Think it's too cold for your chickens? Think again...

[mulewagon]

We had torrential rains yesterday - nearly three inches - and the chickens were soggy and bedraggled all day. They still looked like wet mops when they went to roost in their chainlink-and-tarp kennel. It froze last night.

I just let my dry, fluffy chickens out of the coop this morning, and they're stuffing their craws and drinking ice water (I kicked the rubber bowl to break up the ice film).

My coop is simple, but I hope well thought out. They have tarp on three sides at roost level, to break the draft. I rake the dirt floor and shovel it out every so often, so there's no ammonia smell. It's still damp this morning, but the chickens spend most of the day out in the pen, anyway.

 

[ellieroo]

Quote:
Are not the old ones priceless they teach so much! My guys are in their early 20s so minimal blankets are on order.As for my chicks I agree The coop is very well made but the electricity not there yet.PNW winter caught DH not done yet!

So rather than heat lamp they will have a 75 watt bulb! 8x8 coop mix of bantys and BCM & welles. I think your words I wouldn't choose to be cold says it All !

 

[Mrs MIA]

-11°F here this morning, 57% humidity. I need to put my wireless T° sensor in the coop to see what they're keeping it at. There's no food or water in the coop, but just outside in the sheltered run area. I heard crowing, and when the light turned on a little bit ago I can see birds out in the run. Most are inside the coop, where the 50+ birds are probably really steaming it up.

The window is still open a bit, and the pop door just has a towel hanging over it. I'M the one not looking forward to going outside this morning.

Gotta wait until my hair is dry... nothing like instantly crispy frozen hair.

 

[WYchicks]

Quote:
And this whole time I've been worried about the poop building up! Our girls are refusing to leave the coop, so it's been a struggle to get in their with DE & more pine shavings - we do DLM & in nice weather I'm adding DE & shavings about once per week - but now that they're huddled in the coop b/c of the wintery cold, they're leaving MORE droppings in the coop. Good thing is - the poop is freezing before it can soak into the shavings!

I guess my only concern is when the weather warms up & all of that "stuff" defrosts...

 

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
And this whole time I've been worried about the poop building up! Our girls are refusing to leave the coop, so it's been a struggle to get in their with DE & more pine shavings - we do DLM & in nice weather I'm adding DE & shavings about once per week - but now that they're huddled in the coop b/c of the wintery cold, they're leaving MORE droppings in the coop. Good thing is - the poop is freezing before it can soak into the shavings!

I guess my only concern is when the weather warms up & all of that "stuff" defrosts...

It will be nasty, make no mistake about that!! LOL! With good ventilation and management, this will help keep some heat in the coop, too.
This is the first year I'm not going to stress about keeping the coop spotless... mostly because my supplier for free shavings is pretty much shut down for the winter and my stockpile is quickly dwindling. I'll remove the worst of it, and put fresh on top, so hopefully it won't be too stinky. It's an experiment...

 

[LeezyBeezy]

This will be my second winter in southern Maine, but my first with chickens. I have no plans in heating the coop, but I would like a heated waterer. (I grew up on a horse farm where we hauled a lot of hot water from the house, until my parents got smart and put a small water heater in the tack room). Right now, the temps are pretty warm- but have been dipping as low as the 20s at night. We've already had snow, but it melted yesterday.

My question is more about ventilation and drafts.

We have a large, three story barn. The coop, built by previous owners, is in the back corner, inside. So, two sides are the outside walls of the barn, a third side is a solid wall up to where the ceiling would be, and the forth wall is solid up to about 36 inches high, then wire. The "ceiling" is wire, so essentially it is open to the whole barn. There is no "ceiling" or second story floor here- some previous owner removed it. The next ceiling is up to the third floor. Next to the coop, the barn doors are missing the bottom foot of wood.

Yes, a previous owner ripped out the wood floor in the barn, filled it in with sand, but not to the previous height!! So, right now I have hay bales stacked to block the air, but it's not perfect. We have probably 40 or so windows in the barn, total. Most were broken, but all but a few have been repaired. But a fair amount of air moves through, but they let in a lot of light too- which the hens bask in.

We have 6 hens, and the coop is ridiculously big, like about 16 x 24. I don't even bother opening the pop door or the door to their run these days. They free range most of the day, and go in or food and water, but then right back out. I know that they would be warmer if the coop itself was smaller, and enclosed more (our horse barn was always warm inside). I realize that our ventilation is probably good, but can I have too much? Would it be worth splitting the coop in half, adding another wall? I would think the open ceiling would cancel that idea out. So, should I cut the coop in half and add a roof? Even if it's just heavy plastic? And if I did that, would the open wire area on the fourth wall be too much and let the natural body heat out? I think 3 walls let plenty of air move too- the boards have some small gaps.

Sorry to be so long winded

, and thanks for any input.

 

[woodmort]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Quote:
And this whole time I've been worried about the poop building up! Our girls are refusing to leave the coop, so it's been a struggle to get in their with DE & more pine shavings - we do DLM & in nice weather I'm adding DE & shavings about once per week - but now that they're huddled in the coop b/c of the wintery cold, they're leaving MORE droppings in the coop. Good thing is - the poop is freezing before it can soak into the shavings!

I guess my only concern is when the weather warms up & all of that "stuff" defrosts...

It will be nasty, make no mistake about that!! LOL! With good ventilation and management, this will help keep some heat in the coop, too.
This is the first year I'm not going to stress about keeping the coop spotless... mostly because my supplier for free shavings is pretty much shut down for the winter and my stockpile is quickly dwindling. I'll remove the worst of it, and put fresh on top, so hopefully it won't be too stinky. It's an experiment...​

I've been doing this for years--never a problem once I got rid of the ducks--they kept the area around the waterer a wet, half frozen mess. Like above, I toss a bale of shavings in my 12 X 12 coop once or twice during the winter to cover up what isn't composting fast enough and haul it all out in April.

 

[Mrs. K]

LeesyBeesy - use cardboard, it is cheap, and actually a good insulator. The barn itself should keep it fairly dry. I have read that you can make a coop much smaller, and therefore warmer, but just putting in empty boxes. And cardboard is pretty light weight, so depending on what is supporting your wire "roof", you could put a layer up there and that would warm things up easily and pretty darn cheaply, without a carpenter.

Mrs.K

 

[emarble]

OK Guys and Gals I am a little bit old school born and raised in the great state Of Missoura! My father and mother had chickens in a 20 x 40 concrete building and always kept heat lamps on to keep the frost from forming and I have learned from that! Lots of humidity here in missouri and lots of cold and wind! My father would have been 99 this year and i am 57! I would not want to sleep out in 20 degree weather with just a down filled blanket and I really don't think my girls would like it either! My father always take care of that which you are responsible for as if you were taking care of yourself! By that I Live and believe! I live a surburbia life and have electric heat and running water but still live by the words of an old farmer who used his chickens and his cattle as his livelihood! One chicken lost would have meant that that was one less dinner and 200 or so less eggs a year thats a lot when your feeding a family of 5 kids and 2 adults!!

Ernie

 

[woodmort]

OK, here's my final post on this for the season:
Most chicken can adjust to changes in climate and season if they are given time to gradually adapt. There may be a few breeds and some bantams that, because of their small body mass or lack of deep feathering, have problems with cold but most of the breeds that BYC people are keeping will do fine. My first suggestion would be that if you live in any area where cold temperatures are expected that you not keep these breeds or build a huge, indoor facility for them. This cold adaptability isn't something I just decided this winter nor when I first overwinter them 25 years ago but has been ongoing for as long as people have been keeping chickens in the temperate and subarctic regions. Gradually those raising chickens have weeded out those animals that did not adapt to the cold and kept the hardiest ones. Now if you choose not to believe that and feel your birds would prefer not to be cold then by all means, supply them with a 250w heat lamps, kerosene heaters, ceramic heaters, oil heaters, heat plates or whatever to raise the temperature in their homes to nice comfortable levels. As long as this is done using good management practices I'm sure your birds will be very happy. It is just that I have, through my own experience and from the experiences of others, learned that it isn't necessary and choose not to do it. Since I have never lost a bird to cold in my years of keeping them, I'll continue in the practice.

Just keep in mind that there is a downside to to artificially adding heat. Very few chickens survive even minor coop fires. Also when power is lost and, with it the heat, the birds cannot adapt that quickly to a rapid drop of temperatures (it doesn't even have to be to subzero) which will put them under stress, stress leads to diseases and diseases can be fatal. You pays your money (in electric bills I might add) and takes your choice.

BTW, I can't wait for the "My chickens are dying from the heat." posts next summer.