HELP! snow blowing in the COOP

[junior67]

so I am in MA and we are in the middle of a blizzard. My chickens chose to stay inside the coop today but we are having wind gusts of up to 50mph and the snow is blowing in the coop from my peak vents. I have an overhang above it but it isn't stopping it from blowing in. It is covering their roost and even blowing on the floor...... (going to try to find a pic of what my coop looks like so you can see where it is blowing in). I have other vents should I put up plastic over the one above their roost? I don't want to block off any ventilation but I also don't want their roost covered in snow......

 

[junior67]

Still looking. Here is one pic during the build.

 

[junior67]

@aart

 

[aart]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/ventilation-baffling.75434/

 

[CanadaEh]

My chickens chose to stay inside the coop today but we are having wind gusts of up to 50mph and the snow is blowing in the coop from my peak vents.

I don't want to block off any ventilation but I also don't want their roost covered in snow......

Ventilation in below freezing temperatures is overrated. You can close everything you can and there still will be enough giving the wind pressure and not much poop evaporation from the frozen bedding.

 

[junior67]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/ventilation-baffling.75434/

Thanks. Right now all I have is plastic and can't go out to get anything else. We are getting 24-30" of snow right now. Now we know we need to put something outside to block it. Thinking of wood hanging down from the fly rafter. But that doesn't help now. Would plastic be ok for today to block that one vent?

 

[CanadaEh]

Would plastic be ok for today to block that one vent?

plastic by itself may or may not hold over the big vent. You could staple a layer of hardware cloth over the vent permanently for predator protection, than put your plastic than staple either hardware cloth or chicken wire - lightly just for the season, to hold plastic

 

[junior67]

plastic by itself may or may not hold over the big vent. You could staple a layer of hardware cloth over the vent permanently for predator protection, than put your plastic than staple either hardware cloth or chicken wire - lightly just for the season, to hold plastic

It is covered with HWC now. So was just going to put plastic up on the inside to block snow from blowing in.

 

[CanadaEh]

It is covered with HWC now. So was just going to put plastic up on the inside to block snow from blowing in.

yes. staple chicken wire or hardware cloth on top of plastic to hold it in the wind. If you want to close space between rafters, sticking empty feed bags work good for that

 

[junior67]

yes. staple chicken wire or hardware cloth on top of plastic to hold it in the wind. If you want to close space between rafters, sticking empty feed bags work good for that

thanks. my HWC is outside under the snow so hopefully the plastic will work enough to keep it out for the rest of the day. don't think much if any is getting in between the rafters. I think it is my big peak vent that is above their roost. The other one is covered by the run so that should be fine. I just have to figure out how to reach it since I am short but will do the best I can to stop it from blowing in on their roost any way that I can.