For those who DON'T heat in the winter....

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Drafts are the first thing to be an issue, even when temps are still very much above freezing. Take care of all draftiness first, definitely. (Maintaining closeable ventilation openings up out of the way of the chickens, of course)

Water, as momofdrew so drolly points out, freezes at 32 F, but when this happens IN YOUR COOP depends on things like draftiness and insulation and chicken population and so forth. If your coop doesn't stay rather warmer than the outside air, either it's a real big coop for the # chickens (not necessarily a bad thing of course!) or you're doing something wrong. How *much* above the outside temperature depends very, very much on the construction details of your particular coop, and the chicken population it holds.

Also, you can plug along for a good while with your water tending to freeze, simply by dumping and refilling it regularly, like a coupla times a day if necessary.

In a well built coop you probably don't need heat unless you have an unusually cold-vulnerable breed or live above the arctic circle

Good luck,

Pat

 

[banter]

I staple plastic sheeting and cardboard to seal around our barn doors. We use a ton of straw on the floor and hang a floodlight where they roost. We did great last year, but there was so much snow it helped insulate. Farmer's Almanac is predicting a super cold winter for us here in Maine. I am trying to think of more ways to keep the kids warm. The barn is too big to consider heating it.

 

[1Chick Magnet]

pat i read your info about vents. very helpful. i have an 8x12 shed which currently houses 4 three month birds. i open vents in the day and close at night. the girls are lg breeds that mostly were developed in new england. winter hardy. eventually the coop will house 14. 10 will be silkies. i have 5 windows and 2 vents. so i should pretty much keep the vents open all winter? i have some 4 week old birds in the house. very confused about how to get them outside eventually. all the others are 6 weeks and in the garage till coop is done. we are going to subdivide the coop with a chickenwire wall so the big girls can be on 1 side and the silkies on the other. does anybody know of a thread where there is info about building a water heater. i have a metal waterer and need a heated base or something.

 

[moenmitz]

Quote:
How do I distinguish between a draft and "venting"? Our chickens are in a modified horse barn, and we have been relying on the big gaps around the doors for ventilation this summer (by big, I mean 1-2 ") The pens the chickens are in are hardware cloth, floor to ceiling- pretty predator proof, plus our 6 cats and our Malamute are locked in the barn at night in case anybody sneaks in. Because the gaps are at the bottoms of the doors, would this create a dangerous draft, and should I make an effort to block them? I do have a few windows I could use for ventilation instead, the old kind that drop down at an angle, but it is difficult to control the amount of air coming in there- they are either all open, or all closed pretty much.

We have 38 layers and two roosters that will be wintering in the barn- all heavy breeds that are supposed to be very cold hardy. Floor is shavings on concrete- about 6 inches thick as we use deep litter. I know concrete isn't ideal for that, but we turn them every other day and use DE every few days, and it seems to be working well so far- not alot of odor, and no bugs yet after 4 months.

 

[banter]

I would put on something like a garage door seal on the bottom. We have huge gaps all around the barn doors, but don't use them in winter so we can totally seal them up. We have two other doors we can use which are tight. How about a velcro attached to plastic sheeting strips that can seal the sides? Become a mad inventor!