's a great idea too! Furnace filters, garden cloth!

 

[catballou]

The arctic cold & wind has arrived in Iowa. Temps well below 0F, windchill in the -40F, winds gusting 50 mph and several inches of snow. Checked the birds this a.m. to find snow had blown in through ventilation on west side. Birds had all retreated to east side of coop. East side was dry but some birds did have snow on them.
Moved birds to the (unfinished) coop inside the barn. Laid down fresh, dry bedding and straw. Filled up food dishes and got water going. Threw a heat lamp in one corner just in case anybody needed it. Everybody appears to be moving around. May be a little frostbite here and there. Will monitor and plan to keep in the barn coop til spring. Should be able to finish it up today and get the doors on so its secure for night time.
Kind of a scare but I think the birds will be fine. Its a darn good thing we had the barn coop started, which was actually just going to be an add on. It may now serve as their winter coop. We also know now we have to cover ventilation in snow/high winds. I think furnace filters will do the trick. Heres pics of the 4-5 foot drift in front of the coop. Should have put up snow fence. Another lesson learned.
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View attachment 3356831View attachment 3356839

You have a pretty big coop there, it looks like.i would think that in a windy storm like that one was, you could shut off all outside ventilation for a time. They'd get air from the other side of the coop which looks like it attached to a bigger building. My coop is inside my barn with a 4'×7' door to the outside. I completely sealed that door off but also sealed off 95% of air flow inside the barn. It may be overkill, but it was a whole 12° in their coop in the morning. No frostbite and they all seemed normal and were dry as a bone.

 

[Wolf River]

When l built my new coop earlier this fall l waited till it got dark out and turned the lights on inside. I walked around the building with a caulk gun. Anyplace l saw light peeking through got a good dose of latex caulk. Never saw a snowflake inside. I put plastic in place over the vents with tape and can peel back the plastic to allow more ventilation as needed. Im up in Wisconsin here and went through the same as alot of you did this past week.

 

[Chickeeaholic]

When l built my new coop earlier this fall l waited till it got dark out and turned the lights on inside. I walked around the building with a caulk gun. Anyplace l saw light peeking through got a good dose of latex caulk. Never saw a snowflake inside. I put plastic in place over the vents with tape and can peel back the plastic to allow more ventilation as needed. Im up in Wisconsin here and went through the same as alot of you did this past week.

That is a great idea using the light to see cracks!
You had it rough where you live from what I saw. You must have done a great job.

I spent the beautiful 50 degree and sunny day putting clear tuftex all around the run and insulating the coop. 1” foam board in the walls with underlayment board over that. My soffits are completely open at top with 1/2” weird wire over them. I didn’t get snow in them. They face opposite the wind. They just caused a lot of cold air to pour in. Maybe I should build something to be able to close that off too?

I’m hoping that is enough ventilation with the windows closed because that is all there is now. The only place snow came in was the gap around the door. I had to add door jambs. I meant to have them in place to begin with. That’s what I get for only doing a 1/2 job on the door

 

[Melissa67137]

We all learned something through this first winter storm. It all hit here in Kansas also. My car showed -8 that morning at 9:45am, I have no idea the wind-chill for sure but it sucked!!! I had to drive to 2 doctor appointments in that yuck!!!

The snow squalls ripped the plastic shower curtains wrapped around the run to shreds. I shut the chickens in their coop just for the warmth until I could get more plastic to put up. Wouldn't ya know all the farm stores were sold out except in a very back corner I found one 24' x 4' roll of 4mm totally clear plastic for $25......I grabbed it because I was desperate to give the girls more wind block. I left the shredded shower curtains up and since zip ties literally froze and cracked instantly I used bungee straps to secure the new plastic over the lower 4' of the run. It is actually working quite well. The bungee cords have tiny holes poked in the plastic but then holds the plastic down tight between ends so it couldn't flap in the wind.

I have no way to keep my girls in the house so to help keep them warm I took some of their layer crumbles and soaked it in hot water from the tea kettle......they loved it I was also glad that the day before the storm hit I was able to get the very last heated dog water bowl and had run an extension cord to the run just for that.

I was pleasantly surprised that my pallet coop I made over the summer didn't let any snow in....where I had calked the gaps on the outside before painting did the trick......though some snow of course got in the run. The girls the next day would walk around and stand shifting from foot to foot to keep at least one foot warm.

Worst cold we have had in years....was even worse than 2 yrs ago when all my water and sewer lines froze. Only saving grace for water lines this year is I had just bought foam board insulation to go behind my mobile home skirting, it just hadn't been installed yet, so I had propped it up against the house covered in tarps right where the water lines are.....I had to go out twice in the middle of the night in that snow storm to weight it down better.....but thanks to it my lines didn't freeze and bust. It was while dealing with weighting it down that I found the run plastic shredded.

 

[YourChickHasAPastyButt]

I can say this in the aftermath... This storm was unique across a very large area of the country. On my job I have been doing for over 20 years as a telecom tech, we have found equipment enclosures completely packed with fine snow from this storm. I really don't think the coop needs a redesign at this point. It was a once in a generation event (I hope). I can't stress enough how bad these winds pushed very fine snow into enclosures on my job that had almost no pathway for it to get inside. This was an anomoly. I'll be vigilant going forward and I have ideas if my design is bad, but the light dusting in my coop compared to many places where we have equipment were filled to the brim with fine snow has me thinking my coop actually did better than most of our equipment enclosures. If this comes again, I will have to relocate the birds into safety. Short of sealing off the coop and running the risk of them dealing higher ammonia levels, there was nothing that really could have been done.

 

[msteffa]

We moved from Idaho to sc this summer, with 10 birds in the back of my car. In Idaho during the winter, I used a 12’ x 12’ barn stall split in half with sewn together hunters blankets dividing. One side was “heated” with four heat lamps for nesting boxes…stayed at least 40 during the worst sub zero temps. “Cold” side had a heated lamp at their roosting bar, water, and food. Entire stall was coated with reflective blankets above pecking level and old comforters all around. Honestly this winter is the first they have experienced consistent freezing temps in SC in their store bought coops. But they stay warm in those boxes as well without the Idaho drama.

 

[Chickeeaholic]

I can say this in the aftermath... This storm was unique across a very large area of the country. On my job I have been doing for over 20 years as a telecom tech, we have found equipment enclosures completely packed with fine snow from this storm. I really don't think the coop needs a redesign at this point. It was a once in a generation event (I hope). I can't stress enough how bad these winds pushed very fine snow into enclosures on my job that had almost no pathway for it to get inside. This was an anomoly. I'll be vigilant going forward and I have ideas if my design is bad, but the light dusting in my coop compared to many places where we have equipment were filled to the brim with fine snow has me thinking my coop actually did better than most of our equipment enclosures. If this comes again, I will have to relocate the birds into safety. Short of sealing off the coop and running the risk of them dealing higher ammonia levels, there was nothing that really could have been done.

I hope you are right and this was an anomaly. We have been having extreme weather where I am. Last winter it got bad Jan-March. It’s either freezing or burning hot and it floods all of the time. I had to dig a French drain around the coop for the tons of rain we’ve been getting.