Looking for Winter Advice- What do you wish you had known

[Mrs MIA]

We sometimes use a 60-100w bulb on a timer for extra light. A draft free coop is a must, with proper ventilation. Just enough heat to keep things at 34-35°F is all you need. We keep a heat lamp trained on the waterer, and it keeps the water from freezing and keeps the coop just above freezing. Let the chickens adjust to the cooling temps, and they'll do fine. The deep litter method really does keep them a little warmer... the composting in addition to insulating from the cold ground helps. 2x4's with the wide side up so they can sit on their feet to prevent frostbite, and if you have single-comb birds, a little vaseline rubbed onto their combs will help keep them free of frostbite. Throw out a little bit of corn just before bed, and keep an area of their run free from snow and you should be good to go.

 

[swampducks]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

2x4's with the wide side up so they can sit on their feet to prevent frostbite,

My husband had put tree limbs in our coop and a couple of days ago he noticed that their feet are huge. He said "maybe I should put some 2 x 4's in there, wide side up?"

YES!! I didn't have to tell him his perches were a bit too narrow and make him think he was wrong originally.

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
My husband had put tree limbs in our coop and a couple of days ago he noticed that their feet are huge. He said "maybe I should put some 2 x 4's in there, wide side up?"

YES!! I didn't have to tell him his perches were a bit too narrow and make him think he was wrong originally.

I can understand that . My husband made a huge trellis made with 2x4's as their roost and it is 12 wide X 8 ft. high . and they love it .

 

[Mrs MIA]

I had large closet-dowling in there at first, but the 2x4s are SO much easier for them to walk on and perch on.

Specifically in cold climates. It might not make much difference in areas that never see frost.

 

[Alaskan]

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Just really think about snow dump from the roof. You need the coop to shed snow away from the people door, the human door and the run (if that is possible).

Snow dump in the run can make the fence too short.

A covered run area can be a great run around space in winter time.

And water, I HATE messing with water in the winter. Water that splashes on you then freezes up.

If you could back the coop up against one wall of your house, it could share the house heat and you might be able to rig up an automatic frost free waterer.

There are several people that say they just put boiling water in a tub in the morning, or break the ice just twice a day and there is so problem.

SO NOT ME! Our giant horse trough gets iced over, you break the ice chunks up (in the process getting splashed and very wet and cold), toss the ice chunks on the ground (and no, they don't usually melt), and do it again the next morning. Then finally the ice gets so thick we can't break it, so we move the horses up to the barn.

If I have that kind of problem with a giant water trough, I think a little chicken waterer will be a solid ice cube. So I am going to use heated waterers this winter.

 

[Jamie]

Thanks to everyone for your perspectives!

It seems we'll be getting a water heater and I'll get around to replacing our dowels with 2x4's once the weather cools down a bit. It's good to know I really shouldn't worry about the heat and will save on electricity. Here in Southern Maine(5 miles from the coast), I think Jan/Feb are the only two months we'll have to watch out for freeze. Call me an oil baron, lol, but a little light and a water heater sounds better than vaseline and hauling water.

Quote:
ozark hen,
I did a bit of research last night. I couldn't find anything relating the two. BUT, I did learn a bit. Artificial, extended lighting would require 'forced molting',(it's a quick and dirty month long light reduction to McMolt them real quick) or else you can mess up the birds cycle. The problem seems to be that forced molting is the bad part(edit*can kill a few of 'em), as is any stress put on the birds. Seems much better to go natural and hope I don't get the cholesterol shakes

from a lack of eggs this winter. Perhaps I can just increase my butter intake.

Internal laying seems to be a genetic error or lack of calcium, and is complicated when birds are under stress? So therefore the two wouldn't be completely seperate, but not necessarily a cause and result.

Info I found on forced molting was here under Layer Management:
http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/exthome.htm

Thanks again for everyone's ideas thus far.

 

[Alaskan]

Quote:

 

[wishin4chicken]

Alaskan -- Thanks for the recommendations re snow and water supply. I've been disappointed having to wait until next spring to get our coop going but after being on the forum for a while, I'm really glad we have the time.

I think water has been the biggest issue for me. I did haul 5-gallon pails of hot water the first couple of years we had horses. It didn't work. Most of the time we ended up with huge chunks of ice that didn't melt until spring and broken pails. Heated water tanks were definitely the way to go and having electricity in the coop will have to be a must.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions.

 

[ams3651]

I have a draft / ventilation question. In my shed the ventilation is in the eves, where roof and wall meet. The roof overhangs maybe a foot at that point. I havent had any water come in. Each opening is about 3 or 4 inches high by about 8 inches long. the roost is right below that about 2 feet off the floor. I dont think ventilation is a big problem because the coop is 1/2 the shed but is that going to be a draft problem. The exterior wall is insulated and the interior dividing wall will have some type of insulation before Im done. This shed also has an aluminum roof, I was thinking of making a ceiling above the coop portion and putting straw above. Any thoughts.

 

[vermontgal]

This is a useful thread, particularly from those in WI, MI, MN, ID, ME, and other actually cold places. As my profile indicates, I'm a new egg. I already bought a heated waterer, the three gallon plastic one with thermostat-controlled heater in the base. I hope it works well. It was about $45 locally (I like to shop locally, and I have a super local feedstore) but I saw it for just less than $40 online. I bought it locally anyhow.

1) Does anyone have experience using a remote-sensor max-min thermometer in the coop. It may be -20 F outside, but what temperature is OK inside the coop?

As winter comes on, my thought is to use the max-min thermometer to monitor the temps and see how much warmer the coop is than the outside temp.

2) I have a 14 Watt seedling mat. Any thoughts about whether this would be useful with chickens?

3) I am not sure if I am going to use extra light for the chickens, or not. It seems to me like there might be a middle ground between the actual Vermont length of daylight (<8 hours in the winter) and the egg-laying 15 hours. If I do use a light, I am thinking about LED lighting. Any experience? How much light do chickens need? For example, if you used a 20 watt incandescent bulb, would that be enough?

Thanks for advice, and all the contributions to this thread!