The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[RedRidge]

I don't even close the hen house door unless it's below 20. My breeding pens have nothing but screen on one side and we will be in the single digits in a few hours. They will be fine... Really

 

[Jewelwing]

IMO, it's too cold to be out when your nose hairs freeze.

Haha! That's exactly what I've always said! My kids always moan and tell me that's gross when I say it. But seriously, we all have nose hairs!

I have had the wood stove cranking for hours and it's only 73 in the house.

I put 3 layers on to go outside and check the girls again. Stella hopped down again. Apparently she thinks I was bringing another bed time snack......
Some snow got in from the winds so I blocked up one side of the open end at the north end. The big girls are on the roost 5 ft away directly in front of it standing up. Guess the wind isn't making it in the coop to them

I didn't think it was just the snow from winds coming out of the west.

Edie is so poofed up she looks triple her normal size. Her & Lucy are cuddled close and Lucy was purring when I came in

At least I know their warm & happy (yes I checked feet all are toasty warm)

The heated water bowl is keeping the water unfrozen. Will have to see in the am if its still working ok. Tomorrow more shavings, big bowl of bird seed in the coop and small bowl of FF in the heated dog bowl that I can fill several times before work. Think I am going to put tarp on fence as well to block winds from west to see if they venture to the food crate tomorrow.

One of mine did that tonight too when I sprinkled some dried meal worms in the DL for them to find in the morning. I was surprised she could see well enough to find them! She didn't stay long before she went back up onto the roost.

Mine didn't go outside at all today - I think the snow plus the wind freaked them out. So I did bring in some ff inside the coop for them, and also a bowl of snow (I figured that was safer than a bowl of water on the DL, plus it's already frozen!). It was cute watching them eat the snow! I was happy with myself for thinking of this solution to frozen water!

When it's this cold, the ff freezes pretty fast, but instead of giving them just dry food, I mix dry with the ff so it's sort of semi-moist when I give it to them. Then what they don't eat right away freezes and the next time I go check on them, I smash it into little chunks. They eat those, and I don't have to worry about it freezing more. Right now, they have a couple pans of frozen chunks of ff to eat in the morning (plus the meal worms!), so even if they don't go outside, they'll still have something to eat and keep busy.

Do any of you that get really cold temps (let's talk F here as I'm math challenged)...say below -20 F... put any heat relief in your barns or hen houses?


Aoxa - I think you said the barn was warmer inside than your outside temp. Is that due to the heat the animals are generating or do you have some kind of heat in there?


Now I know all the reasons not to heat. I'm just curious if any of you WI or CN people (or other very cold temp areas) ever have a line you draw at which you do something about heating.

This is one of those discussions going on all over right now with temps hitting just below 0 F. in many areas of the country and people are freaking out about their birds and even talking about bringing them inside the house.

I just want us all to hear from you in colder areas about your experiences and practices.

I know. I'm worried about Sunday night. They're predicting -12F for us, and then a HIGH of -3F on Monday! Yeesh! I'm a California girl, so this is going to be a new experience for me, since we've never been this cold since moving to IL 17 years ago.

I can't seem to get my coop draft-free, so I do worry about the cold temps plus the wind. It seems like air gets in around the edges of the windows I've blocked off, and it's too cold for tape to stick so I can't seal up the edges. Also, air comes in around the doors (both the pop door and the people door, which is just a storm door, so air comes in around the sliding window in it as well as the edges of the door) . Maybe I need to switch which side of the coop has open windows and which side has blocked off windows, so the open windows are on the same side as the doors. I could probably do that Saturday since the high is supposed to be above freezing (maybe the tape will stick!). Boy it sure helps to think things through as I write them! I'd been worrying about this all day, and the simple solution didn't come to me until just now!

I still can't figure out how much ventilation I need, though. It's such a small coop (6' x 6') that I can't really have too much open without the air breezing in on the chickens, especially when they're on their roost. The roost is about 4' off the floor (less now, with the DL!), and the low point of the roof is 5' (the peak is 6-1/2'), so the birds aren't too far below the windows. So I really don't want to have too much window open, or it will blow all over the girls, but of course I don't want to have it too closed up either, especially with them spending so much time inside today! Maybe I should dump some more pine chips to cover up the new poop tomorrow. That might scare them outside too!

Oh, hey, I have two laying now! I can't remember if I posted that yesterday or not (good grief!). I got to watch Ethel lay her first egg, and I managed to convince her to do it inside a nest box! I think my birds aren't impressed by the plastic Easter eggs, but when I showed Ethel the egg Dina laid (I held it out to her and let her peck it) and let her watch me put it into a nest box, that seemed to convince her to lay in there. She scraped around in the box for about a half hour, then sort of half stood up and I heard a clunk (she'd scraped a spot down to the wooden floor of the nest box). And there was her egg! It was a nice size too, a little bigger than the ones Dina's been laying. And she laid another one today. So here we go!

 

[Leahs Mom]

C.R. -
I only have the pop door open during the day and nothing else. I do have 2 tiny vents at roof height (probably 3x7" each) on opposite ends of the shed and one roof vent which is covered by snow currently. Nothing but these are open at night as they stay open all the time.

Of course I open the people door several times a day when I go out to them, but I close it behind me while I'm in or I'd have a wind tunnel going on.

The pop door is on the east side which is to the left on this photo; doors and window are on the north side.


There is the tiny vent at the peak and the roof vent.



I have found that I don't have any issue with needing more ventilation open for any of the normally stated reasons. However my roof is higher and the overall floor inside is 8x12 which may make a difference from yours.

I've just decided to go by my nose, and the wind blowing inside. If I was smelling anything that is an issue, or feeling any problem of too high humidity then I'd adjust things. (Of course, remembering that you can't have any lower humidity inside than the outside humidity...)

So my thought is that if things are okay (as in "not broken") I don't worry about fixing them. But I do think you have a good idea on using the windows that are on the same side as the door IF YOU NEED THE WINDOWS OPEN AT ALL. That makes sense to me and fits with the "Fresh Air" poultry house designs...no matter how large or small they were.

I wish mine was set in such a way that the pop door and people door and windows were all on the same side. So far, however, I still wouldn't feel it necessary to keep a window open at all in my situation.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Oh...CR... would you post a photo of your coop?

 

[mithious]

Same issue going on here in far northern NH. VERY high outside humidity with temps tonight -10 or lower and tomorrow supposed to be -28 real temps...can't imagine what the windchill will be! Our humidity, even in this cold, has been 100% or higher, so there is more moisture in the outside air than the inside of the coop! I do have a poop board, and scrape that every am. Even the frozen stuff will give off moisture. I use a putty knife, to scrape the poop up. It does help. A warm breakfast and warm water during the day helps them too. My DIY water heater does not keep the water from freezing when we get this cold! I have not used added heat yet...very scared of fires! I have considered it though, on these really frigid nights.

I have read a ton on the Alaskan thread and got some great ideas, although they have very dry cold, as opposed to the very wet cold we have here on the east coast.

I have only the high vents open also. I tried opening up more ventilation, and my coop flash froze in a minute or two. I ended up with 1/4th inch of frost on the entire inside of my coop. Talk about a mess!!!!

I am still planning and trying to adjust for the outside humidity and frigid cold, so have no definite answers either, except that, in my case, less ventilation, during these frigid temps with outside humidity 100% or higher, has been working better than more ventilation for my birds. My cockerel got some frostbite on his comb and wattles with more ventilation during these frigid temps and high outside humidity.

I also started giving the flock a warm water mushy pellet and crushed up egg breakfast and keeping their water warm often. In these temps. even the day time temps are below 0, even the heated water freezes, so I do fill them up with as warm water as they will drink, as often as I can...atleast 3 times a day, more often if real temps are -7 to -10 during the day.

I also try to keep their bedding as dry as I can. I add scratch in the afternoon, so the girls get the bedding all turned nice, and that helps keep it a tad dryer and add new as needed.

Gonna be a very long winter this year, so stay warm all and best to you and your flocks!

 

[mithious]

We had a ton more snow until that weird couple day 35 degree days of rain??? The temp swing was about 80 degrees.

I took this pic, during the few moments of sun we had, Jan 1st 2014. We have been in deep winter since the first of Nov 2013!

Tomorrow's real night time temp is supposed to be -28 F.

Glad we built the coop so close!

 

[lalaland]

When my wood fire gets cranking too much, I use my red-neck thermostat. It's called a window.

x2, nothing feels better than cold fresh air when the woodstove gets too hot - for me, thats about 72 degrees, and I have to open the porch door

Hahahahaha that's awesome.

When I get it in the 80s in here on a rare occasion I just put shorts on. I worked to hard for that wood heat to let it go out the window lol

I know, seems a bit of a waste but it is only for an hour or so and a good fire in the stove heats the place for hours.

Do any of you that get really cold temps (let's talk F here as I'm math challenged)...say below -20 F (That's NEGATIVE 20 F)... put any heat relief in your barns or hen houses?


Aoxa - I think you said the barn was warmer inside than your outside temp. Is that due to the heat the animals are generating or do you have some kind of heat in there?


Now I know all the reasons not to heat. I'm just curious if any of you WI or CN people (or other very cold temp areas) ever have a line you draw at which you do something about heating.

This is one of those discussions going on all over right now with temps hitting just below 0 F. in many areas of the country and people are freaking out about their birds and even talking about bringing them inside the house.

I just want us all to hear from you in colder areas about your experiences and practices.

Its the extended - 20's that get to me. I have had a heat lamp in one end of the coop for about a week or more now. It still stays -10 to about 5 above zero in that end of the coop. And when it has been closer to -30 outside, the inside temp at that end of the coop is -15. I don't have a thermometer in the other half of the coop, but it is definitely a little chillier in there.
Had to carry booster around yesterday, poor bugger was trembling the whole time.

I'm not looking forward to Mon night colder temps, it is -19F now.....

 

[aoxa]

Do any of you that get really cold temps (let's talk F here as I'm math challenged)...say below -20 F (That's NEGATIVE 20 F)... put any heat relief in your barns or hen houses?


Aoxa - I think you said the barn was warmer inside than your outside temp. Is that due to the heat the animals are generating or do you have some kind of heat in there?


Now I know all the reasons not to heat. I'm just curious if any of you WI or CN people (or other very cold temp areas) ever have a line you draw at which you do something about heating.

This is one of those discussions going on all over right now with temps hitting just below 0 F. in many areas of the country and people are freaking out about their birds and even talking about bringing them inside the house.

I just want us all to hear from you in colder areas about your experiences and practices.

http://www.wbuf.noaa.gov/tempfc.htm
Use this website. It's what I do.

It's probably warmer because of the deep litter and the chickens themselves. No heat at all. The insulation helps keep in any generated heat from the litter.

I'd only draw the line if I found they were acting strange.. not just one or two, but many of them.

I do heat that brooder room, and some of my silkies are in there. Nora is as well. Most of my silkies are in the coldest part of the barn that doesn't get much warmer than outside.


You can see my windows open here. I normally have it more opened, but I do put it down to just a few inches when we are getting snow.

On warmer days I open up the side windows for a cross breeze. These three windows provide enough ventilation when it is this cold.


Everyone acting well

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thanks, Aoxa. What you said about observing behavior is great advice.

I did forget to say that my little hen shed is insulated as well.

 

[armorfirelady]

Sally I wonder if some hay down on the floors when your temps are so low would help? They could nestle in the hay for warmth?

I haven't ventured out yet but it's 1f and with the wind chill -15 and still snowing but it seems the winds have died down some. I can see a few girls roosting still. I'm going to make some oatmeal to take out to them and put some more shavings down. I might even grab a bale of hay while I am out just to put some down in the coop and on the floor of the walkway and a frame.

As for vents the side ones are blocked pretty much. I have wood at an angle over them and snow is piled on it. The roof ones I sweep he snow away from them since it seems when they are blocked the smell is more noticeable.

But first I need to get my layers on before going out,