Temporary winter wind break ideas

[Folly's place]

@doublecrossranch , I'd worry that strong winds will tear that plastic wrap apart, unless it's better attached. Has this worked before, or is it new this year?
Mary

 

[doublecrossranch]

@doublecrossranch , I'd worry that strong winds will tear that plastic wrap apart, unless it's better attached. Has this worked before, or is it new this year?
Mary

This is a trail run. We have our first “winter” event this week. We will see how it turns out.

 

[jreardon1918]

We are in SE Mass, so hello neighbor. This will be our 3rd winter. We will use dollar store clear curtains. We tape the curtain to a 1x2, roll it around the board. Then ace it to the run. Works great. The plastic inert the coop is 3 years old. It is 4 mil plastic which worked. But i prefer the real see thru.

 

[Alaskan]

I should say.... I have only now, after 5 or 6 years, put up some plastic panels on the run wall of the duck run.

I still have nothing up around the coops, except one window in the bantam run.

But then the bantam coop is in a very sheltered location, and my chicken coops are large.

 

[doublecrossranch]

My husband thinks I’m stupid for putting up plastic. I know it’s more for me than the chickens. Lol

 

[CityslickerHomestead]

My husband thinks I’m stupid for putting up plastic. I know it’s more for me than the chickens. Lol

Same.
And he’s the one who wanted the chickens in the first place! But who takes care of them? Me.

 

[doublecrossranch]

@CityslickerHomestead HAHA. He thinks chickens are pointless and women’s work. Lol. He grew up on a 16,000 acre cattle ranch in Wyoming. He hates the taste of chicken but loves eggs.

 

[RustyBucketFarmGirl]

I've been reading about winter wind breaks, coop/run orientation and wind directions, and I just wanted to point out that it really helps if you look up the predominant wind direction where you live, because that varies. I found a very patronizing-sounding thread where somebody was talking at length about how important orientation is, how south is the best direction for everything, etc. etc. but in reality, not everybody gets their worst winds from the north. This varies greatly within the US, not to mention that this forum has members all over the world, and I imagine things are quite different in Australia, for example. So I looked up the average wind direction in Boston where I live, and it turns out that most of our wind comes from the west, year round, but especially in the winter. And our least windy direction is east, so I'll probably cover 3 sides completely, like Alaskan suggested, and leave one side fully open, but now that I know this, I'll leave the east side open, not the south side.

Ours too! All the trees in town are leaning to the East! We have some of the worst wind in OH where i am at and it comes from the west a majority of the time.

 

[Compost King]

I staple Cardboard to my coops to reduce wind drafts and retain more heat. By the time winter ends its all wet and falling off and the chickens start scratching it up then start pooping on it etc... then when i clean out the runs its become part of the composting.

for certain birds with large combs in need of a little extra heat I put fresh manure in a feed bag and screw it over my Hardware cloth doors so not only does it block cold drafts it ends up slightly heating up the air as it comes in.

 

[Acre4Me]

Ours too! All the trees in town are leaning to the East! We have some of the worst wind in OH where i am at and it comes from the west a majority of the time.

OH here too- winds nearly always from the west, especially in the winter. But with storms, some winds come from the northwest too. We were lucky that the barn blocks the main winter winds, so we put the coop fully behind the barn. But north winds will blow right through the run, so this year am thinking we should put a wind barrier IN the run, but where it will shield them when the go under the coop, and will shield the pop door. Our coop is elevated 2.5 feet, and has an access deck and railing, so putting a piece of clear roofing on the deck railing along the steps might be the answer for us, rather than on the outside of the run fencing.