Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[TillyPeeps]

Hello everyone! Just found this board through a member’s recommendation!

I’m from southwestern, PA (Pittsburgh).

Glad I found this page

Hello fellow Pennsylvanians.....just happened upon this thread.... I’m from Bucks County.... just outside of Philadelphia.... this is my first winter with chickens....4 white leghorns (all township allows) ... i was just wondering what folks in our area do to winterize the runs...i basically want to keep snow out and protect from wind

Welcome from Centre County!

I just got some clear tarps to wrap around my coop and run. I have about 10’X16‘ area with roof that will be wrapped. This is my first winter with chickens too, so don't know how good it will work.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Nice to meet you! We have 2 cinnamon queens, 2 isa browns, and 2 cuckoo marans. What about you?

A lot lol. I have silkies, ameraucanas (silkied and smooth), English orpingtons, blue egg laying silkie project birds, penciled turkeys (plus a few other colors), a big African gander, 2 muscovy ducks, and a polish roo lol. Here's are a few pictures

I also have an etsy shop where I make and sell hen saddles of all sizes and chicken tutus (believe it or not, people love them!)

Hello fellow Pennsylvanians.....just happened upon this thread.... I’m from Bucks County.... just outside of Philadelphia.... this is my first winter with chickens....4 white leghorns (all township allows) ... i was just wondering what folks in our area do to winterize the runs...i basically want to keep snow out and protect from wind

Welcome from Cambria County! Is your run roofed? If so, it's pretty easy to just throw some plastic up around the sides of the run or clear tarps/ shower curtains and throw some straw in the run for them to hunker down in on exceptionally cold days. That's all I do for mine. Always leave a gap near the top though for ventilation. Trapped air/moisture leads to frostbite. If your run is not covered, hourly someone else can give advice. My turkey run is not covered but I don't do anything special for them.

 

[snailpenguin]

Hi everyone! I'm from Delaware County (just southwest of Philadelphia) and have 4 ladies gearing up for their first winter in a big coop we just built. (It was 5 chickens until yesterday, but a neighbor's dog broke into our backyard and mortally wounded our Ameracauna in front of my preschooler and toddler (big drama for our quiet suburban neighborhood! Still working out some big feelings over here...))

Reading through this thread--I'm pretty much a southerner by PA standards and we haven't seen real snow in what feels like ages--I was figuring on just keeping with plenty of deep litter pine shavings in the coop and closing the windows/extra vents aside from the eave ventilation. Think that's enough to keep 4 ladies warm in a 56 sq ft coop? We have a fully roofed run--south wall is the coop and somewhat protected on the west by our house. We live in the woods--so it cuts the wind, but also keeps things from fully warming up during the day sometimes.

Nice to get to know you all!

 

[feliciadawn]

Hi everyone! I'm from Delaware County

Welcome -- I am from Del County too and also am going into my first winter with chickens.

Felicia

 

[TillyPeeps]

A lot lol. I have silkies, ameraucanas (silkied and smooth), English orpingtons, blue egg laying silkie project birds, penciled turkeys (plus a few other colors), a big African gander, 2 muscovy ducks, and a polish roo lol. Here's are a few pictures

View attachment 2381742View attachment 2381748View attachment 2381750View attachment 2381752

I also have an etsy shop where I make and sell hen saddles of all sizes and chicken tutus (believe it or not, people love them!)

View attachment 2381747View attachment 2381743



Welcome from Cambria County! Is your run roofed? If so, it's pretty easy to just throw some plastic up around the sides of the run or clear tarps/ shower curtains and throw some straw in the run for them to hunker down in on exceptionally cold days. That's all I do for mine. Always leave a gap near the top though for ventilation. Trapped air/moisture leads to frostbite. If your run is not covered, hourly someone else can give advice. My turkey run is not covered but I don't do anything special for them.

I didn't know that you have English Orpingtons. I always want some Buff Orpingtons! Love their color! Do you only have Blue?

 

[TillyPeeps]

Hi everyone! I'm from Delaware County (just southwest of Philadelphia) and have 4 ladies gearing up for their first winter in a big coop we just built. (It was 5 chickens until yesterday, but a neighbor's dog broke into our backyard and mortally wounded our Ameracauna in front of my preschooler and toddler (big drama for our quiet suburban neighborhood! Still working out some big feelings over here...))

Reading through this thread--I'm pretty much a southerner by PA standards and we haven't seen real snow in what feels like ages--I was figuring on just keeping with plenty of deep litter pine shavings in the coop and closing the windows/extra vents aside from the eave ventilation. Think that's enough to keep 4 ladies warm in a 56 sq ft coop? We have a fully roofed run--south wall is the coop and somewhat protected on the west by our house. We live in the woods--so it cuts the wind, but also keeps things from fully warming up during the day sometimes.

Nice to get to know you all!

Welcome from Centre County! Your setup sounds great. My coop is in woods too, but I still decide to wrap it with clear tarps for winter. It's not really necessary. I just want to keep them more confortable.

 

[snailpenguin]

Welcome from Centre County! Your setup sounds great. My coop is in woods too, but I still decide to wrap it with clear tarps for winter. It's not really necessary. I just want to keep them more confortable.

As a fellow woods person, do you have any suggestions for ranging the chickens in the woods in a protected manner? I have a modular PVC mobile run covered in 2" plastic mesh that I've been using to move them to fresh vegetation (protects them from hawks, but only deters predators. It keeps them confined, but it's not entirely flush to the uneven ground, so a determined chicken can escape if she wants--which I suspect led to our recent dog-disaster). All the wheeled tractor-type runs just don't seem feasible for the woods--I want them to be able to eat all the crazy ferns and understory plants we have and keep the bug population down, but still want to protect them. Moving the vegetation into the run to them just isn't the same (and doesn't give me the tick-eating benefits of chicken ownership...)

 

[TillyPeeps]

As a fellow woods person, do you have any suggestions for ranging the chickens in the woods in a protected manner? I have a modular PVC mobile run covered in 2" plastic mesh that I've been using to move them to fresh vegetation (protects them from hawks, but only deters predators. It keeps them confined, but it's not entirely flush to the uneven ground, so a determined chicken can escape if she wants--which I suspect led to our recent dog-disaster). All the wheeled tractor-type runs just don't seem feasible for the woods--I want them to be able to eat all the crazy ferns and understory plants we have and keep the bug population down, but still want to protect them. Moving the vegetation into the run to them just isn't the same (and doesn't give me the tick-eating benefits of chicken ownership...)

I have a large run for them, and let them free range when we at home (We have a fenced yard). I totally undertands your concerns of bug control. Have to spray ourselves before going to coop because all the bugs in woods. Not fun! But our girls are too spoiled to do the bug control job. If you want to move them to different areas, I would think electric pultry netting should be a good choice. Hawks are usually not a big problem in woods, especially if you put several shelters there, like old umbrella, free wood pallets, table, chair, etc. They can hide in bushs too. Electric fence will definitely stop dog, fox, raccoon, bear...

 

[snailpenguin]

I have a large run for them, and let them free range when we at home (We have a fenced yard). I totally undertands your concerns of bug control. Have to spray ourselves before going to coop because all the bugs in woods. Not fun! But our girls are too spoiled to do the bug control job. If you want to move them to different areas, I would think electric pultry netting should be a good choice. Hawks are usually not a big problem in woods, especially if you put several shelters there, like old umbrella, free wood pallets, table, chair, etc. They can hide in bushs too. Electric fence will definitely stop dog, fox, raccoon, bear...

I should look into the electric netting. We have a red-tailed hawk problem, at least now during migration season? We lost our first chicken to one. Our trees are mostly black locust and seem to have ideally placed limbs for the red-tails to perch on and stalk them. Of my original six, five would take cover without fail, but the Buff Rock we had nicknamed "Too Dumb to Live". She was bright yellow and would stand in a clearing and stare straight up whenever there was a disturbance, then one day she was just gone, so we started using the PVC mobile run when the remainder ranged.

 

[TillyPeeps]

I should look into the electric netting. We have a red-tailed hawk problem, at least now during migration season? We lost our first chicken to one. Our trees are mostly black locust and seem to have ideally placed limbs for the red-tails to perch on and stalk them. Of my original six, five would take cover without fail, but the Buff Rock we had nicknamed "Too Dumb to Live". She was bright yellow and would stand in a clearing and stare straight up whenever there was a disturbance, then one day she was just gone, so we started using the PVC mobile run when the remainder ranged.

I don't really have any experience about hawks, so hopefully someone else can give you a better suggestion. We have lots of ravens here, so hawks got kicked out of this area. I'm only dealing with raccons, fox, and bears.