New coop completed. Should we do anything to the run?

[K0k0shka]

Beautiful coop! I agree that it needs more ventilation though. Ventilation is more important than insulation (and if you have as much ventilation as they need, it will more or less negate the effect of the insulation and even out the temperature inside vs. outside, which is fine because they need to be dry and out of the elements, not warm - they keep themselves warm with their insulating down coats). So cut a lot more ventilation out at the top, and protect it from blowing snow with awnings or something along those lines. That's what I ended up doing - check out my thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/vent-protection-from-blowing-snow.1507449/#post-25288221

I'm a big fan of wind breaks in the run myself, because I live in one of the windiest cities of the country and winds can be brutal here, especially in the winter, and especially when coupled with precipitation. Wind is more dangerous to chickens than temperature, because they rely on the force field of their insulating feathers to stay warm, and they only work if they can maintain an unbroken surface that keeps the insulating air trapped underneath to keep them warm. Wind hard enough to ruffle their feathers break this bubble and lets the warm air out of their fluff, negating the insulating effect of the feathers, so the chickens can't keep themselves warm and may refuse to go out in the run. If given the chance, they always prefer to be outside than inside, but if the conditions outside are bad enough, they'll be forced to stay in, which is not ideal (more pooping in a smaller space makes the coop dirtier, not having a lot of room to move around leads to bullying and behavioral issues, etc.) So I would suggest giving them wind breaks so they can spend more time outside even in bad weather. What I've done in my run is two of the sides are permanently covered by faux ivy (to hide ugly stuff on the other side, and to provide a nicer backdrop for pictures but it doubles as a wind break as well), and then the other two sides I cover up with clear polycarbonate panels in the winter. You can use clear shower curtains or painter's plastic, but I find those to be annoying to put up and take down, they rip easily, they flap too much in the wind even if tied down well, and are overall a pain in the butt. But they do work if you can't afford the solid panels. If you can, they are awesome though! They let you see in and let the chickens see out, they let light in, they don't flap or bang in the wind, and they stop both the wind and the precipitation from blowing across over the chickens directly. Even on really windy, nasty days, it feels really nice and quiet in the run - I like to sit in there with the chickens, and the panels give it a bit of a greenhouse effect, too, which is nice on those cold days. The chickens are out and about on days where they would be staying in if it weren't for the panels! The top of my run isn't covered everywhere, so they still get plenty of ventilation (so don't seal it completely), but they have enough of a protected area where they can hang out in the winter (and winter here is more than half the year).

As for water, no, they don't need water 24/7. Unlike people, animals in nature don't have access to water 24/7, unless they happen to live in or immediately next to a body of water. They'll know of a water source and go there to drink, then go back to their day. Domesticated animals are privileged to always have water at the ready, but they don't need it literally 24/7, especially at night when they sleep. Chickens don't eat or drink at night anyway, they can't see in the dark and just hang out on their roost until daybreak. You can consider adding water to the coop if you don't have an automatic door, or if you let them out manually but can't get to them in the morning, and they'll be stuck in the coop for an extended period of time. You can teach them to use a nipple waterer - that will prevent spillage or evaporation that can contribute to frostbite. Or if you don't have wind breaks or a cover over your run, and you get a lot of wind or snowstorms, they may not want to go outside, so in that case they'll need water inside. With my setup, the chickens are outside almost always, so I don't have water in the coop. I have an auto door so they can go outside early and drink, without waiting for me. The only time I bring water into the coop, is if we're having a particularly brutal snowstorm that's blowing snow into their run from the uncovered overhead section, and I can't keep up with shoveling. That's only happened a handful of times. When that happens, I bring one of my heated dog bowls into the coop, raised on a cinder block, and when the storm passes and I clear the run, the chickens go back outside and I take the indoor bowl away. It only stays in there temporarily, and I haven't had problems with it.

 

[DobieLover]

It was my understanding that they should be offered water 24/7

They don't drink water during the night.
You let them out shortly after first light and they can drink then.
I use a heated base fount waterer with a rounded top. I have the waterer set at chest height to prevent/minimize wattle dipping. It is up on a chimney block filled with pea stone that helps hold the heat from the base. It's out in the run with a solid roof.

 

[UrbanSproutsandHarvest]

Beautiful coop! I agree that it needs more ventilation though. Ventilation is more important than insulation (and if you have as much ventilation as they need, it will more or less negate the effect of the insulation and even out the temperature inside vs. outside, which is fine because they need to be dry and out of the elements, not warm - they keep themselves warm with their insulating down coats). So cut a lot more ventilation out at the top, and protect it from blowing snow with awnings or something along those lines. That's what I ended up doing - check out my thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/vent-protection-from-blowing-snow.1507449/#post-25288221

I'm a big fan of wind breaks in the run myself, because I live in one of the windiest cities of the country and winds can be brutal here, especially in the winter, and especially when coupled with precipitation. Wind is more dangerous to chickens than temperature, because they rely on the force field of their insulating feathers to stay warm, and they only work if they can maintain an unbroken surface that keeps the insulating air trapped underneath to keep them warm. Wind hard enough to ruffle their feathers break this bubble and lets the warm air out of their fluff, negating the insulating effect of the feathers, so the chickens can't keep themselves warm and may refuse to go out in the run. If given the chance, they always prefer to be outside than inside, but if the conditions outside are bad enough, they'll be forced to stay in, which is not ideal (more pooping in a smaller space makes the coop dirtier, not having a lot of room to move around leads to bullying and behavioral issues, etc.) So I would suggest giving them wind breaks so they can spend more time outside even in bad weather. What I've done in my run is two of the sides are permanently covered by faux ivy (to hide ugly stuff on the other side, and to provide a nicer backdrop for pictures but it doubles as a wind break as well), and then the other two sides I cover up with clear polycarbonate panels in the winter. You can use clear shower curtains or painter's plastic, but I find those to be annoying to put up and take down, they rip easily, they flap too much in the wind even if tied down well, and are overall a pain in the butt. But they do work if you can't afford the solid panels. If you can, they are awesome though! They let you see in and let the chickens see out, they let light in, they don't flap or bang in the wind, and they stop both the wind and the precipitation from blowing across over the chickens directly. Even on really windy, nasty days, it feels really nice and quiet in the run - I like to sit in there with the chickens, and the panels give it a bit of a greenhouse effect, too, which is nice on those cold days. The chickens are out and about on days where they would be staying in if it weren't for the panels! The top of my run isn't covered everywhere, so they still get plenty of ventilation (so don't seal it completely), but they have enough of a protected area where they can hang out in the winter (and winter here is more than half the year).

View attachment 3279247


As for water, no, they don't need water 24/7. Unlike people, animals in nature don't have access to water 24/7, unless they happen to live in or immediately next to a body of water. They'll know of a water source and go there to drink, then go back to their day. Domesticated animals are privileged to always have water at the ready, but they don't need it literally 24/7, especially at night when they sleep. Chickens don't eat or drink at night anyway, they can't see in the dark and just hang out on their roost until daybreak. You can consider adding water to the coop if you don't have an automatic door, or if you let them out manually but can't get to them in the morning, and they'll be stuck in the coop for an extended period of time. You can teach them to use a nipple waterer - that will prevent spillage or evaporation that can contribute to frostbite. Or if you don't have wind breaks or a cover over your run, and you get a lot of wind or snowstorms, they may not want to go outside, so in that case they'll need water inside. With my setup, the chickens are outside almost always, so I don't have water in the coop. I have an auto door so they can go outside early and drink, without waiting for me. The only time I bring water into the coop, is if we're having a particularly brutal snowstorm that's blowing snow into their run from the uncovered overhead section, and I can't keep up with shoveling. That's only happened a handful of times. When that happens, I bring one of my heated dog bowls into the coop, raised on a cinder block, and when the storm passes and I clear the run, the chickens go back outside and I take the indoor bowl away. It only stays in there temporarily, and I haven't had problems with it.

We actually have a bunch of the clear polycarbonate sheets leftnover from when we built out greenhouse so can definitely give them a wind break with those. That’s a great idea.

I learned most of what I know about chickens from watching YouTube videos or reading books, but most of them emphasize offering food and water all the time. We do have an auto door that opens at sunrise and closes at sunset, but they must be going into the coop and eating and drinking during the day because I definitely have to refill their coop food and water. I can always remove them in the winter.
We had the nipple waterers originally but they didn't seem to like those as well as the auto filling cups as the waterer that had the nipples was always full and never went down, so we switched everything over to the cups.

 

[UrbanSproutsandHarvest]

They don't drink water during the night.
You let them out shortly after first light and they can drink then.
I use a heated base fount waterer with a rounded top. I have the waterer set at chest height to prevent/minimize wattle dipping. It is up on a chimney block filled with pea stone that helps hold the heat from the base. It's out in the run with a solid roof.

We have all the roofing pieces from the prefab coop they started in that we could use to make a covered area for above their food and water. I can take the coop water out in the winter. Their auto door lets them out at sunrise and closes at sunset, so i am not sure if they are going in and eating and drinking during the day, because they run through their coop food and water faster than the run food and water, but their buckets in the run are 5 gallon and the coop ones are much smaller

 

[K0k0shka]

We do have an auto door that opens at sunrise and closes at sunset, but they must be going into the coop and eating and drinking during the day because I definitely have to refill their coop food and water. I can always remove them in the winter.

Do they have food and water out in the run, in addition to the food and water inside? Whether to keep them inside or outside is largely a matter of personal preference, honestly. People on either side have their reasons. The only potential issue is with an open waterer inside in the winter, the evaporation raising the humidity and contributing to frostbite, but if you have lots of ventilation, that may not be an issue. As for the food, I personally prefer to keep mine inside in the coop, I just leave it there permanently. They go in if they want to eat. I don't like leaving food in the run during the day, so as not to attract pests. Mice, rats and small birds do fit through the holes of the fencing mesh, and I don't want to encourage them to go into the run. They could, theoretically, go into the coop through the open pop door, but the food is not immediately visible from the outside and they'd have to know that it's there, to go into the run and then into the coop to get to it, and that's less likely. The coop itself is rodent-proof, so once the door closes at night, the food in there is safe.

We had the nipple waterers originally but they didn't seem to like those as well as the auto filling cups as the waterer that had the nipples was always full and never went down, so we switched everything over to the cups.

I tried the nipples at one point, too, and had the same experience, so I gave up. I think if you give the run some wind breaks and the chickens stay out there, you can keep the water outside and they'll be fine, especially if you have a door that opens at daybreak. Just keep an eye on them during storms and bring them water inside (temporarily) if they are refusing to go out, until the storm passes and they can come out again.

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

They have a whole fallen tree jungle gym We had an inland Hurrican, Derecho, a few years back and we gave them the pine tree top and a mulberry it took down. We had to move it from the corner it was in to the other side since we built the new coop where it was at, but they still love to hang out on it.

Wow! That looks great, I think my chickens are jealous!

 

[UrbanSproutsandHarvest]

Do they have food and water out in the run, in addition to the food and water inside? Whether to keep them inside or outside is largely a matter of personal preference, honestly. People on either side have their reasons. The only potential issue is with an open waterer inside in the winter, the evaporation raising the humidity and contributing to frostbite, but if you have lots of ventilation, that may not be an issue. As for the food, I personally prefer to keep mine inside in the coop, I just leave it there permanently. They go in if they want to eat. I don't like leaving food in the run during the day, so as not to attract pests. Mice, rats and small birds do fit through the holes of the fencing mesh, and I don't want to encourage them to go into the run. They could, theoretically, go into the coop through the open pop door, but the food is not immediately visible from the outside and they'd have to know that it's there, to go into the run and then into the coop to get to it, and that's less likely. The coop itself is rodent-proof, so once the door closes at night, the food in there is safe.


I tried the nipples at one point, too, and had the same experience, so I gave up. I think if you give the run some wind breaks and the chickens stay out there, you can keep the water outside and they'll be fine, especially if you have a door that opens at daybreak. Just keep an eye on them during storms and bring them water inside (temporarily) if they are refusing to go out, until the storm passes and they can come out again.

Yes we have have the single gallon food and water towers in the coop, but we have 5 gallon buckets we capped with the gamma seal lids and added food and water dispensers to that are suspended from the cross beam in the middle of the coop. We used 1/2 inch hardware cloth so we havent seen anything but one chipmunk that walked in the door when I had it open. I had to chase him around forever because he would have been stuck in there with the girls. He was not happy that we didnt build the inclosure for him, but i was afraid they would eat him

 

[rosemarythyme]

It was my understanding that they should be offered water 24/7 .

As others noted above, chickens don't eat and drink (generally) in the dark. As long as they have access to water during waking hours, or close to that, they'll be fine.

We had the nipple waterers originally but they didn't seem to like those as well as the auto filling cups as the waterer that had the nipples was always full and never went down, so we switched everything over to the cups.

Keep in mind that cups will freeze once you reach freezing temperatures, so you may need to consider a different watering option for winter. Horizontal nipples can continue working below freezing temps because the majority of the mechanism is housed inside the waterer so they're less likely to freeze.

 

[3KillerBs]

Jeez we already installed 5 more vents then what the blue prints called for and plan to add 4 more.

That's the problem with most prefab coops and most coop plans -- they almost inevitably over-promise on the number of chickens they are suited for and under-deliver on ventilation.

The general guideline is that you need one square foot of ventilation per adult, standard-sized hen -- preferably located above the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost. Your goal is to have the temperature and humidity inside the coop the same as the outside but to be completely free of drafts.

Here's my article illustrating the principles of good coop ventilation: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/repecka-illustrates-coop-ventilation.77659/

 

[Folly's place]

Over decades we have enlarged and improved our coop, it didn't start out where it is now.
In snow country, your birds won't want to be out in it, so either they stay in under cover, or you shovel. We roofed our whole coop and small run, so it acts like a big coop. Much better! We overwinter birds that will be fine if they don't free range at all, and this year because of AI they are again locked in!
Mary