CityslickerHomestead
Crowing
I’ve too have been a big worrywart with wondering how cold my seven chickens will be and if they’ll survive, but the other day we got down to 4F (-21F with windchill) and they hid in the coop all day. The wind was blowing like mad, and I was only home to check on them morning and night, but they huddled on the roosting bars and fluffed themselves up. My EE and Polish were shivering more than the Welsummers, GL Wyandotte, and RIH, but they all seemed ok. No evidence of frost damage.
I don’t put food or water inside their coop because of moisture and rodent concerns, so I tried to get them to come out, but the wind was too much for them. The wind Filled the coop floor with snow because it kept blowing in from the pop door and vents. Just for that bad night, I blocked the worst-offending vents so nothing would get blown in. No matter how I fight it, the wind blows the nearly microscopic snowflakes everywhere. I’ve used tarp, plastic construction sheet wrap, and particle boards to block the wind and create a sheltered run, but the wind wins every time. So far. But I’m not done fighting.
My coop is 4’x6’ (I know it’s small, I’ll rectify it as soon as I can.) and the actual coop space is 3’x5’ with 12 square feet of ventilation above their heads. The coop is too small for the DLM so I am installing a poop board this weekend.
I keep a thermometer/hygrometer in their coop and outside their coop to compare. It is always 2-4F warmer inside than outside, and the humidity is always lower inside than out.
Last winter my coworker’s neighbor had a coop fire and all but one chicken burned alive. That’s a horrible death I wouldn’t wish on any living creature. They used heat lamps but I don’t know how the heat lamp specifically caused the fire.
I plan on adding styrofoam board insulation above their roosting bars for heat retention that can be removed when the weather is nicer. Which in my state won’t be until middle to end of May.
I don’t put food or water inside their coop because of moisture and rodent concerns, so I tried to get them to come out, but the wind was too much for them. The wind Filled the coop floor with snow because it kept blowing in from the pop door and vents. Just for that bad night, I blocked the worst-offending vents so nothing would get blown in. No matter how I fight it, the wind blows the nearly microscopic snowflakes everywhere. I’ve used tarp, plastic construction sheet wrap, and particle boards to block the wind and create a sheltered run, but the wind wins every time. So far. But I’m not done fighting.
My coop is 4’x6’ (I know it’s small, I’ll rectify it as soon as I can.) and the actual coop space is 3’x5’ with 12 square feet of ventilation above their heads. The coop is too small for the DLM so I am installing a poop board this weekend.
I keep a thermometer/hygrometer in their coop and outside their coop to compare. It is always 2-4F warmer inside than outside, and the humidity is always lower inside than out.
Last winter my coworker’s neighbor had a coop fire and all but one chicken burned alive. That’s a horrible death I wouldn’t wish on any living creature. They used heat lamps but I don’t know how the heat lamp specifically caused the fire.
I plan on adding styrofoam board insulation above their roosting bars for heat retention that can be removed when the weather is nicer. Which in my state won’t be until middle to end of May.
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