Preparing Your Flock & Coop for WINTER

[henless]

Wait I thought commercial standards were 2 sq ft inside and 4 outside? Either way though it's still pretty small.

ETA: Though obviously the more space the better. But I just have seen books say 2 (even the one co authored by the BYC persob

) and people building coops on Craigslist claiming 3-6 birds can fit in a 3 foot x 3 foot coop, 6-8 in a 4x4 etc. And it makes me cringe

My coops are 10x10, runs 10x20. I keep mine at 10 chickens per coop or less. My chickens like to hang out in my coops, so I don't want any overcrowding. One of my coops I have 5 English Orps, and I belived that is the limit for that coop. They are so big, and it looks tight already.

 

[Beekissed]

I have a 10x12 coop~all floor space open~ and I never winter over more than 15 LF in that space, usually less. Right now I'm going into winter with 13, last winter it was 9 or 10. Most of the winter they aren't confined by snows or cold, usually the month of Feb. only and they have other lounging areas outside of the coop in which to be in the daytime.

It helps if they have different levels of being if one has less space, so low roosts or a hay bale or something similar so they can stand up on something and groom away from the flock is a nice thing. I have a stump, sometimes I'll put in a hay bale for winter.

 

[cicknmama]

I don't know how I managed to miss your question! I'm sorry...I'm usually more on the ball than this.  (And not ONE of you others better say one word about that!  :/ )  Our total run space is made up of 4 cattle panels.  There were 3 when the photos were taken but it was a snap to add another this spring.  That's approximately 17'x17'.  You can make them wider by spacing the supporting fence posts further apart, but that takes away some head room, which I really wanted.  Right now I have too many chickens in there..there are 9 hens and 19 pullets.  But culling time is upon us, plus we are taking some back to my brother later this month.  We hope to overwinter no more than 12.  

No, no...as the raven flies.     When our granddaughter was little I overheard her talking to her dad on the phone.  She was telling him how far something was from the house and she said, "Gramma says 10 miles as the raven flies."  Her dad must have corrected her because the next thing she said was, "Dad, have you seen the size of these black birds out here?  Ravens, not crows."  Ooo-kay. Guess he got the message!  

Awww, cute story! Thanks for sharing

 

[EaeMre]

Beautiful coop! Did you build or order the building?

 

[ShrekDawg]

My coops are 10x10, runs 10x20. I keep mine at 10 chickens per coop or less. My chickens like to hang out in my coops, so I don't want any overcrowding. One of my coops I have 5 English Orps, and I belived that is the limit for that coop. They are so big, and it looks tight already.

I have a 10x12 coop~all floor space open~ and I never winter over more than 15 LF in that space, usually less.  Right now I'm going into winter with 13, last winter it was 9 or 10.  Most of the winter they aren't confined by snows or cold, usually the month of Feb. only and they have other lounging areas outside of the coop in which to be in the daytime. 

It helps if they have different levels of being if one has less space, so low roosts or a hay bale or something similar so they can stand up on something and groom away from the flock is a nice thing.  I have a stump, sometimes I'll put in a hay bale for winter. 

Wow you guy's coops are so big! That's good though. And the multi level thing is a great idea! Does it help if they have a huge run and/or free range?

 

[cicknmama]

Beautiful coop! Did you build or order the building?

It was a shed kit we purchased at Lowe's. Then we just added our poop boards, perches and ventilation. It went together pretty easy.

 

[henless]

Wow you guy's coops are so big! That's good though. And the multi level thing is a great idea! Does it help if they have a huge run and/or free range?

It makes them happy. No feather picking, no cannibalism. They get to dig, run, flap around and roll in the dirt.

You don't have to have a big giant coop, but you do have to have enough room for the amount of chickens you have. The more crowded they are, the more problems you have.

 

[ShrekDawg]

It makes them happy. No feather picking, no cannibalism. They get to dig, run, flap around and roll in the dirt. 

You don't have to have a big giant coop, but you do have to have enough room for the amount of chickens you have. The more crowded they are, the more problems you have.

I'm thinking I'll try to make the run as big as possible then. I also want to free range them but not sure about the hawks. Guess we'll see.

And thanks, I was worried because we don't really have the room (or skills) to have a huge coop like that (plus I think it might count as a shed and need to be permitted) and it almost sounded like it had to be at least that big. Obviously I want it to be as big as possible but want to stay within my skills and budget and everything, you know?

I had heard that 4x8 was fine for 8 but that that is the max so now I'm not sure. I had 9 but one died the other night. But I was going to make a small extension rather than squeeze the 9 in. I might still try to make it as big as possible. Again though, I am going to try to free range but if I can't or decide not to I really don't want them to be miserable.

They're all bigger birds too so I may need even more room.

There were 2 of each Barred Rock, Black Australorp, Buff Orpington, and Easter Egger and 1 free one but we are down to just one BR now and I believe the free one might be another Buff Orpington because it looks exactly like the others, yellow with buff patches, same stature, and very friendly, but someone said all 3 of their extras were Leghorns so I am waiting to see, they only turned a week old yesterday. But even if it's not another BO, even just two BOs and two Australorps I am sure take up a lot of room

 

[ShrekDawg]

Oh and also, so far it's been very warm this week and I believe is supposed to be next week too (but still very cold at night) and I was planning on putting them in garage tonight but now it's dark so I think I will wait till tomorrow morning but anyway, when can they actually go outside outside? I know usually it's 6-8 weeks to fully feather and I am using MHP method so could maybe be anytime but I don't want them to be too cold. The garage is probably as cold as outside though and I don't have a coop built yet but I guess what I am trying to say here, and not able to do it very well apparently, is that by the time they feather out it will be like the middle of winter... I know they tolerate cold and all and I can't just put them from the house to the coop but do people put chickens outside in winter? Do I need to wait till spring? Or will they be fine? Also, like I said, it's really warm during the day right now so will they be shocked if I put them out in the garage and it's warm then suddenly really cold or will they be fine? Should I bring them in at night for a few days or should I just turn the heating pad up and stick them out there? I guess they have to get used to it sometime, right?

 

[NTBugtraq]

Since I cannot free-range, I built along the side of my house. I have an 8 x 10 nesting room, and then 42' x 10' of roofed run (mesh on the south wall only), split into a 24' space and an 18' space. The 24' space is my main laying flock (currently housing 39 hens/pullets, 1 rooster, and 2 cockerels, but intended to hold 100 layers and 3 roosters), and I have 67 in the "young birds run" ranging from 4 weeks to 17 weeks. The young birds coop has ~300 sq.ft. of outdoor space (fenced and covered with mesh).

No pecking, no fights, everyone seems to get along, even though the pullets/hens are of different colorings. My project breed is multi-colored (breaking apart genes leads to many different colored birds), which makes it easier for them to integrate with others. It helps to have lots of roosts, I have 72' of roosts in both runs.

The biggest problem I am having is that very young birds are being squished by the mob in one particular corner. I have been trying various boards in the hopes of finding a solution, but it would seem they feel cold enough to keep pressing, and eventually a weakling ends up at the center. One reason not to have young birds at the beginning of winter, I suppose.