Girls are roosting outside just when it starts getting cold? Help!

[Bantam bell Wood]

That's nowhere near enough ventilation. General rule of thumb is you want 4sqft of coop space, 1ft of roost space, 1-3sqft of ventilation and 10sqft of run space per bird at a bare minimum. Less than that and you're more likely to run into problems

Thank you. I’m going to address the ventilation issue immediately and am in the process of building out the larger run. I’ll have to stick to the coop space for the time being. I hope that with better ventilation and the adequate run space, at least the birds habitat issues will be met. I’ve been fortunate this far that the birds have had enough free ranging each day to get the exercise they need.

I really appreciate the numbers. I math out the 1-3 sq feet of ventilation and get on that pronto.

Thank you.

 

[Bantam bell Wood]

The first snow fell in southern Maine yesterday and when I went to close the coop up, all four girls were sleeping on the roost in the run. I figured it was due to confusion, having never seen snow before, having part of the run wrapped in tarp, etc. I put all four sleeping beauties in the coop and made sure they were all up on the roost.

Tonight, no new snow, but all four girls again are sleeping on the outdoor rooster. No tarp wrap, nothing different except white stuff on the ground outdoors.

I’m worried bc tomorrow afternoon and Friday the temperatures plunge well below zero if there’s even the breath of a breeze.

Any ideas about why this is happening?

Should I just wrap the run and call it the extended winter coop? The roost in the coop is a 1x4.

I don’t have any current pictures of the outside run, but can say that the roost is only 2, maybe 2 1/2 inches wide. I haven’t gotten that modified yet.

Hoping for some shared wisdom and guidance.

Thank you.

 

[Bantam bell Wood]

The first snow fell in southern Maine yesterday and when I went to close the coop up, all four girls were sleeping on the roost in the run. I figured it was due to confusion, having never seen snow before, having part of the run wrapped in tarp, etc. I put all four sleeping beauties in the coop and made sure they were all up on the roost.

Tonight, no new snow, but all four girls again are sleeping on the outdoor rooster. No tarp wrap, nothing different except white stuff on the ground outdoors.

I’m worried bc tomorrow afternoon and Friday the temperatures plunge well below zero if there’s even the breath of a breeze.

Any ideas about why this is happening?

Should I just wrap the run and call it the extended winter coop? The roost in the coop is a 1x4.

I don’t have any current pictures of the outside run, but can say that the roost is only 2, maybe 2 1/2 inches wide. I haven’t gotten that modified yet.

Hoping for some shared wisdom and guidance.

Thank you.

 

[Bantam bell Wood]

The girls decided to get back into their regular routine last night when the temperatures were really plummeting.

Thank goodness!

Thank you for all the sound advice folks. I appreciate the direction.

 

[Bantam bell Wood]

Is the run under/part of the coop the only run you have, or is there an additional larger one? Because if that's what's getting tarped, even partially, I can see that impacting airflow into the coop itself, as there's simply not a lot of air volume in the overall area.

Since I know it's winter it's probably impossible to address right now, but if that's the entirety of your run space, even for four bantams you're likely to run into behavioral issues as they get older. It's simply too tight. Even though bantams are smaller they can be as active as standard sized birds, so I'd still recommend sticking to the minimum of 10 sq ft per bird (or my personal recommendation is to not go smaller than 100 sq ft even with a small flock, both for the birds' well being as well as your ease of maintenance).

In many cases they're designed for chicken, not chickenS. Lack of space (whether floor space or wall space for ventilation) is a big shortcoming of prefabs, unfortunately.

12 sq ft coop (provided that does not include nest space) is probably enough for the birds you have as far as floor space, however you don't have the depth needed to do any form of deep litter (or more properly in this case, deep bedding) in there. Not sure what your clean out schedule is but provided the material is dry and not too soiled or smelly then however you're managing it is working fine.