Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[uchytil]

Don't insulate (unless you want rodents living in it), make sure you have adequate ventilation. Chickens, as well as all my farm critters only require a shelter, water, and feed. Anything from banties to pigs, goats, horses and cows. The ducks really need the open water buckets to clean their nostrils after eating. Heated chicken waterers and black rubber bowls for everyone else (stomp and refill when frozen). Oh and welcome aboard.

 

[1muttsfan]

No heat. They acclimate well to normal temps, even up here, given protection from drafts and plenty of food. If you supply heat and have a power outage or equipment failure, your birds will not be acclimated to the cold. It also increases fire risk.

Insulation - I have the thin bubble-wrap with foil back, mostly helps in the summer heat. It is covered on the lower walls to keep the chickens from pecking it. Never had mice issues in it, but it is not very appealing to rodents I think.

One south-facing window is at least cracked open at the top all the time.

Pop door is always open unless there is a bad north wind.

Heated water base. Buy a UL listed one, for safety
-If you don't have one, alternate 2 metal waters by swapping them out twice a day, bringing one in to thaw out.
-You can also use a heated pet bowl filled with sand to set your waterer on, but a regular heated base is safer.
-In a pinch, you can allow access to snow, which birds will readily eat for water. As long as they have unlimited access to food they should not have hypothermia issues. Mine eat snow all the time in the winter, even with a waterer.
-If your run is roofed and wrapped completely, consider keeping your waterer out in the run to reduce humidity in the coop, which should lower your risk of frostbite

Get chickens with smaller combs to reduce frostbite risk.

 

[saysfaa]

Curious about your bucket, do you have a pic?
...

I got it at a Salvation Army type store but it was originally meant for chilling wine.

Three quarts is plenty for up to 5 hens. It wouldn't work well for a large flock.

Some of these pictures are from my attempt at insulating a 5 gallon pail to put it in. I was trying to get 24 hours at any likely winter temp so my neighbor only had to come once a day when she was chicken sitting over Christmas that year. I gave up and ran an extension cord for that one week.

Last year, I put a circle of 2" foam board insulation in the bottom of a five gallon pail (on top of scrap wood to get the height right). Then set the insulated bucket through the hole I cut in the lid that goes to the five gallon pail (it is in one of the pictures). The lid was just to keep litter out of the pail - the bucket slides in and out without taking the pail lid off.

It gains some time but not reliably to 24 hours so it isn't much gain. On the other hand, since I had scrap foam board and wood and an extra pail, all it cost was one pail lid and a few minutes.

Edit to add - I also have two buckets - actually 3. One is smaller; it will fit inside my favorite. I like one much better than the others so I am still looking for another one. Lol, I found one thus week, too, at an estate sale. But I didn't buy it. They wanted too much for it.

 

[troyer]

Hosta patch and close-up flowers.

 

[saysfaa]

..
Installing that extra hydrant, the only way!
Mary

Especially when you have a garden over there too! And are planning to live there for a long time.

 

[Dreamzchaser]

All that was mentioned are he best. I bought the 100 mil plastic off of Amazon and it was pretty pricey. But holds all winter. I have my coo next to the house so I invested on a few construction extension cord and cracked open back of pantry window to feed into coop and run. Also have 2 dog house heaters that run all winter. And 2 porcelain plates at each end of the roosting bar. It does keeps it all about 10 degrees hotter that actual temp from outside.
They have holes all over trying to dig themselves to China. But I get a few straw bales and we all exercise. I rake towards the wall and they bring it all back in scratching around. Keeps everyone busy for sure. I change their feed to 22% in the winter from the 17% on the summer. They do venture out in the snow to eat it while I collect the eggs but they get back inside quickly they have automated doors so they wake up with light and go out to their run to eat. I have to redo the roof but finances are holding that one up some. Snow is not a problem but when it melts it leaks in many places. I got the clear vinyl panels and they have cracked. I need to replace it by the colored ones.i want to make it bigger but it's taking a long time to start.
Yes Mrs Mary, we need to do a party before winter for sure.

 

[Sally PB]

look for clear shower curtains.

Mine have lasted 4 winters. The only reason I'm replacing them is that I got new ones on sale at Aldi's. I attach them with zipties. Total cost is under $30.

I also have some extra pieces of polycarbonate left over from the roof I put on the run. That stuff was NOT cheap, but it'll last for decades if I take care of it.

Pop door is always open unless there is a bad north wind.

Same here. I close the people door at about 15 degrees. The pop door when we get to single digits...

In a pinch, you can allow access to snow,

... and then I give them a container of snow. I don't have water in the coop. On really cold (5 degrees or colder), I have the pop door open for a couple hours midday for access to the water bowl outside. Sometimes they will venture out; sometimes not.

The water bowl is a heated dog bowl; I have a construction/exterior grade extension cord that runs through the garage wall to the run.

Yes Mrs Mary, we need to do a party before winter for sure.

Absolutely!

 

[Chickin Fairy]

I wanted to wait until after the craziness of the holiday to chime in on wintering.

I do not have heat to the coop, we have our power go out occasionally and I don't want them to rely on heat. Instead, I use the deep litter method for their bedding inside the coop. Deep litter will actually warm the coop a little bit in the winter. I start building my "winter bedding" around August. I clean it all out in the spring and put it in my compost pile to add to my garden in the fall as well. I use pine shavings for litter and add a few handfuls of Coop Refresh every time I add litter. I add litter when it starts to smell like ammonia at the litter level.

I have a large window on the south side of my coop and I cover most of that with plastic when it starts dipping into the 30s. I have ventilation on the north side of my coop and I'm looking at getting a small solar exhaust fan for the top north wall of the coop, as well (to aid ventilation).

I don't keep food or water in my coop, especially in winter. I learned the hard way that if my larger waddled girls dip their faces in a cup of water in the winter, they'll get frostbite, so I put a bowl of snow in, instead.

I switch my waterer in the winter, but I haven't been thrilled with what I've found, so I'm going to switch to a nipple waterer in the winter with a heating base underneath. I run a heavy duty extension cord out to the run and keep it plugged in. The ones I have found will only turn on at certain temps. I have the waterer sitting up on top of a plant stand (in the summer, it hangs).

I purchased a heavy duty plastic tarp for more permanent wraps for the run last fall. Loved them! They were easy to clean and have grommets along them for easy put up. I wrap nearly my whole run. I also purchased straw bales to block the wind at the end of my run.

Feel free to ask any questions! Chickens are really hardy in the winter! I worry more about heat in the summer, but I was also worried about winter my first year.

Links below:

How to Deep Litter (don't use coop recooperate, tho, it has essential oils which are typically not recommended for chickens, but the other info is good): https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.getstronganimals.com/amp/deep-litter-method-for-chicken-coops

Example of a chicken water heater (I don't like mine because it has a soft base that has caved in, so I need a new one): https://a.co/d/0fJdrdUR

These are my tarps to block wind: https://a.co/d/02CrO75e

Coop refresh (I add a couple handfuls when I add bedding): https://a.co/d/04yvAZ8Y

These are the nipples I'm looking at for the waterer: https://a.co/d/0eDpnfSy

Here are the stands I use for my waterer: https://a.co/d/0brrIepG

 

[ChevalierNoir]

Wow! You all are awesome, I appreciate the insights!!

As an aside, none of my neighbors clamed the chicken in my post earlier and now she's sleeping on my screened-in porch. Until I have a coop ready, I made her a little nesting box out of cardboard and will build a small roost so she's not just sleeping on the shelf out there.

 

[1muttsfan]

She is a pretty little thing. How lucky for her that you have taken her in.