No instulation in coop

[lynyrd]

the problem with the heat lamp is the chickens cannot tolerate power outages. maybe u have better utilities than me ,but we always have 1-2 power out a winter with storms. would rather have my chicks acclimated than worry

 

[15shenyl]

My chickens made it through the winter OK. They were not happy with the snow and stayed in the coop all day. I know that a few people wanted to see my coop, i don't know if anyone still is looking at this but seance the snow has cleared up i took some pictures to show everyone.

The first three pictures are of the run and the little door so the hens can go into the coop. The tarp was for this winter but it was so hard to get up, i think I'll just leave it up all summer.





This is the nesting box made out of an apple bin.
This is half of the roost. The orange muck bucket has 4 little chicks in it. My hens like to roost and watch the chicks and sometimes even try to protect them but are scared to death of the chicks when they are out running around.


This is the outside of the coop when i first built it last summer.

The apple bin in the back round is to keep the neighbors hunting dog away from the chickens.They now use it to sit in or get away from the wind. The table was so i could train the chickens to stand on a carpet while i was showing the wing and other parts of a chicken for fair. When I'm not using it i put up a board/plank so the chickens can climb and sit on the table

 

[Trefoil]

They are Salmon Faverolles. I know there a winter breed, but they are shaking.

No matter how cold hardy the breed is, if they are shaking from the cold, its a problem.The easiest & quickest way to help would be to give them a heated roost directions below"
http://www.peafowl.org/ARTICLES/26/
its specified for peafowl, but will work jst as well for chickens, Just make sure to lay the 2 x 4 flat to giv them the needed room.

 

[Kjordanov]

What helped me this winter in my non-insulated shed was I put a FULL bale of old hay in mine. You can use straw too. And there are even a couple holes in the side of it because it used to be a outdoor bathroom thing lol. So I plug the holes with hay and try the best I can to insulate with wherever theres cracks/holes with hay. It works wonders!!

 

[15shenyl]

That's what I ended up doing. I covered the entire coop with pine shavings than a full bale of straw, along with 2 heat lamps. They were very happy chickens, being warm, not the being cooped up part. You should have seen them when I made a path in the snow to the table, you could tell they were not very happy with being locked up. When it first started snowing they looked up to me and sounded my feet trying to tell me to make it stop. But now the snow is gone for another year, now we get lots and lots of very strong wind with very cold nights so the wind machines in the orchards come on too, very little sleep, same goes with the chickens. The coop door keeps blowing off. I have a chair and 4 boards leaning on it right now. Some hinges and a old style barn cross bar should fix the problem though.

 

[4 the Birds]

It sounds like things are better now. Shaking birds is not good. I would be sure that there is a vent open in the coop to allow moist air to escape. If a local farm or market has straw bales available then a real quick solution could be stacking hay bales around your coop and especially upwind of the weather systems. I almost bet that your plastic coop has a few small openings that allows for wind to enter and blow on the birds. I would look into building a wood coop for the Winters to come. You can use the wood from pallets if you are on a budget. Good ventilation with no drafts on the birds is essential with sub zero winds.

 

[15shenyl]

I'm getting more chickens soon and I need a new coop. With all the free apple bins around the area, I can make a coop out that. Their is very good ventilation in the coop I have now. I took out the window, only for summer weather, and their is a line of holes on top, very tiny and they over lap. Their is also the door leading out to the run and a few other spots where air can get through. Very cold in the winter, very hot in the summer.