Hope this works

[Crow-ded house]

I live in NE Oklahoma and there are times we have bitter cold wind chills. I have four coops with it’s own run. The oldest chickens and guineas always go in their coop at night no matter the time of year. Ringo and his ladies go in their coop at night. The problem is I have a single rooster that sleeps in the run and only went in his little man cave just to throw the bedding out. There are two more roosters in their own area that go in and out of their man cave all day but at night roost outside. In the last run are two roosters and eight girls. We finally forced one roo and five girls inside the coop tonight and hope they and everyone else gets the idea. Their runs are covered with tarp and dlm in the run so it is dry but we wonder if they continue to sleep outside then if we put pladtic all around the outside of the runs with maybe plywood over that to block the wind would they be ok? With the exception of the older ones that sleep inside, everyone is almost 9 mths or older. Our temps can get down to -15 with the wind chill factored in but only for a few nights at a time. We have different breeds. I am not as worried about them in winter as much as I am during our extremly humid and hot muggy summers. They seem to suffer more in July and August. I bought dog bowls at the dollar store so that in the morning we can put out bowls with water then bring in the bowl that was in the run all night to defeost then take that one out at lunchtime with water and bring in the morning bowl for defrosting then exchange them again late afternoon. I refuse to have electricity out there for safety reasons so they will have plenty of water. Plus we give them pumpkins and cranberries for treats.

 

[LRH97]

Your climate sounds a lot like mine here in Southern IL. I agree with you too, that the heat is far more stressful on them than the cold. At least it seems to be for me. With some repetition of putting them inside at night, they should get the idea. If they are fed inside, they may even get it on their own. My latest new additions would sleep out in a clump in the chicken yard. After about a week of putting them in, they've now graduated to sleeping in a clump in the coop. I'm going to let them figure roosting out by themselves by watching the others.

As for sleeping out in the run, it probably wouldn't be a big issue if it's secure from predators and they can get out of that wind and any harsh elements if it got blustery. You'd also probably need to really watch for frostbite as well. Plywood and plastic would make good windbreaks. But, like I said, you may be able to save yourself some work if you try and put them to bed each night!

 

[Crow-ded house]

Lol it took 30 mins to get 5 in there!! I tried feeding inside but all but three did not eat. Some of mine are not so smart. But at least like you said the wind would be off them and the run is dry even after all this rain.

 

[mixedbreeds]

I have a lot of wind so I did what you were talking about clear plastic all around the run plus plywood all the way around 4 feet high with about 4 inches open at the top. It’s pretty nice in there in the winter stops all the wind and blowing snow. I had a couple of dummy’s that roost out there also.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I do believe you have a great idea with the plastic is there one side getting hit more than other maybe plywood I do not think you would lack ventilation

 

[Crow-ded house]

We built the new coops/runs up near the shop to help block out the north winds so we thought wrapping plastic and then nailing plywood over that it would be like a giant coop for them. If no wind chills then the temps would stay around20-35 degrees. They would have plenty of food and we have a plan for rotating water dishes and with the dlm in the runs they should be ok.