New to chickens ……..concerns about my coop and winter.

[Cggfly]

14 minutes ago
Hi, i am new to the chicken world. I bought 6 chickens from a farm store. the Ben was marked rare breeds. I thought I was picking out Barred Rocks. But, as it turns out I ended up with 5 hens. Two Barred Rocks, one Sapphire Gem, one English Marans, and one French Cuckoo Marans. I did find a home for the one rooster in the group. They are 2 months old now and are temps in Kansas City area are dropping.

I bought a coop from TSC. In the picture it looked big enough and it said for six chickens. It is very small. We added two vents on opposite walls. I have insulated it with the silver bubble insulation inside the walls of the coop. I also blocked off the nesting boxes because I read that they can get in the habitat of using them other than for laying eggs. I have a infra red 100 W light hanging from the top by one vent. It is pointing toward the doorway out of the coop. I am leaving the door open enough for them to leave the coop, so the heat is not only in the roost area. Our temps are dipping down into the low 30’s at night now.

I have sand in the run area and the bottom of the coop in trays. I am building a new run area for them today and using sand. It will be 7’ long, 6’wide 5’6” high

I am concerned about several things.
1. How warm do these young chicks need to be?
2. Is this roosting area to small? If so, do I open up the nesting boxes?
3. The tray is metal. Can I put a heating mat under the boxes of sand in to bottom of the coop? It is only warm to the touch. Not really heat producing.
4. Would it be better to place ir by the roosting bar?

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[JustCallMeMaple]

The pre-fabs are super small we have one and it really isn't a good size if you have large chicken breeds the bar is not very high. It will be plenty warm and the. Chickens will cuddle together for warmth. I would switch to a higher protein chick feed if it's starting to dip down personally (I know tractor supply has some 24% starter/grower) I have 2 9wk old slw however they're in a coop with older birds that help warm them a lot. I live in the north so it's going to be below freezing tomorrow night and they are still growing. I did mix in the 24% feed and have been giving treats (scratch/corn) to help give them more calories plus bug treats. I personally turned this same coup your using into a duck house because one of my pullets kept whacking the bar off. I do have to let the ducks out of the coop and run into the larger run every day and let them in nightly but eh it's not a big deal.

The coop will be close quarter but it's 100% fine for winter though long term it may be too tight just watch how your girls act if they start bullying then in spring you can upgrade (craigslist always has something you can repurpose or cheap) and prop the door open and give them a connected coop/run. I like your venting producers pride didn't put much thought into it when they made this prefab at all so really awesome job getting a good vent and making it predator proof!

 

[DobieLover]

1. How warm do these young chicks need to be?

Ambient temperature. They are fully feathered and you should immediately remove all heat sources. They need to acclimate to the normal temperature fluctuations.

2. Is this roosting area to small? If so, do I open up the nesting boxes?

Way. Too. Small.
I would convert the entire structure into a coop focusing on adding lots of ventilation and draft protection.

3. The tray is metal. Can I put a heating mat under the boxes of sand in to bottom of the coop? It is only warm to the touch. Not really heat producing.

You don't need any heat.

4. Would it be better to place ir by the roosting bar?

Nope.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC.

I'm sorry to hear that you got caught by the prefab problem. It really steams me that the manufacturers take advantage of new chicken keepers' lack of knowledge.

Here's a highly informative article for you to read: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/cold-weather-poultry-housing-and-care.72010/

Unfortunately, I don't have access to all my stored links on this computer, but when I get home I can post a useful thread on how to convert a prefab into a better coop.

When you get to the point of replacing things,

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

 

[JustCallMeMaple]

Just to add I got caught in the prefab coop problem sort of.. I just needed it for young chicks then I turned it into a duck coop. The ducks go to bed in the smaller prefab I have 5 (2 are male pekin that will be turned into a dinner here in a few weeks after their pin feathers are not noticeable) 4 are Pekin (noisy but they're very sweet) and a khaki campbell (smaller by a lot but can be almost as loud as a pekin and she's the boss duck). I have the prefab and another coop attached to a large run. I honestly like the prefab for my what will be 3 ducks. If you upgrade later to a larger coop you could make it a mini duck coop just take the roost bar out (that's what I did) and I keep plenty of bedding just to keep their feet off of the tray and catch their droppings. I used the small coop temporarily for my chickens though not as a long term but I have 15 chickens soooo.. yeah it worked for chicks for a bit but well you can see why it was short term use. I had chicken math when I first got chicks and as I tell my SO, 'I regret nothing' because now I have chickens and ducks

 

[3KillerBs]

Here's the link I mentioned: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-renovated-prefab-coop.1440258/

 

[Cggfly]

The pre-fabs are super small we have one and it really isn't a good size if you have large chicken breeds the bar is not very high. It will be plenty warm and the. Chickens will cuddle together for warmth. I would switch to a higher protein chick feed if it's starting to dip down personally (I know tractor supply has some 24% starter/grower) I have 2 9wk old slw however they're in a coop with older birds that help warm them a lot. I live in the north so it's going to be below freezing tomorrow night and they are still growing. I did mix in the 24% feed and have been giving treats (scratch/corn) to help give them more calories plus bug treats. I personally turned this same coup your using into a duck house because one of my pullets kept whacking the bar off. I do have to let the ducks out of the coop and run into the larger run every day and let them in nightly but eh it's not a big deal.

The coop will be close quarter but it's 100% fine for winter though long term it may be too tight just watch how your girls act if they start bullying then in spring you can upgrade (craigslist always has something you can repurpose or cheap) and prop the door open and give them a connected coop/run. I like your venting producers pride didn't put much thought into it when they made this prefab at all so really awesome job getting a good vent and making it predator proof!

Thank you for the info and encouragement. I did get the additional run built today. 7’x 6’ 6”. I will be able to leave the door open into the run so they will have more room during the day. They are very good at going up in the coop when they get cold and in the evening. I did change their roost into a 2x2 and added another that goes halfway across. They use all of them. I do have a 2x4 roost to exchange when temps drop below freezing.
I will get the higher protein food, mix it in and scratch corn for treats.

 

[JustCallMeMaple]

Sounds like you're doing your best to make it work out as best you can. I hope things go smoother for you. What matters is you care enough to try and make things better for them. You care for them and they will grow and give you fresh eggs.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I did get the additional run built today. 7’x 6’ 6”. I will be able to leave the door open into the run so they will have more room during the day.

Hate to inform you that even the run is going to be tight once they're all grown up. The minimum recommendation on here is 4 sq ft per bird in coop and 10 sq ft per bird in the run, and many of us recommend more. Lack of space is probably one of the top, if not the top, contributor to behavioral issues, and can contribute to health problems as well.

I'd really encourage you to consider converting the entire prefab into a coop, rather than using it as a coop/run. This will solve problems with: lack of ventilation, lack of floor space, lack of roost space.

To turn it from 2 small "boxes" (tiny coop above tiny run) into 1 bigger "box" you'll want to remove as much of the inside coop wall as possible, plus the floor. Take out the old roosts too.

Nests might be able to stay as is, or may need to be relocated elsewhere or replaced - depends on the structure of the coop and how things inside stack up once done.

Run a new roost(s) lengthwise or widthwise across the newly open space, depending on how much roost is needed. Ideally you’d like 12” per bird but 10” can suffice in many cases.

Board up some of the external wire walls so that the roost area is protected from winds and rain. Do NOT fully cover up all the wire, you need ventilation and natural light, so at the very least a few inches under the roofline should remain open. If your climate allows for it, you can leave entire walls open with just the mesh, or make it convertible for the season by covering up open walls for winter, and then uncovering for summer.

Example of a modified prefab: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-renovated-prefab-coop.1440258/

As far as your fear of cold, heat lamps are a massive fire hazard, and utilizing one means the birds cannot properly acclimate to colder temperatures so if the bulb burns out/you lose power, the shock of suddenly dropping temperatures can kill them. Chickens are more hardy than people think, thanks to their down and feather coat, so even at 2 months old they can easily handle being at 30F.

 

[MildlyOffensiveChicken]

I am fairly new to chicken keeping, but I’ve had 5 week old chicks in a hoop house at 17 degrees. They had a roughly blocked off area and a 100 watt ceramic heat bulb. 3 sides had plastic walls, one side open. They seem to do fine. I have 7 week old chicks wandering in 30-40 degree weather now. They spend 15 minutes running around and then Head into the coop for a bit.

It isn’t humid here, not sure if that makes a difference.