Seeking help from Northern Members on cold weather flock management!

[NorthernChick1]

I live in northern Ontario (Canada) where our winters average around -20C (-4f) and wonder how BYC members deal and manage there flock with this type of cold weather throughout the winter.
There are many methods such as having a heat lamp set up all winter long (scared to have a power outage for to long and chickens get to dependent on the heat source and freeze) and some dont put on at all and leave the chickens get climated with the temp. Im also very scared of frost bite as I have muscovies who have a lot of exposed caruncle... I also have silkies, white leghorns, i.s.a brown hybrids and barred rock chickens.. (total of 12 chickens). Any help is appreciated! I want to prepare myself for this winter.
Note : I have a 7 by 8 well insulated coop for my 12 chickens and 2 ducks.

 

[Mrs. K]

When you first start out with chickens and winter, people tend to think about keeping your chickens warm, and that is a mistake. What one needs to think about is keeping your chickens dry and out of the wind. Dry chickens with wind protection will keep themselves warm, at -35 degrees F or about -37 degrees C.

When I first started, I wanted to lock up the coop tight so as to save heat. Since we were children we're told shut the door, you are heating the great outdoors. But with chickens in a coop, what you are shutting up is the moisture, which will condense back down on the birds. Wet chickens are cold chickens. Think about people sitting in a car with out the heater running, almost immediately the windows fog up. The warm wet moisture from breathing, comes into contact with the walls and window, and condenses. This is very unhealthy for chickens.

Good deep bedding on the floor to absorb droppings and moisture. A LOT OF VENTILATION to let out wet, moist air. When your chickens are roosted, there needs to be about 1 foot of space between their heads and the ceiling. The roosts need to be set up so as they are away from the wall. This allows air to circulate around them keeping them drier. Vents above their heads work well, warm air rises and holds more moisture, rising out of the coop...again keeping the birds dry.

When I first started coming to this website, they would say have good ventilation without a draft... which seemed counterproductive. I have since started to think of it like this, wind protection = close side of coop facing prevailing wind, for me from the north and west. Ventilation in on the south side of my coop, and is open all year long.

I hope this helps

Mrs K

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

I think the chickens' water supply will freeze too, so look into that. They do sell heated waterers but they are expensive, not sure if there are other options out there though.

 

[snow5164]

Hi I live in Manitoba , we have similar winters. Be careful in listening to people that have no idea what a prairie winter is like .

We have a well insulated coop, foam board in walls , ceiling and floors . We’ve heated with a small barn heater for 4 winters just so coop stays above 0. We made cookie tin light bulb heaters for under our waterer .

Leave lights on for 12-14 hours a day . Works for us , we have had short power outages but we just don’t open coop doors til it’s been back on for awhile .

Good luck

 

[Mrs. K]

I don’t have electricity to my coop. I use black rubber bowls and fill them each morning. I use two, as I have found that if I flip a frozen bowl upside down, and the day is sunny even if it is well below freezing, the ice will melt enough for the ice cube to fall out. If not I just stomp it out.

 

[NorthernChick1]

When you first start out with chickens and winter, people tend to think about keeping your chickens warm, and that is a mistake. What one needs to think about is keeping your chickens dry and out of the wind. Dry chickens with wind protection will keep themselves warm, at -35 degrees F or about -37 degrees C.

When I first started, I wanted to lock up the coop tight so as to save heat. Since we were children we're told shut the door, you are heating the great outdoors. But with chickens in a coop, what you are shutting up is the moisture, which will condense back down on the birds. Wet chickens are cold chickens. Think about people sitting in a car with out the heater running, almost immediately the windows fog up. The warm wet moisture from breathing, comes into contact with the walls and window, and condenses. This is very unhealthy for chickens.

Good deep bedding on the floor to absorb droppings and moisture. A LOT OF VENTILATION to let out wet, moist air. When your chickens are roosted, there needs to be about 1 foot of space between their heads and the ceiling. The roosts need to be set up so as they are away from the wall. This allows air to circulate around them keeping them drier. Vents above their heads work well, warm air rises and holds more moisture, rising out of the coop...again keeping the birds dry.

When I first started coming to this website, they would say have good ventilation without a draft... which seemed counterproductive. I have since started to think of it like this, wind protection = close side of coop facing prevailing wind, for me from the north and west. Ventilation in on the south side of my coop, and is open all year long.

I hope this helps

Mrs K

Thanks tons! the whole contour of my coop between the top of the walls and the roof has about 9 inches which the air circulates through, I will be setting up chicken wire to prevent critters but not seal it up with anything else for winter, I also have two nice big windows that are only have chicken wire (No actual glass window) so i guess I will leave them like so for winter as well. Besides from that I am currently seeling up and insulating all the walls for this winter!

 

[lazy gardener]

My winter weather can include weeks at a time when temps don't even get up to minus 18*C Temps often down to minus 29*C. I am in growing zone 4B, 45th parallel.

Chicken wire will not keep predators out. You will need hardware cloth for that (1/2").

General rule of thumb is:
minimum of 4 s.f. in coop per bird.
Ventilation = to 10% of floor space or 1 s.f./bird. Multi level vents helpful, but I close floor level vent in the winter.

I have gable, soffit vents, as well as 3 windows and various doors. If everything is opened up in the summer, there is 65 s.f. of ventilation in 120 s.f. coop! In the winter, the pop door is open on all but the nastiest of days, and 1 or 2 windows are cracked open. Weather patterns almost always approach from the west, so no windows on west or north side of my coop. Awning style windows so they can be open even when raining or snowing. (you can see my coop in the interview in my signature.

My coop is not insulated. but the roof area over their roost is.

My flock also benefits from a winter sun-room: 3 sides of one bay of the run wrapped with plastic, and 1/2 of that bay roof covered with green house tarp. Birds use the sun-room almost every day.

Your greatest enemy during the winter is lack of ventilation. A poorly vented coop is a humid coop. High humidity = frost bite. Adequate ventilation is also a must to prevent respiratory issues from ammonia build up. "Short" coops are also harder to manage in the winter b/c there is not adequate space above perches (recommend at least 18") to keep the birds combs away from ceiling and out of the ventilation exit areas.

I do have electricity in the coop. Use heated dog bowl, and provide light to stimulate laying during the winter. It also allows me to brood chicks in the coop with a MHP style brooder.

 

[Mrs. K]

I too have a sun room in my run. It is a black plastic box for wind protection on the north, and just an old window set up at a slant on the south. Hay on the ground. My birds really like it and spend time there on cold sunny days. It is open on the east and west sides.

I don’t have electricity so I use two black rubber bowls. These will freeze solid in cold weather, but I found that if I flip the bowl upside down, on a sunny day, the ice will warm enough to slip out of the bowl. So each morning I flip the frozen one, and fill the one the ice fell out of. If you don’t get sunshine, you have to stomp to remove the ice.

Many ways of doing things.

Mrs K

 

[itsasmallfarm]

Saskatchewan right here, we hit about -40C here (-40F) or colder in the wind chill.

we use deep litter for the chickens, my ducks not so much. we use one of those ceramic wall heaters, pile straw around the coop, etc..

 

[jvls1942]

When you first start out with chickens and winter, people tend to think about keeping your chickens warm, and that is a mistake. What one needs to think about is keeping your chickens dry and out of the wind. Dry chickens with wind protection will keep themselves warm, at -35 degrees F or about -37 degrees C.

When I first started, I wanted to lock up the coop tight so as to save heat. Since we were children we're told shut the door, you are heating the great outdoors. But with chickens in a coop, what you are shutting up is the moisture, which will condense back down on the birds. Wet chickens are cold chickens. Think about people sitting in a car with out the heater running, almost immediately the windows fog up. The warm wet moisture from breathing, comes into contact with the walls and window, and condenses. This is very unhealthy for chickens.

Good deep bedding on the floor to absorb droppings and moisture. A LOT OF VENTILATION to let out wet, moist air. When your chickens are roosted, there needs to be about 1 foot of space between their heads and the ceiling. The roosts need to be set up so as they are away from the wall. This allows air to circulate around them keeping them drier. Vents above their heads work well, warm air rises and holds more moisture, rising out of the coop...again keeping the birds dry.

When I first started coming to this website, they would say have good ventilation without a draft... which seemed counterproductive. I have since started to think of it like this, wind protection = close side of coop facing prevailing wind, for me from the north and west. Ventilation in on the south side of my coop, and is open all year long.

I hope this helps

Mrs K

X2 well written and right on..

I just want to add.
Muscovy ducks aren't decended from Mallards as are most if not all other ducks.
they do not pull their feet up into the down to keep them warm, . they just lay on top of their feet, which are in constant contact with the ground.
as a result, their feet can freeze and fall off.. You see lots of those at auctions..

I have concrete floors in all of my coops.
First,I put down a 6 inch layer of wood chips. on top of that I spread a whole bale of straw.
My main coop is 12ft x 16ft.
with this method I don't have to worry about spilt water because the water easily filters through the wood chips to the concrete floor.
everything stays dry up above.
My coop has insulated walls and ceiling.
the ceiling has 2x2ft suspended grid tiles. (salvaged) all I bought was the grid system..
when the floor gets too poopy, I spread another bale of straw down..
we get minus -20F here , sometimes for a couple of weeks at a time..
the first year I put the tiles in, I did not have enough ventilation. some of the tiles got so moist that they just dropped to the floor in a mess that resembled thick oatmeal..
I added ventilation and have not had that problem any more..
the more chickens and birds you can put into the coop will help greatly with keeping them warm..
when you can go out on a really cold day and the chickens are walking around on the floor and doing their natural thing, then you have it right..
I have had 100% egg production from 20 hens when the temps were minus -20F... those were buff orpingtons..
End of novel..
.....jiminwisc.....