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

[BYC Project Manager]

Every year the winter season presents a lot of challenges for the backyard chicken keeper. So we would like to find out how you keep your girls happy, healthy, and comfortable as the outside temperatures plummet and the winter weather rages.

How do you keep your flock warm in the winter? Place your vote above.

(Check out more Official BYC Polls HERE!)

 

[EmmaRainboe]

It does get TOO cold here, so I just let their feathers keep them warm.

 

[rjohns39]

I have plenty of ventilation for them

 

[PioneerChicks]

I do the DLM, provide good ventilation, and leave them be. They are very tough! I struggle more in the winter than they do, and they do worse in summer.

All other things I do are listed here: How To Overwinter Chickens Naturally

 

[Duckee]

I do not heat or insulate in winter. I only worry about keeping the flock out of direct direct cold air.
Due to an increase in flock: This year i went from a great 2 story wood coop that had run on ground level and roosts & boxes on 2nd floor. With a larger roofed exterior run. Poop and food mess in coop was never a major issue because they only laid eggs and slept in there. Now I have a large covered hoop coop with unroofed exterior run. Wow has my work load increased!
Now I fight coop heat/cold, humidity and ammonia, and preditors in outside run! I found proper ventilation is vital now! In the summer the coop cover sides will be rolled up and this first winter sides down with bottom half of large front and back doors uncovered for airflow. The roosts are set high & back away from doors.
I built the new coop over part of the deep bed large run. That proved to create too much ammonia. So i leveled the floor, lined it with chicken wire, then added sand. Every morning I let the flock out, collect eggs, food & water, then scoop poop ( i wear a mask). This is working ok so far, but is way more work. I may have to go back to a smaller flock and reopen the wood coop

I would love to hear safer, cheaper better ways to keep a flock in a hoop coop, if there is any.

 

[SueT]

Like the wild birds, chickens have down jackets, as well as special circulation in their legs that allows them to cope with freezing temps.

 

[BlueBaby]

Even though many of mine are the Naked Neck's and it doesn't get as cold here out here in the desert for winter, they have the ventilated coop to go inside. They snuggle together for the roosting and tuck their head's under the wing's.

 

[Chickassan]

I just have a good coop with good cross ventilation.
Both sections of my coop are also raised off the ground so that helps.
The winters in South Carolina don't normally get too brutal though, there might be a few weeks of teens in the mornings but rarely do we see days where it stays below freezing all day.

 

[FlightyChicken]

I just have a good coop with good cross ventilation.
Both sections of my coop are also raised off the ground so that helps.
The winters in South Carolina don't normally get too brutal though, there might be a few weeks of teens in the mornings but rarely do we see days where it stays below freezing all day.

Your signature is the best!

 

[3KillerBs]

I just have a good coop with good cross ventilation.
Both sections of my coop are also raised off the ground so that helps.
The winters in South Carolina don't normally get too brutal though, there might be a few weeks of teens in the mornings but rarely do we see days where it stays below freezing all day.

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).