Official BYC Poll: How do you keep your flock warm in the winter?

[aart]

Many keepers think that if they feel cold, so do their birds.....but put on your down coat and sit in your heated house for a few hours.....Get it?

Heating and insulating are most often moot and ineffective when adequate ventilation is employed. You want to keep your coop dry with lots of air flow.
Temps and humidity should be about the same inside the coop as outside of it.
If they aren't, you need more ventilation.

This is how I handle winter chickens.
Lots of ventilation with some vents baffled to slow or redirect strong winds, especially those carrying snow.

Heated waterer...doesn't keep them warm per se but makes my life easier and keeps them hydrated which is just as important in frigid weather as hot weather.
Horizontal nipples greatly reduces evaporation that adds humidity to the coop.

I watch for cold stress, indicated by lethargy and not going for treats.
Give electrolytes when temps are below 10°F for more than a few days.
A bird that is not drinking is not eating and can't stay in top form to thrive in freezing temps.

No warm(SMH) or special foods, just a good chicken ration and plain water.

 

[Folly's place]

The older half of my coop has an insulated roof, the newer more open section doesn't. It's more about keeping it cool on hot summer days, although it does help a bit in winter.
We cover the two small lower windows with sheet vinyl in winter, and the lower six feet of the open run section, leaving upper ventilation wide open. Most days the south full sized door is open to allow free ranging too, although we leave the east door shut most days in winter, which helps manage drafts.
Having good ventilation matters a lot! It's never more humid than ambient in the coop, and is often warmer inside, because of the chickens, and sun hitting the south wall.

Mary

 

[21hens-incharge]

The only extra things I do for winter is adding plastic to the north sides of the runs and over top of the hoop run. My goal there is to block the snow and wind from whipping in.

I also dump water dishes at night so they are ready to fill and not frozen in the mornings.

 

[Mrs. K]

Dry and well ventilated. Deep bedding, no manure piles keep things dry.

Once a week, I throw scratch on top of the bedding, and the girls fluff the bedding, tearing apart the manure so it drys out. Looks like fresh bedding the next day.

When frozen piles of manure thaw - they will release a lot of moisture.

MrsK

 

[Chickassan]

Leave a space in the middle so it wont fly away if it we get one of those good windstorms like have been passing through.

Now that we've had our first frost I'm thinking I'll get 5-6 straw bales to make a wind baffle since the pen is pretty open to the northeast side (for those unfamiliar with the Carolinas, we get storms from any and every direction -- sometimes in the same week).

 

[ackie]

Other: Living in the south
jk though, I voted for feathers keeping them warm, assuming we are talking fully feathered chickens.
I do use heat lamps for chicks or leave them with their mommas.

 

[3KillerBs]

Leave a space in the middle so it wont fly away it we get one of those good windstorms like have been passing through.

Was it three hurricanes or four this year? I lost count.

We lost our lawn pavillion to Zeta.

 

[Chickassan]

No idea, I don't count anymore it got depressing lol!
Zeta got two huge trees here, one took out my fence so I had to throw together a chicken corral.
I really did not enjoy Zeta.
Sorry about your Pavilion.

Was it three hurricanes or four this year? I lost count.

We lost our lawn pavillion to Zeta.

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

stay inside a heated room most of the day and only come out when i do, not much different then summer but in summer they get to spend like 8 hours a day outside

 

[Abriana]

I’ve insulated the coop as well as put in ventilation. My birds do get heat lamps if it gets into the twenties. I had a rooster who passed this summer who needed it to be above 32 because he got severe frost bite (he almost died) and even though he’s gone, that’s what my birds are used to so I’m not going to switch it up on them this year. I usually turn on the one on the end so that they can move away or closer depending on how they feel.