Preparing Your Flock & Coop for WINTER

[mymilliefleur]

I've got to get a hoop house ready for my bantams today, so I can get them out of their chicken tractors. there the only ones I'm worried about. I going to keep my layers out on pasture through the winter. their coops are pretty wind tight, and they did fine last winter, so I'm not that worried. I'll just take them some warm water and mash in the morning.
It's supposed to be 32F here tomorrow.

 

[jtn42248]

Boy that is a sight to see! I'll bet the businesses are closed, and those who are on the roads are crashing and sliding off the roads. Folks down south usual don't have the tires meant for that type of weather because it is very rarely needed, nor the skills to drive in it. And the homes and businesses are not usually insulated or built to handle the cold hence the many broken burst water pipes. I hope everyone your way gets through this with very few problems and everyone stays warm and safe! Prayers for Yall.

Your chickens and ducks......haha....funny! I can picture the chickens putting the brakes on when they saw the white stuff.....LOL

You can see the highway from our dining room window and last night the cars were only going about 30 mph (speed limit is 75) and there were no 18-wheelers...and it is one of the busiest internodal highways in the area usually. Things opened late today but no closures. Definitely slowed everything down but at least not to a screeching halt.

 

[alifeouthere]

This is our first winter with our coop. It holds our 7 girls really snugly. My husband made the coop out of barn boards, and so there's no insulation inside, other than the shavings, sand, and straw bedding I have mixed on the floor pretty deeply. I'm wondering if it will be too drafty for the winter and if I should cover the side or just the window with plastic sheeting. As you can see wind can blow in between the boards, but I don't want to completely rid them of ventilation. I do have two sides of the run sheeted off to block the wind for them a bit, but not sure if I should do the coop as well.

 

[iwiw60]

This is our first winter with our coop. It holds our 7 girls really snugly. My husband made the coop out of barn boards, and so there's no insulation inside, other than the shavings, sand, and straw bedding I have mixed on the floor pretty deeply. I'm wondering if it will be too drafty for the winter and if I should cover the side or just the window with plastic sheeting. As you can see wind can blow in between the boards, but I don't want to completely rid them of ventilation. I do have two sides of the run sheeted off to block the wind for them a bit, but not sure if I should do the coop as well.

If that window is just an open-air screened opening, then yes, plastic that off. If that's your only source of ventilation (it's hard to see from your pics) then rig it so you can leave it open a crack unless if it is causing a draft directly at them while roosting. You say you have 7 birds "snugly" in there....from what I can tell, that coop is around 3' x 5' (????) What breed of girls do you have, are they large breeds? Reason I'm asking about coop size and breeds is that coop might actually end up being a too tight for them. Chickens produce a huge amount of heat, even when it's snowing outside. You don't want the coop to feel damp/humid at ALL. It isn't the cold that'll kill them, it's improper ventilation and too tight of quarters.

 

[alifeouthere]

If that window is just an open-air screened opening, then yes, plastic that off. If that's your only source of ventilation (it's hard to see from your pics) then rig it so you can leave it open a crack unless if it is causing a draft directly at them while roosting. You say you have 7 birds "snugly" in there....from what I can tell, that coop is around 3' x 5' (????) What breed of girls do you have, are they large breeds? Reason I'm asking about coop size and breeds is that coop might actually end up being a too tight for them. Chickens produce a huge amount of heat, even when it's snowing outside. You don't want the coop to feel damp/humid at ALL. It isn't the cold that'll kill them, it's improper ventilation and too tight of quarters.

Thanks for the input! The coop is 3x4. We have 3 RIRs, 3 Aruacanas, and a Plymouth Barred Rock. I'll plastic off the window part way just in case. There is a vent at the roof level across the entire back of the coop, above where they roost. The spaces between the barn board siding also allow for ventilation - I'm just not sure if they are TOO much.

 

[iwiw60]

Thanks for the input! The coop is 3x4. We have 3 RIRs, 3 Aruacanas, and a Plymouth Barred Rock. I'll plastic off the window part way just in case. There is a vent at the roof level across the entire back of the coop, above where they roost. The spaces between the barn board siding also allow for ventilation - I'm just not sure if they are TOO much.

Oh, boy....you've got big girls...yikes! Okay, the coop is 3' x 4' which equals 12 sq.ft. Large breed hens need a minimum of 4-5 sq.ft. in the coop. So 7 birds x let's say 4 sq.ft. is 28 sq.ft.!!! That's not taking into consideration their roost bar/poop tray, waterer and feeder (I see your nesting boxes are on the outside...whew!) Don't bother with trying to seal up those cracks between the boards, your girls are going to need air!

With winter setting in it's really too late to do anything major, but spend the winter re-thinking your setup for sure. My coop is 5' x 8' and I have 4 Black Australorp ladies in there, and let me tell ya, I would only put maybe 2 more birds in there. Here's my BYC page with some pics:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/g/a/6818345/pictures-of-my-coop-run/

 

[islandgirl82]

Oh, boy....you've got big girls...yikes! Okay, the coop is 3' x 4' which equals 12 sq.ft. Large breed hens need a minimum of 4-5 sq.ft. in the coop. So 7 birds x let's say 4 sq.ft. is 28 sq.ft.!!! That's not taking into consideration their roost bar/poop tray, waterer and feeder (I see your nesting boxes are on the outside...whew!) Don't bother with trying to seal up those cracks between the boards, your girls are going to need air!

With winter setting in it's really too late to do anything major, but spend the winter re-thinking your setup for sure. My coop is 5' x 8' and I have 4 Black Australorp ladies in there, and let me tell ya, I would only put maybe 2 more birds in there. Here's my BYC page with some pics:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/g/a/6818345/pictures-of-my-coop-run/

x2!!

I also have a flock of 7 and 4' x 8' walk - in coop and some days (particularly the inclement weather days) that's not even close to enough. Lack of space causes stress which leads to fighting, illness, lack of egg production and a whole mess of other issues - even cannibalism. Your coop is cute but you may want to seriously consider, either reducing your flock down to no more than 3 birds or building them a good sized addition

 

[alifeouthere]

Oh boy! I'll have to have my construction crew rig an addition up real quick! Thankfully it does have two levels inside so that it has more floor space, but the coop plan said it could fit 8 large birds!

 

[islandgirl82]

Unfortunately, prefab coops and some designs severely overshoot the number of birds their coops can adequately hold. My starter coop was a prefab and it was advertised to hold 4-6. Yeah right. I wouldn't have kept more than 2 adult sized birds in there and that was without feeder/waterer inside. I had 3 in it for about 6 weeks (a rooster and two hens) and even though they got to free range all day, the girls stopped laying due to stress. I've kept it for an isolation/starter coop when I need back up but that's the only thing it's really good for.

 

[iwiw60]

Oh boy! I'll have to have my construction crew rig an addition up real quick! Thankfully it does have two levels inside so that it has more floor space, but the coop plan said it could fit 8 large birds!

As with almost all pre-fabs, they over-quote how many birds can be housed in them. Like @islandgirl82 I also bought a pre-fab...said it was good for 4-6 birds. My neighbor friend came over and we put it together. Aside from the fact that it was the driest, cheapest (China) wood I've ever seen, it was like a doll house!!! My neighbor looked at me....I looked at him....and we both started cracking up laughing!!

That's when I bought a LifeTime Shed (walk-in...yay!), built my own run and have never looked back...best of luck to you and let us know how your re-design goes!