Looking for ideas for winterizing coop

[amythyst myst]

Could you share with me ideas for Winterizing a 3ft by 5 ft coop?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Vosify]

For me as long as the coop is wind/breeze proof. But has ventilation they should be fine. I'm in canada with nasty cold weather. And my chickens do just fine. The run does get tarped so the snow drifts stay out.

As for heat lamps. I never use one. I find the humidity gets to high in the coop and their cones get wet which then freeze (depending how bad your winters are. We get -40 here) I water twice a day and do not use a plug in heated bowl. Just my preference. For winter they get rubber bowls so they don't break when they freeze.

A layer of straw bedding is good so they don't freeze their feet when walking around and not roosted to sleep.

Another downside to heat lamps in your coop through winter is that the chickens dont properly acclimate to the weather. So if for whatever reason your power goes out. Your poor chickens may not take that so well. (We have tons of power outages here, but we live in the middle of nowhere)

 

[mtngirl35]

I have large windows at roost level that I cover in clear plastic for the winter and I leave the upper windows under the eaves open for ventilation. I don't have electricity to my coop so I change the waterer before and after work and don't use a heat lamp. I do put a lot of extra shavings in the coop during winter. We have pretty mild winters here though. January is usually the worst month for dropping below freezing. I am a bit worried this time around though because a couple of my girls are going thru a hard molt and are missing feathers. I'm hoping they grow back in soon or I may have to come up with a different game plan. They usually like the cold but they usually have all their feathers, too.

 

[Vosify]

I have large windows at roost level that I cover in clear plastic for the winter and I leave the upper windows under the eaves open for ventilation. I don't have electricity to my coop so I change the waterer before and after work and don't use a heat lamp. I do put a lot of extra shavings in the coop during winter. We have pretty mild winters here though. January is usually the worst month for dropping below freezing. I am a bit worried this time around though because a couple of my girls are going thru a hard molt and are missing feathers. I'm hoping they grow back in soon or I may have to come up with a different game plan. They usually like the cold but they usually have all their feathers, too.

Your doing it right wish our winters were like that! We go WAY below freezing. With snowbanks over night that go over our vehicles. Though the chickens don't seem to care. Since they will still go outside.