Thanks everyone for all the info. I've been stalking the site when I have time (last couple days have been crazy w/work and kids' activities). You guys are very, very active! I love all the pics of your chickens!
I found a great looking coop for a reasonable price on craigslist! I'm really excited about it!
Question that I haven't found a consistent answer to....In the winter, do I need to put some sort of heating lamp in the coop, or are the chickens okay as long as I get "cold weather" chickens? I'm just wondering if the coop has to be close to the house for that purpose, or if I can put it further out in the yard (which is what I would like).
TIA!
Bummer-- they had taken the coop post down before I had a chance to see it.
This part is purely in jest:
You may have noticed that some of us on this thread have pet chickens that we anthropomorphize as though they're our babies. Others on this thread, like
bradselig for example, have issues forming bonds as they hatch eggs and hatch more eggs and subsequently rid themselves of undesirables. Others, like
Too Fast for example, lack the ability to empathize when their chickens' knees are knocking as they shiver in the freezing cold while their feet turn black. : - )
This is really how I winterize the coop:
Since I have a disorder in which I view my chickens as humans, I used two heat lamps over the winter, depending on the temps. I used the standard clip light fixtures with aluminum reflectors and attached them to beams in the sleeping/laying box area. HOWEVER I wrapped wire around all sections of the fixture that could potentially come apart and wrapped all the wire around the beams. I made sure the fixtures were in safe positions and ran the plugs out a section of hardware cloth where I cut a notch out. Our coop is bolted to the garage and an outlet is right inside. There is plenty of ventilation, and the hens had the option of moving close or away from the heat. I used a ceramic heat emitter bulb that we had from our former bearded dragon. It was nice because it produced heat, but not light. The other fixture held a red heat lamp. I remember seeing a link on here about colored lights, but I forgot to write it down. I also wrapped some winterizing sheets of plastic over many areas to keep wind out, but I had plenty of open areas for ventilation. Plus, since I have a small flock, I keep the coop clean daily.
SUMMER
From what I've read, summer heat is more dangerous for chickens that winter cold. Our first summer with chickens was last summer's heatwave and drought. For warmer temps like they've been lately, I've used two small clip-on fans that attach on the outside top of the coop where they blow into the sleeping/laying box area, and I sometimes use a large metal fan that sits on the ground outside of the coop. During the severe weather last summer, we set up a large market umbrella on a stand right next to the coop. We clipped a misting line around the umbrella and to a nearby tree. Having a fan blowing upward near the misters cooled the entire area. Every afternoon I set out some cold watermelon slices for them (and I put paper umbrellas around their water bowl-- kidding). I did set out extra water bowls during the day besides having their fountain thingy in the coop.
Note: Last summer we had to order a mister online because they were sold out everywhere locally. The one we ended up with wasn't the greatest, so we recently bought at new one while it was available. Misty Mate 32' system $35 at Sam's Club.
