New to raising chickens

[SW1977]

Hello! I'm Sara. I am a 41 year old wife, mother to 4 and new mom of feather babies. I got my first 3 hens (RIR/game mix) about 2 weeks ago, they are around 18 months old so already giving me eggs. I also have 8 chicks, 4 SLW pullets and 4 unsexed barred rocks. Im kind of nervous that I might end up with all 4 barred being males lol. My husband built a new coop for the big girls, I'm hoping it is big enough to put them all in when the chicks are big enough. My other concern is the coop is sort of far from the house and winter is coming. Michigan can get pretty cold, is it going to be necessary to heat the coop?

 

[snow5164]

Hi and welcome,
There are some “ hot button” topics here, one is heat...

I live in southern Canada and heat til just above 0. That keeps the girls laying , and water flowing .

You’ll get those adamantly against heat and insulation , they usually don’t live with -40 and wind chills .

I’d get a small (1500 watt), barn heater, if you use it good , if not at least you have it . Heat lamps don’t move heat , we tried those without success

Enjoy this fun time and remember we all think we have the right answer

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

Hi Sara! Welcome to our FUNomenal Flock! We are so excited that you decided to join our roost!
Good luck with your flock!
Have FUN!!!!!

 

[SW1977]

Hi and welcome,
There are some “ hot button” topics here, one is heat...

I live in southern Canada and heat til just above 0. That keeps the girls laying , and water flowing .

You’ll get those adamantly against heat and insulation , they usually don’t live with -40 and wind chills .

I’d get a small (1500 watt), barn heater, if you use it good , if not at least you have it . Heat lamps don’t move heat , we tried those within success .

Enjoy this fun time and remember we all think we have the right answer

Thank you! I'm thinking about trying one of those heat panels, they seem safer than a lamp, less likely to be a fire hazard anyway.

 

[SW1977]

Hi Sara! Welcome to our FUNomenal Flock! We are so excited that you decided to join our roost!
Good luck with your flock!
Have FUN!!!!!

Thank you! I'm happy to be here. After living in a trailer park for 5 years and wanting chickens but not allowed to, we moved to the middle of nowhere so I finally get to have feather babies!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hello and welcome to BYC and congrats on being able to keep chickens in your new place. These links may be interesting:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/winter-chicken-keeping
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/winter-coop-temperatures

You can use this link to contact members in your area - Find your State's thread.

Best wishes

Pork Pie

 

[MissChick@dee]

Hiya nice to meet you.
You’ll hear pro’s and con’s about heating the coop. I heat mine. Good luck to you and all your feather babies

 

[SW1977]

Hello and welcome to BYC and congrats on being able to keep chickens in your new place. These links may be interesting:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/winter-chicken-keeping
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/winter-coop-temperatures

You can use this link to contact members in your area - Find your State's thread.

Best wishes

Pork Pie

Thank you so much!

 

[007Sean]

Howdy Sara and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[FrankieDoodle]

Welcome to BYC!!!