Northern Minnesota Coop

[heyjo167]

BTW we don't even have a pop door on the coop yet so they go in & out when they please. I'm not sure I'm gonna even put a door on. I have to see how it is in the winter though. What do you think about not putting a door to their run?

 

[sn0wwhite]

There are people on here that have open air coops and are even farther north than Minnesota, but I feel like I will sleep better if I can close them in on our most bitter days.

 

[newpioneer75]

I have a door on the coop that leads to the run and I opened and closed it for the first week or two, but now i just leave it open all night and the girls are ok with it. as long as the rain and extremely hard wind is blocked from getting inside the coop I think its ok to have no door. Besides that way you could sleep in on the weekends and they can let themselves out in the morning.

 

[jetdog]

I agree with snow piece of mind goes a long way in my book, if you have power in the coop think about an automatic chicken door I put the D20 motor on the door I've never had to get up and open the door works great hooked to a digital timer.

 

[heyjo167]

I hope I don't sound like a complete idiot (I have never had chickens before now) but if its super cold, like below zero, do they not know to stay in?

 

[Scott H]

Chickens know more than we give them credit for. They'll be fine.
And you don't need power to the coop to have an automatic door. Mine runs on a battery and a solar charger.

 

[Hokum Coco]

My Coop is 4x8 and here are a few tips and a quick look at my set up.
My floor are planks with a layer of tin for rodent proofing. On top of the tin I have a piece of vinyl flooring cut one foot longer than the length and width of my coop (roughly). Six inches squares are cut out of the 4 corners of the vinyl flooring. This allows the friction fitted flooring to travel up the walls six inches around the perimeter of my 4x8 salvaged metal coop. Shovel out the heavy stuff into a wheel barrow. Pop out the vinyl flooring hose it off pop it back in.
Easy Peasy!


I have been around the sun 63 times.

It is not my first "Rodeo!"

Nobody "I know" heats a chicken coop.

Healthy "cold hearty" chickens die from heat not cold.

I live in Canada last year was subject to -40º (C or F take your pick) no light or heat in coop NO PROBLEMS.

Chickens have been raised on this continent for over a hundred years without heat.

If you feel you must supply heat to your chickens I suggest keeping your chickens in the house that way you can huddle with your birds when the hydro goes out.

Chickens will die from cold if not given the chance to acclimatize. Hydro is more apt to go out in an ice storm or blizzard when subject to below 0º temperatures in my opinion.

How would you supply heat then to your un-acclimatized birds ???

Diary of last winter cold snap check out the link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/738994/chickens-arctic-conditions-prolonged-period

I have used all types of litter for coops.

I have not tried sand (sand gets good reviews on this site).

Of all the things I tried to date wood pellets have been the best. (I tried wood pellets as a last resort when pine shavings were not available.) They are super absorbent and swell up and eventually turn to saw dust. The droppings just seem to vanish and turn to dust when it comes in contact with wood pellets .

Replace my litter and clean my coop every October after I harvest my garden.


Works for me in my deep litter method.

I do add to pellets from time to time.

I have anywhere from 10 to 15 birds housed in my 4x8 coop.

Through the winter months it froze harder than concrete with -40º temperatures. The poop froze before it could be absorbed by the pellets and there was like a crusty layer of poop in certain areas where they collectively took aim (no smell, messy feet or flies @ -40º). Come April things started to look after themselves.

POOP BOARDS are the "BEST" addition yet. Handles well over ½ of the poop in my set up keeps ammonia smell in check 3½" below roost excellent for catching eggs laid through the night. I recently friction fit a piece of vinyl flooring over my poop board.it makes clean up even easier; Pop out; Scrap; Hose; Pop in.

In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new.

Easy peasy!.

Chicken coop is salvaged 4x8 metal shed.











I house a variety of birds in hear ¼ inch plywood veneer between birds and the elements no heat no light no insulation no problems!

 

[Bogtown Chick]

HeyJo: I love your darling coop. Very well done!

Just a word of advice on the galvanized can right outside the coop. If it has your feed you may want to consider finding a new location for it especially come spring. Black Bears love raiding bird feed of any source and they will come in and do a lot of structural damage to get a bit of food. May not be a problem now as they're getting sleepy. But I had one come in this spring and she wasn't too nice to my coop.

She broke the framework of my pop door reaching in for the feeder inside the coop and wrecked some of the wire fencing on my run. If I would have had a can out like that she would have just helped herself everynight until it was gone I'm sure....

Gorgeous gorgeous building you have there though.

Have fun with your chooks!

 

[heyjo167]

Thank you so much for the tip about the can of scratch! I didn't even think of that but you are absolutely right!! I will definitely relocate it before spring!! Thank you also for kind compliment!!