Michigan

[M.sue]

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Happy and safe travels to you! You are so blessed to still have your father, enjoy every minute with him even if the weather isn't so great!!

 

[fifelakelooper]

M.sue :

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Happy and safe travels to you! You are so blessed to still have your father, enjoy every minute with him even if the weather isn't so great!!

I agree! thank you very much.

 

[Olive Hill]

One thing you need to think about when you are winterizing is the sustainability of whatever measures you take -- no, I'm not talking about global warming and the green movement, I'm talking about what you, yourself can sustain for the chickens. If you're heating your coop -- even if "just a little" -- can you sustain that heat if the power goes out? Or will your chickens be in for a shock to their systems when the temp suddenly drops from 33* to -20* in the middle of January? If you're covering your run and a blizzard blows through in February and rips that covering to shreds will you have the wherewithal to be out there in the ice and below freezing weather to fix it or will your chickens suddenly go from having a clean 20* run to a -20* snow and ice covered run?

Given the opportunity to adjust as the season changes chickens can easily handle the winters we have here in Michigan with nothing more than basic shelter, food and water. But if you take a chicken, don't let them adjust because you've been heating the coop, keeping the run covered, etc and then BAM! drop them into below zero temps because of some unforeseen circumstance that's when you can run into problems.

 

[uchytil]

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Nicely said! The only change I make is some extra straw!

 

[chikkaboomboom]

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Nicely said! The only change I make is some extra straw!

 

[Jenerva]

Good morning all and thank you for the warm welcome. I can't believe we're talking about winterizing already, but am thankful because I have learned more in the last two posts than in all my reading!

 

[NovaAman]

Ok, so this is what I should do then...

1) Only the natural light that comes thru the coop window,

2) Use straw for the floor,

3) Have an open air run that I keep shoveled/snow blowed and a big bag of scratch so they find stuff to eat while they are out and digging... The reason I wanted to do a covered one is this, Turkeys... We have lots and lots, usually 2-3 different groups that come thru the yards all winter while snow is on the ground that come for the corn I put for them... Yes, I snow blow paths for them and clear an area for them to be able to dig down and get the corn I throw.... I don't really want them harrassing my chickens... So, Maybe I better build a surrounded run...

Great... the covered triangle was going to be easier... LOL

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

NovaAman, maybe consider a hoop house run. I do cover mine in winter. We were lucky enough to have a friend give us a bunch of greenhouse plastic and it worked well to cover the run in the winter. We tied it down, weighed the rope with cinder blocks and we had no problems with the wind blowing it off. Check out the link in my siggy and you can see pics of it. I love that the snow would just slide off. I do not heat my coop but I do have a homemade heated waterer.

 

[RaZ]

I'm gonna

the next person who talks about winter!

J/K, there is a lot of good info here and I need to get busy and organize my garage for the "w" word. I want the birds to be in a part of it because my garage is insulated. I just have to seperate them from the work shop.

I have to call a guy about picking up a dozen or so bales of hay and straw. Where did I leave the phone number?

The Sweet PDZ website was a good link. I started using it in the litter box. Good to know that it can be used directly on an "accident" that might happen. My 11-year old Samoyed lost control the other night. Poor dog was so embarrassed.

Better get busy with some chores and enjoy this great SUMMER weather.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Wow, I didn't know that you could use that in the litter box. I am going to get some now. I have two very large totes in the bathroom for litterboxes since my cat is too big for the standard type of litterbox.