Basic stuff.
Silver laced & White Wyandots, Jersey Giants, one white rock, partridge rocks and astrolorps (sp), 26 total in an 8x8 coup. I know seems tight, but they are only in the coop at night and they need their body heat to keep things warm. All of them were chosen for winter hardiness.
The only thing we do for winter is let them get cold, and never provide any source of artificial heat. When they were chicks they were outside in two days. No heat lamps, in the grass and rocks off of our deck. it was in the low 50's at night. We didn't leave them out all night because of predators, but they were out there well after dark. We did not lose a single chick to disease. One ended up with a broken neck, but I think the cat may have reached through the chicken wire and tried to play with it. They were full feathered and growing like weeds very quickly.
If we have sustained cold, like last winter (-34 for two to three weeks) we may put a heat lamp on, but we are going to play it by ear. One thing is it is very dry here, generally 20% or less humidity so when I built the coop, the roof and walls have an air space in them to buffer the wind, but the inside walls are sealed off. But the design still provides ventilation via a slot across the top of the inside coop. I tested the ventilation with DE, when sprayed inside the coop, it came billowing out of the roof and walls. Our coop is built inside a 100 year old barn.
Other than that, nothing much. Keep their bellies full and their water clean. They have warm water to drink (not by our standards, but to them it is). Most of the time they will eat snow anyways. God has provided them with everything they need, just as he has done with all of his creations. there are many a ground foul out here that thrive in our harsh conditions, and relative to their living conditions, our chickens have it really good.
