- Apr 16, 2011
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I live in Hampton Roads, Virginia. The climate here is more similar to coastal North Carolina than the rest of Virginia, and I'm occasionally reminded of my childhood partially spent in South Florida, even. The past two winters were epic, worst in twenty years severe. Normally we'll get a hard frost in November and they'll stop by March, with plenty of mild days and an average low right around the freezing point throughout the winter. Every now and then enough snow will fall that it actually sticks for an hour or so.
I have an old storage shed that we're rehabbing into a coop. It has two sections, and right now the plan is to turn the narrow one into the chicken side and leave the other side for somedaygoats. The narrow side is maybe three feet wide and eight feet deep, with siding and plywood walls and a (planned) corrugated plastic roof. It's also raised up off the ground a bit. The front is open, no door or provision for one. How necessary is a door in that kind of winter? If they can get out of the wind and roost, and it never really gets THAT cold (and if it was calling for epic winter I could move them, I have options) will they be okay through winter? If I can make do without a door, I want to attach a six foot high dog kennel fence directly to the front of the building and cover the gaps with some sturdy welded wire fencing or some such, plus more across the top to protect from hawks. I'd like them to go in and out of the coop freely, and I would have access the same way they did. Adding a door to this and not having gaps would take some engineering.
Any thoughts? If it matters, the chicken breeds in question are Buff Orpington, Leghorn, Wyandotte, Cinnamon Queen and possibly some Silkies to come.
I have an old storage shed that we're rehabbing into a coop. It has two sections, and right now the plan is to turn the narrow one into the chicken side and leave the other side for somedaygoats. The narrow side is maybe three feet wide and eight feet deep, with siding and plywood walls and a (planned) corrugated plastic roof. It's also raised up off the ground a bit. The front is open, no door or provision for one. How necessary is a door in that kind of winter? If they can get out of the wind and roost, and it never really gets THAT cold (and if it was calling for epic winter I could move them, I have options) will they be okay through winter? If I can make do without a door, I want to attach a six foot high dog kennel fence directly to the front of the building and cover the gaps with some sturdy welded wire fencing or some such, plus more across the top to protect from hawks. I'd like them to go in and out of the coop freely, and I would have access the same way they did. Adding a door to this and not having gaps would take some engineering.
Any thoughts? If it matters, the chicken breeds in question are Buff Orpington, Leghorn, Wyandotte, Cinnamon Queen and possibly some Silkies to come.