I am a new chicken keeper as of this spring. I have 2 olive eggers, 4 light brahmas and one misc breed. All hens.
My inside chicken coop is in the corner of a garage that is not heated or insulated. It's in the shape of a hoop coop made of cattle panels. The exit for the chickens is a ramp up to a window that goes down and out into their outside chicken run. I have large and medium size flake of purchased pine shavings for their inside coop bedding. I have been doing the deep litter method and so far so good. The reason I chose to do deep litter method was because I want to compost the used deep litter and because I learned the deep litter method keeps them warm in the winter. I have not changed out the bedding yet. I was waiting to do that in the spring which will make it a whole year by the time this is done. I was told once or twice a year to change out bedding is fine. I live in Iowa. We can get pretty cold to below 0 at times. The floor of the coop is concrete under the deep litter. I do plan to throw a tarp over the top of the coop for added insulation this winter.
The outside run is also in the shape of a hoop coop. There is no floor in it. Just about a foot of sand over top of the soil. I have a tarp over the top but I do plan to add more tarps to the sides and most of the front while leaving some areas open for ventilation. I understand it's the moisture and drafts that are most concerning for chickens in the winter.
So to get to my confusion. I was watching a video on preparing for winter for your chickens. In the video it said to take out your deep litter and add new bedding before winter. This really confused me because one of the main points I thought was for the deep litter to produce heat and if you change the bedding now it's not going to produce any heat. Did I watch a video that didn't understand that or where am I wrong in my knowledge of all this? I definitely don't want too much moisture for them. And how much ventilation is enough? I will try to take pictures of my coop to attach.
On a side note I think maybe I will have to move their roosting bars lower so not by the window during the winter. Or if the outside run is closed in enough maybe the roosting bars are ok there. I will have to play around with those thoughts as well. I will shut the window in between every night and likely put a piece of something insulated in between the window and coop maybe as well when it's the coldest.
My inside chicken coop is in the corner of a garage that is not heated or insulated. It's in the shape of a hoop coop made of cattle panels. The exit for the chickens is a ramp up to a window that goes down and out into their outside chicken run. I have large and medium size flake of purchased pine shavings for their inside coop bedding. I have been doing the deep litter method and so far so good. The reason I chose to do deep litter method was because I want to compost the used deep litter and because I learned the deep litter method keeps them warm in the winter. I have not changed out the bedding yet. I was waiting to do that in the spring which will make it a whole year by the time this is done. I was told once or twice a year to change out bedding is fine. I live in Iowa. We can get pretty cold to below 0 at times. The floor of the coop is concrete under the deep litter. I do plan to throw a tarp over the top of the coop for added insulation this winter.
The outside run is also in the shape of a hoop coop. There is no floor in it. Just about a foot of sand over top of the soil. I have a tarp over the top but I do plan to add more tarps to the sides and most of the front while leaving some areas open for ventilation. I understand it's the moisture and drafts that are most concerning for chickens in the winter.
So to get to my confusion. I was watching a video on preparing for winter for your chickens. In the video it said to take out your deep litter and add new bedding before winter. This really confused me because one of the main points I thought was for the deep litter to produce heat and if you change the bedding now it's not going to produce any heat. Did I watch a video that didn't understand that or where am I wrong in my knowledge of all this? I definitely don't want too much moisture for them. And how much ventilation is enough? I will try to take pictures of my coop to attach.
On a side note I think maybe I will have to move their roosting bars lower so not by the window during the winter. Or if the outside run is closed in enough maybe the roosting bars are ok there. I will have to play around with those thoughts as well. I will shut the window in between every night and likely put a piece of something insulated in between the window and coop maybe as well when it's the coldest.
The main difference is that deep bedding will not compost enough to provide warmth to your chickens due to a lack of moisture. In the winter, this is actually a good thing because the excess moisture can lead to frostbite. Whether you change out the bedding before winter is up to you. I only change out the coop bedding once a year or so - when it breaks down and becomes super dusty or if I have to treat for mites before that happens.
