no electricity or water in coop area

[mickey328]

I know what ya mean! I see stuff and then later I can't remember where.

One other question...will your birds have an outside run as well? Most of the cold hardy breeds do well outdoors even in winter if it's not snowing or blowing like crazy. You'd need to keep some of it at least cleared so they don't have to plow through snow up to their fluffy butts, but they'll enjoy the fresh air and scratch.

Ours have the coop open from dawn til they go to bed so they can come and go freely. Most of the time they only go in during the day to lay. Even today when it's chilly and rainy, they seem to prefer being out...even if they DO mostly huddle under the coop out of the rain, LOL

 

[Zigapor]

oh yes, I truly love shoveling (i know, i'm a bit of a freak) so i look forward to clearing an area for them to roam in the winter. Do they need a protected run, or is just free ranging ok? I am guessing the more protection the better. During the spring/summer/fall the area won't be visible from the house (them pesky trees!) but come winter when all the leaves are down I should have a clear view. How long can they tolerate being outside? If they have access to their coop they will just return themselves if they are getting too cold, right? Should I add a layer of hay over the snow or is the snow itself fine?

Do chipmunks, squirrels, mice, etc... bother ducks and chickens at all? Would it best to keep their feed in the house to avoid little critters feasting on it?

how far should I dig to lay the mesh at the base of their coop? oh wait, is tin roofing better than mesh for the base?

any tricks on keeping the water thawed in the dead of winter? Can the birds handle a bubbler in the water (to keep it from freezing solid, it;'s what we do with the fish pond) or are the bubbles somehow dangerous? Would it be better to just go a few times a day, knock out the ice and refil with water? and what temp of water do they need? just normal tap temperature? (it's well water) or warmed a bit?

 

[mickey328]

Free range is fine, but if the snow's heavy they're more likely to stick to cleared paths...a little snow is fine but too much and they find it as hard to plow through as we do. You'll need to consider what predators you have; foxes, skunks, hawks, raccoons, weasels, mink...all those critters will prey on them. I would actually recommend a covered run...made with hardware cloth...chicken wire will keep the chickens in but none of the predators out. You could easily tarp part of the run for them...that'll keep most of the snow out and give them some actual ground to walk and scratch on.

You'll find all kinds of critters like chicken feed! We keep ours in the shed, but since your coop is large enough, you could store it in there. Just make sure it's in something that will keep the critters out. We store ours in a (new or really well cleaned) galvanized trash can with a tight fitting lid.

You can use whatever you have to secure the base of the coop and run...as long as it keeps things from digging under. You'll want to put it down about a foot, cuz some of 'em can really be persistent

A bubbler would work just fine. The water doesn't need to be warm, just not frozen.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

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