Surviving Minnesota!

[Bogtown Chick]

 

[Molpet]

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how do you keep the poultry from snacking on it?

 

[ketojenn]

That silver stuff is pretty tough. Wish I'd thought of that.
I have thin foam board under house wrap on my walls and ceiling. Open vent all along the top of the walls. I had terrible condensation issues. We had weeks and weeks below zero. Below -20 actually. Chores become CHORES.

I am planning a woods coop now and will modify my old coops for brooding or housing the odd bird. Hoping it works as well as it's touted.

 

[ketojenn]

I the Great Chicken Wrangler of the banana belt made an error Tuesday ...


I have had less than stellar hatches again this year. I have had poor fertility or no eggs in the breeds I want. The hatches have been poor with too many failure to thrive chicks.

I have had too many heat shrink wrap in the shells. In addition I am not getting good SS... I think my SS are too inbred. I might need to buy a good rooster somewhere.. road trip ahead!

My humidity is a tad low in the hatcher I would guess with the shrink wrapping.. I really need new sponges but being cheap and never prepared I have not ordered any.

When I disinfected the hatcher the sponges disintegrated. I had one slightly used one and found 2 smaller natural sponges at Wally’s World.

It was still running a tad low. 50%...I had the door open for a while when putting new eggs in...so I put a rag on the water and hung it over the edge to wick some moisture out and into the air.


I have done this before flawlessly...

The rag must have high wicking ability..as the humidity last night was 95%.

I think I killed this hatch off now.

Fingers crossed for you.

 

[ketojenn]

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I use this stuff as my sleep pad when backpacking. I sleep in a hammock and use this under me to stay warm. Doesn't matter what the temperature is, hammocks are cold.

 

[Cebarmlds]

Where’d they come from?

They’re just hatchery birds.
I will butcher them if I have to. I don’t want to though

 

[bobbi-j]

Hello fellow Minnesotans...I've been on another thread, and wondering what your opinions are on insulated coops? Most have been saying don't do it, humidity and mice become a problem. Is it a waste of time, or do any of you do this?
Sorry if this is beating a dead horse and it's been discussed a billion times, I did type in the search "Insulated Coops", but I guess I'd really like to hear from people who live in this state. Thanks for any info, or any direction to articles about this!

I don't insulate or heat my coops. Large combed birds get "winter dubbed". I have yet to have a chicken with frostbit toes.

 

[CindyinSD]

It was really cold here this past winter and last night the low was at least 15 degrees. WOW! Worst winter ever. I’m genuinely worried we’re on a cooling cycle. We’ve been talking about Missouri... And we LOVE the Black Hills.

About the insulation, you can do that, but if you do, you NEED to make sure you provide adequate ventilation. I’m planning to sheath my “accidental” chicken coop (metal tool shed) with siding this summer (assuming there is a summer), and I think I’ll put rigid foam insulation in between the existing roof and a second layer of metal roofing. Basically I guess I’m gonna build an outside building around the inside one. LOL. Maybe I’ll insulate the north wall. Not sure. I don’t want to make it too tight.

I did finally give in and put in a heat bulb in the coop light fixture this past winter (well “past” winter is a matter of calendar dates...) Beyond that it was just the hens, the deep bedding, and the thin metal walls. They did fine.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

My boards are a 1/4-1/2 inch off plumb on my coop and 3 old paned glass windows seem to be pretty airy too. I will tell you that I tried straw on my floor this winter and the birds and their feet really liked it. I think I’ve found the solution to my cold coop floor. Only took me 6 years to find good straw in small bales instead of that shredded stuff.

Welp. I. Am. Weak. In . The. Head.

I went into L & M in the Rapids
Two barnevelders and two midnight majesty Marans later I’m setting up a brooder at 9:30 at night.

Ahhh shucks.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I think sometimes the question about insulation is a good one. And actually there are no hard standard answers. My grandparents did not heat or insulate coops because they had about 50 laying hens in a perfectly ventilated wood coop/ building worn to perfection and anybody looking slow or with broken toes frozen was Sunday dinner for my Dad, uncle and grandpa.

Number of birds, The size of the coop matters. Substrate on the floor matters. Ventilation. You can get by with very little and birds thrive. I find in the cold that keeping them dry and hydrated and feet under the breast feathers (a good roost) are your first lines of fighting the cold. First and foremost.