Live in a Very Cold Winter area? Post link to your personal page here!

[Mrs MIA]

I've got frost buildup on my vents, and around the window and doors. It's -29F without the wind, but 30 chickens just put off too much moisture. There were a couple of mornings when I went out and opened the door and it was an instant fog-bank in there... left the door open for a little while to let some of the moisture out and unlatched the window (it has to be latched to be tight against the sill) and now it seems to be ok. Everything's frozen in there... solid. But it's warm enough for the girls... above 0F, probably about 15F.

 

[FrontPorchIndiana]

Quote:
You mean it's not supposed to rain sideways?

It always rains and snows sideways out here on the prairie. I can remember going to Colorado once and noticed all the snow neatly falling down and landing on top of the deck railing making a nice thick layer of snow and thinking how cool it was. I'd never seen it like that before. Around here the snow sticks to the sides of the railing. The farm I grew up on is now a wind farm. Huge wind turbines everywhere.

 

[patandchickens]

Those having to limit ventilation b/c of extreme cold temps -- have you thought about whether there is a way to buffer the temp of incoming air. For instance if your coop has a closed-off attic space with metal roofing, that heats up during the day (a max-min thermometer would tell you), it might be possible to run a fan for a little while on sunny days to pull air from the attic space into the coop, where it could passively exhaust (pushed by the fan) thru a cracked window. Or, there are ways of running a flue along the ground for a ways before it enters the coop, to let the incoming air be tempered by ground heat (such as it is).

May not be practical for everyone's setup, but I thought I'd mention it for those for whom it might be useful.

A hairdryer takes care of frosted-closed windows etc pretty quick, btw.

Pat

 

[FrontPorchIndiana]

I guess I should mention that I am pleased as punch with our ventilation. We're zone 5a, but as I mentioned the real issue here is wind chill. We installed a ridge vent all along the roof and eave vents as well. We then insulated the ceiling except for two 2'x2' openings. One in each room. We covered it with mesh so they can't get up there.

I only had one night when it was -30 F and 65 mph wind that I wished I had a way to close the vents. But even then all the chickens did okay. I think that may have been the night one of my Buff Orps and my BR roo got the tiniest little tinge of frostbite on their combs but I'm talking very minor.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Pretty slick!

I keep trying different things... I have the 4" round louvered vents, one up high at opposite ends of the small coop. I just checked them tonight, and I need to take a hairdryer to them. Though I'm extremely happy to say that it got cloudy and our temps have risen to -5F, which is a heat wave after almost 2 weeks of -30F. The coops stay about 30-40° warmer than the outside air, so I was battling that 0°F mark INSIDE the coop. When my single combed rooster finally developed a case of frostbite, we broke down and added a small lamp to each pen. I might actually be able to turn some off tonight, because it's up to 22°F in there!!

First night in weeks that I only put a hat on!!

 

[luvmygirlsinAK]

Quote:
Well, at temperatures such as we have had for the last 2 weeks (_45 F. to _50 F.) and last year _50 F. to _60 F. for 2 1/2 weeks) You can't have any kind of super open ventilation system here. Wish we could, but since I have also seen _80 F. a couple of times in the past, that would really not work up here. We even had the windows wide open for a time, when it was _20 F. to _25 F. but then they freeze in an open position. Thankfully, not much wind in the winter, but still far too cold of temperatures to use such an open ventilation system as that.

Edit: Oops-wrong post!

 

[luvmygirlsinAK]

Quote:
Yeah, a hair dryer every 5 minutes, I guess!!

We're really hoping the dehumidifier will do the trick, we tried to pick it up yesterday, but she wasn't home all day, if she isn't home today, we will just have to put out the money to buy a new one.

Tori-know what you mean about the ice fog enveloping the entire coop when you first walk in to it!!! You can't see anything! It's like walking with fogged up glasses-I'm sure my chickies are saying, what stupid human is braving the cold weather this time!!!

Edited to add: (on the correct post-hah!) An attic that heats up during the day-did you mean in Hawaii?!

 

[LynneP]

It's all about getting creative, I guess. What a first year!
Colorado gets snow that comes down vertically, what a concept.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693-seasonal-concerns


Ours is like this, more expected Sunday.

I'm so pleased with the roofed run, snow boards and snow platform. Otherwise I'd be going crazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy with this odd winter. I like to save a buck like the next person but with what I've learned, I'll never go cheap on winter arrangements.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Yeah, a hair dryer every 5 minutes, I guess!!

No, just a hairdryer whenever you want to open the window, silly

Edited to add: (on the correct post-hah!) An attic that heats up during the day-did you mean in Hawaii?!

No, I mean anywhere that gets any sun. Really. Even if it is only heating up to, say, -20 (when your air temperature is -50) that is still warmer, and gives more of a possibility for ventilation. And gives you a larger % of the year when you *can* ventilate. Same for any other arrangements for warming incoming air.

You don't wanna do it yourself, fine, I'm just tossing the concept out there for those who might be interested.


Pat​

 

[FrontPorchIndiana]

I wish I had a covered run like yours Lynne, but then that would defeat the purpose of being able to rotate using it as a garden. I'm trying to figure out a temporary solution.