Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[SillyChicken]

We use a plastic dog house out in the bird run with a pan heater that we set the chicken water can on. Dog house provides shelter for the birds.

No heat is provided as that is what their feathers are for. I do have wide boards for their roosts and keep the bedding changed out to keep moisture down. I've had too many close calls with heat lamps. I've never lost a bird to cold, unless there was already something wrong with it.

 

[aart]

So, you have no heat in your coop then? We do have plenty of ventilation but coop is not insulated. Just plywood walls currently. Cord is not visible or reachable to chickens and light has a guard on it. How do you keep your water from freezing with no cords in coop? How do you keep them warm during sub temps?

No heat here either...tho the floor of the shed the coop is in is insulated(was built that way before I bought the property) and I use lots of pine shavings(~6" deep) on the floor in winter for cuddle down napping during cold days.

I use an aquarium heater in an semi-insulated jug with horizontal nipples for water.
Details here.

 

[RaZ]

So, you have no heat in your coop then? We do have plenty of ventilation but coop is not insulated. Just plywood walls currently. Cord is not visible or reachable to chickens and light has a guard on it. How do you keep your water from freezing with no cords in coop? How do you keep them warm during sub temps?

No heat or light here.
If you have either, make certain that the fixtures are triple secured with stout chain (not string, zip ties or bungies). Chickens can jump or fly into the fixture if startled and knock it down. A few fires have already been reported this year that started in coops.

As for me, I keep several waterers in rotation during the day. When one freezes or gets slushy I just bring it in to the house and take out a thawed on. Gives me a chance to keep them clean.

Chickens comes with their own insulation so they do well in the cold. Better than in the heat of Michigan summers in some cases.Provide some kind of wind block in the run for them to gather behind.

And welcome to the thread. We will start talking about Chickenstock 2015 very shortly. Stay tuned.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

No heat here either...tho the floor of the shed the coop is in is insulated(was built that way before I bought the property) and I use lots of pine shavings(~6" deep) on the floor in winter for cuddle down napping during cold days. I use an aquarium heater in an semi-insulated jug with horizontal nipples for water. Details here.

I don't have a heated coop either. We insulated the walls & ceiling. It is raised off the ground about 2 feet on one end & a foot and a half on the other end. My chickens use this as a dust bath area and a place to get out of the wind. The floors can get pretty cold, I use a thick layer of wood shavings to help keep their feet warm. I have their water outside because they were getting too much spilled in the coop. I swear they were taking a bath in the heated dog dish, lol. I am definitely going to look into your coop waterer.

 

[bigmrg74]

I don't have a heated coop either. We insulated the walls & ceiling. It is raised off the ground about 2 feet on one end & a foot and a half on the other end. My chickens use this as a dust bath area and a place to get out of the wind. The floors can get pretty cold, I use a thick layer of wood shavings to help keep their feet warm. I have their water outside because they were getting too much spilled in the coop. I swear they were taking a bath in the heated dog dish, lol. I am definitely going to look into your coop waterer.

Yeah, I was using the heated dog bowl for a while, didn't work out so well as they kept putting straw in it and I needed to clean it and fill it several times a day. Mom didn't think much of that, and got me a heated waterer that works a lot better even though they where still getting straw in the waterer. I then opted to turn a pallet into a table of sorts and put the waterer up on that instead of the bricks I had it on. That has worked out pretty good, other than needing to scrap the poop off of it. Need to remember to get on that the next time its over freezing for a while.



The cheapo tupperwear deal is just where I have the cord in a thermalcube. I thought it might be a good idea to keep the girls from pecking at all of that. I got a bungee cord that keeps that lashed to one of the legs of the table. The coop here is just a tractor that's parked by the garage for the winter to be out of the wind, with some straw bales around the bottom to block wind and some cheap shower curtains around the top to keep wind, rain, and snow off of my 6 girls.

 

[birdman55]

So, you have no heat in your coop then? We do have plenty of ventilation but coop is not insulated. Just plywood walls currently. Cord is not visible or reachable to chickens and light has a guard on it. How do you keep your water from freezing with no cords in coop? How do you keep them warm during sub temps?

got 23 eggs today...its 5 degrees out....BRRRR...happy new years eve everyone...well this weather is no fun to work in building coops....got a 16ft wall built now putting wire on it
as for water not freezing I would recommend this its a thermal bowl and it uses 25 watts and its great...its super cold out here and none of them have frozen they are about 20 bucks on amazon...this is what it looks like for the small 3/4 gallon and the larger one now that I have uses 1.5 gallons great for about 40 chickens....and it doesn't freeze....
this is before I turned my homemade incubator on....there is also a step by step located in the blue below...its the forum I dedicated to my grandfather who recently passed...there are many people on there and a lot of great info...please stop in to say hi and check it out...thanks

some eggs in the fridge

the smaller thermal bowl...its now upgraded to the 1.5 gallon and works great...

hope this helps....I also use a 250watt red bulb and it seems to keep the girls laying...I don't keep the chickens that long either...im in for egg production...the only birds that stay are the ones I want to breed...thanks again....(I keep the birds for a bout a year and half...and keep adding new batches of birds to them so there is a constant supply of eggs no matter what time of year)
I keep the water bowl outside the coop so no added moisture gets in the coops...when the birds want some drink they simply walk outside

 

[thechickenflock]

A Coopers Hawk ate one of my cuckoo marans pullets right outside the pop hole today

it's too bad they are protected

All that remains or her is a million feathers.

Here are some pictures from when he came back for more

 

[RaZ]

Great shot! I know not everyone likes these birds but I think they are beautiful. Even when they have taken a meal from my yard.

 

[Czarben]

Congrats! My wife and I are on day three no smoking. So far the kids are still alive

 

[Trefoil]

Congrats! My wife and I are on day three no smoking. So far the kids are still alive

That's great.