- Sep 23, 2013
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Merry Meet, All.
Been lurking and reading for enough years; it was about time to join.
I became responsible for my first flock of chickens when I was a kid, back in 1972. I've had them off and on many times since then (what is it about a yard with chickens in it that's so much more relaxing than anywhere else?), but this is my first time to have any in Alaska.
Built a cabinet-style brooder in the garage this spring; and got a nice little shipment from Cackle Hatchery the first week of May. In addition to a few Americaunas, which my family has had since the 70s and I can never resist, I also took on some Partridge Chanticleers and Cuckoo Marans, which are popular up here; a few Dark Brahmas, and one feather-legged "mystery rare breed" from the feed store. The way I built the brooder made it easier to spoil the chicks utterly rotten than I had in years gone by. I wanted them to be easy to handle. In that, I might have succeeded a little too well...they tend to run up and "help" me when I work in the flower beds. The coop they've used all summer long was a modification of the "chicken tractor" design, floorless and dragged all over the yard. They've done well in it, but it won't work for winter. All summer, dh & I have been working on a 10' x 10' permanent coop.
My second biggest worry is, exactly how strong does a chicken house need to be, for the hens to be safe from bears? My stepson found a black bear den not 50 feet away from the brand-new, soon-to-be-completed, $1000+ chicken house. As if that weren't alarming enough, no sooner had I climbed down from the nearly-finished roof, when one of our neighbors told me the people who lived here before had had not one but two bear-in-the-henhouse incidents the winter before last. Why, oh why don't people think I need info like that in time to plan accordingly?
My biggest worry is this: in a place where winters routinely hit 10 & 15 below zero; and have been known to hit 40 below, how much insulation is enough? I don't want to turn my hens into hothouse flowers likely to die should a heat lamp burn out while I'm at work; but neither do I want them shivering, miserable, possibly losing toes and combs to frostbite. Or worse. The former occupants' old henhouse doesn't have any insulation; you can see daylight through the cracks...but then again, the bear probably turned that fact into a moot point before the cold temps kicked in.
I also ought to ask what thermostat setting I should use inside the henhouse. Has anyone run across any studies re: the *optimum* temp range for chickens? I am open to all advice.
Thanks,
--Carla
Been lurking and reading for enough years; it was about time to join.
I became responsible for my first flock of chickens when I was a kid, back in 1972. I've had them off and on many times since then (what is it about a yard with chickens in it that's so much more relaxing than anywhere else?), but this is my first time to have any in Alaska.
Built a cabinet-style brooder in the garage this spring; and got a nice little shipment from Cackle Hatchery the first week of May. In addition to a few Americaunas, which my family has had since the 70s and I can never resist, I also took on some Partridge Chanticleers and Cuckoo Marans, which are popular up here; a few Dark Brahmas, and one feather-legged "mystery rare breed" from the feed store. The way I built the brooder made it easier to spoil the chicks utterly rotten than I had in years gone by. I wanted them to be easy to handle. In that, I might have succeeded a little too well...they tend to run up and "help" me when I work in the flower beds. The coop they've used all summer long was a modification of the "chicken tractor" design, floorless and dragged all over the yard. They've done well in it, but it won't work for winter. All summer, dh & I have been working on a 10' x 10' permanent coop.
My second biggest worry is, exactly how strong does a chicken house need to be, for the hens to be safe from bears? My stepson found a black bear den not 50 feet away from the brand-new, soon-to-be-completed, $1000+ chicken house. As if that weren't alarming enough, no sooner had I climbed down from the nearly-finished roof, when one of our neighbors told me the people who lived here before had had not one but two bear-in-the-henhouse incidents the winter before last. Why, oh why don't people think I need info like that in time to plan accordingly?
My biggest worry is this: in a place where winters routinely hit 10 & 15 below zero; and have been known to hit 40 below, how much insulation is enough? I don't want to turn my hens into hothouse flowers likely to die should a heat lamp burn out while I'm at work; but neither do I want them shivering, miserable, possibly losing toes and combs to frostbite. Or worse. The former occupants' old henhouse doesn't have any insulation; you can see daylight through the cracks...but then again, the bear probably turned that fact into a moot point before the cold temps kicked in.
I also ought to ask what thermostat setting I should use inside the henhouse. Has anyone run across any studies re: the *optimum* temp range for chickens? I am open to all advice.
Thanks,
--Carla
