Thanks!

[deedeebird]

I had posted about some of my chickens not roosting at night and received a nice answer. Thanks to this web site I looked under coops and found something that will work for a small roosting area. How far up off the ground must it be temporarily...until winter starts? I found a secure small kennel I used for my baby animals and will just shut it up at night if the chickens go in the roosting area. If not will the night air be OK for them...in other words how well can chickens tolerate cold? My chickens are pretty well protected at night. I have 4 ranch dogs that run the property at night. Not worried about coyotes..just the big cat.

 

[silkiechicken]

Depend on how cold is cold for you. For many years my chickens slept under a tarp year round, but our winters in the Seattle area are mild, at worst a week or two of 20's. With good ventilation, I've never had frost bite. The roost can be 6 inches or 6 feet from the ground. It is up to you. If you have big birds, over 10-12 lbs or so, you may consider roosts 2 feet or lower.

 

[JackE]

Chickens can handle the cold really well. Check out the link below, about open air coops. You can see on pg 24 about chickens being kept in an open air coop with -40F temps. Cold they can handle. But like the other poster said, good ventilation is a must have, even through winter.
Jack

http://archive.org/stream/openairpoultryho00wood#page/n7/mode/2up

 

[deedeebird]

Thank you for your response. Gathering up the things I need right now from the shed. Yes, I think I will put it lower to the ground. The chicken trailer I have it really quite nice. The ranch kid down the road was doing some work at a neighbors and brought it to me. 7 feet long and 3 feet wide. I have 10 chickens so I thought it would be large enough to house all them at night. Of course I have a large turn out for them so they are able to run around.

 

[deedeebird]

Thank you. We don't get real bad minus degree weather but we do get snow and down to the 16's etc. in the winter. I live in the mountains at about 5000 feet so we do get some pretty good winds. I do have trees around the coop to provide shade in the summer and wind block during the winter. I sure am enjoying the chickens. Got them for my birthday in march of this year...now just waiting for some eggs from the girls!

 

[DLV58]

JackE, interesting book