NY chicken lover!!!!

[Gramma Chick]

Country folks are pretty much the same everywhere, I think. Glad to see even Yankees can have a sense of humor. Believe me, we need ours down here right now.

Peace, y'all sweet peeps.

Stay safe

 

[NorthTexasWink]

Stay safe

Thank you for your kind words and well wishes. This is hard, but it'll pass.

 

[boskelli1571]

Thank you for your kind words and well wishes. This is hard, but it'll pass.

I haven't seen pictures but have heard about the devastation - hard to comprehend. I wish for all to be safe and sound.

 

[NNYchick]

We are almost finished with the coop and wanted opinions from people that have experience with our NY weather to ensure I have not forgot anything. I am in Northern NY on the edge of the Tugg Hill snow belt. I am housing about 10 silkies in it this winter.
We went with a more open design, it is 8'wide and 16'long. Long back wall (faces east) is closed except top foot and South wall is the same. For Winter we plan to put 6mm plastic up on the West and North open areas except the top 2 feet.
Inside the coop I will have straw and dried maple leaves on the floor for 3/4 of it and putting sand where the food, water and a dust bath area are. I have an XL igloo dog house I will put straw for sleeping in as my silkies prefer not to roost but pile. We did make everything predator proof using hardware cloth on all open areas and an apron around the bottom to prevent digging.
As for water I was going to get the heated dog bowl and put on cinder block, any opinions on this would be great. No one is home during the day to check water to ensure it hasn't frozen over so I will have to have something heated.

 

[NNYchick]

Sorry I do not know why my pictures always post sideways on this site.

 

[Zuke]

I'm in Northern Cayuga County and this will be my first winter with chickens as well. I'll be watching this to see if anyone chimes in about experience with the heated water dish as I will have trouble a few days of the week that no one will be able to check the water for 9 or 10 hours.

 

[Pyxis]

I'm in Northern Cayuga County and this will be my first winter with chickens as well. I'll be watching this to see if anyone chimes in about experience with the heated water dish as I will have trouble a few days of the week that no one will be able to check the water for 9 or 10 hours.

I've used heated water buckets the last few winters and they work great. Also, in top fill style waterers, an aquarium heater works well too.

 

[AmberKnits]

I'm in Northern Cayuga County and this will be my first winter with chickens as well. I'll be watching this to see if anyone chimes in about experience with the heated water dish as I will have trouble a few days of the week that no one will be able to check the water for 9 or 10 hours.

I used heated dog bowls last year. It worked out fine. The only real issue was checking to make sure they had water a few times a day, but it never froze.

 

[AmberKnits]

We are almost finished with the coop and wanted opinions from people that have experience with our NY weather to ensure I have not forgot anything. I am in Northern NY on the edge of the Tugg Hill snow belt. I am housing about 10 silkies in it this winter.
We went with a more open design, it is 8'wide and 16'long. Long back wall (faces east) is closed except top foot and South wall is the same. For Winter we plan to put 6mm plastic up on the West and North open areas except the top 2 feet.
Inside the coop I will have straw and dried maple leaves on the floor for 3/4 of it and putting sand where the food, water and a dust bath area are. I have an XL igloo dog house I will put straw for sleeping in as my silkies prefer not to roost but pile. We did make everything predator proof using hardware cloth on all open areas and an apron around the bottom to prevent digging.
As for water I was going to get the heated dog bowl and put on cinder block, any opinions on this would be great. No one is home during the day to check water to ensure it hasn't frozen over so I will have to have something heated.

I don't have any experience with an open style coop, but it looks nice. Our coop is a shed with windows, which we keep closed in the winter.

 

[Gramma Chick]

We are almost finished with the coop and wanted opinions
We went with a more open design, it is 8'wide and 16'long. Long back wall (faces east) is closed except top foot and South wall is the same. For Winter we plan to put 6mm plastic up on the West and North open areas except the top 2 feet.
With a coop that open you are going to have a lot of rain and snow inside .
Your roof should have a large over hang ..but it will probably still blow in
or there will be Frozen straw food etc
You will need to cover ALL those areas with plastic .
with all those open spaces it may be a cold coop..it may be warm enough if it is completely covered in plastic . or it may not
I would probably add windows or more wood farther up the sides.

That space above the door would be enough for venting moisture or the 2 triangle shapes on the side .
I have seen this style coop like yours in areas like florida ..where the weather is great all the time .

I have a open air style coop - every open area has to be covered or snow drifts inside.
when it rains.. the front usually gets wet... in the coop 1 -2 feet ..We need a roof that over hangs more ...
My nesting box door is open on the right side

I have an XL igloo dog house I will put straw for sleeping in as my silkies prefer not to roost but pile. The igloo would be good they would have a warm dry area ..but leave the front of it open ..so they dont get frost bite from their breath

We did make everything predator proof using hardware cloth on all open areas and an apron around the bottom to prevent digging.
As for water I was going to get the heated dog bowl and put on cinder block,

I have one of those it works great I have raised on a large weighted flower pot

Where are nesting boxes going to be ..? they need to be enclosed good or you will have frozen eggs
MY 2 CENTS..hope I was not too rough on you .