Millefleur3
Hatching
- Dec 7, 2020
- 1
- 0
- 1
My daughter has a very smart Mille Fleur pet chicken that is going on three years old.
She is pretty good at keeping herself safe from predators (she makes a beeline every morning from the coop to the porch, where she loudly calls for my daughter and the latter feeds her treats) and from tugs of other chickens (While other chickens are squishing each other at the door in the morning when they hear me come, she is patiently waiting on the perch/roost, and last one to come out of the coop
But as the time goes by, I’m getting worried about cold winters. We are in New England. I found couple of chickens dead in the morning in winter over past 4 years. There will be a lot of tears when she dies. She is really a special one.
Right now we house 30 chickens in a large non insulated coop. It is not feasible to insulate it, it’s a a coop built by previous owners.
I thought of some possible arrangements to keep her alive as long as possible (below) , but I would really appreciate ideas and thoughts.
I can possibly get her a small insulated and heated coop. She can share it with another bantam or two.
I can also buy an aluminium greenhouse frame, and put it against the coop. All chickens can spend their winter there or outside as they please, and maybe scratch some compost. The idea is being at least they can be warm during the day, and be Less stressful for their bodies.
I‘d appreciate your ideas!
She is pretty good at keeping herself safe from predators (she makes a beeline every morning from the coop to the porch, where she loudly calls for my daughter and the latter feeds her treats) and from tugs of other chickens (While other chickens are squishing each other at the door in the morning when they hear me come, she is patiently waiting on the perch/roost, and last one to come out of the coop
But as the time goes by, I’m getting worried about cold winters. We are in New England. I found couple of chickens dead in the morning in winter over past 4 years. There will be a lot of tears when she dies. She is really a special one.
Right now we house 30 chickens in a large non insulated coop. It is not feasible to insulate it, it’s a a coop built by previous owners.
I thought of some possible arrangements to keep her alive as long as possible (below) , but I would really appreciate ideas and thoughts.
I can possibly get her a small insulated and heated coop. She can share it with another bantam or two.
I can also buy an aluminium greenhouse frame, and put it against the coop. All chickens can spend their winter there or outside as they please, and maybe scratch some compost. The idea is being at least they can be warm during the day, and be Less stressful for their bodies.
I‘d appreciate your ideas!
and welcome to BYC! I'm sorry I don't really have an answer to your question. I live in SE MO and our winters are not terribly extreme. I have a question for you, though. Apparently your chicken has survived a couple of winters already. Why do you feel you need to do anything different for her this year? Has something changed?
