Topic of the Week - Kitting out the Coop

[junkman56]

I do not supply any heat in the coop for my chickens. It went down to 12 degrees here and the chickens did just fine. their down coats keep them warm enough. ventilation is key to healthy chickens in the winter. Just make sure there are no drafts on the chickens.

 

[TerryH]

Unheated coop with tons of ventilation. Coop temp was exactly the same as the ambient. 3 degrees Saturday night. 8 degrees last night. Chickens were out in the run at first light going crazy like they always do.

 

[TerryH]

Thanks for the info.  Any suggestions on how to vent, but keep the heat in?  The inside of the coop with the heater on hovers around -2 to -5 C while outside the temp plummets to -27 or better not including wind chill.  

Opinions vary but I feel very strongly that it is a mistake to have auxiliary heat in a coop. What if the power is out? The chickens are amazingly adaptable to their environment, cold weather included.

 

[snywalker]

Opinions vary but I feel very strongly that it is a mistake to have auxiliary heat in a coop. What if the power is out? The chickens are amazingly adaptable to their environment, cold weather included.

X2
The year we had heat in the coop, the power went out and a few died, even though the temp was only about 0. When we don't have anything, everyone is fine even when it's -20*F.

 

[Glennlarch]

Well what I have come to understand is that these birds are fairly well suited for the colder temps. From other posts, people mentioned that they are good to -25 C ( -13 F) with no supplemental heat. Wild birds seem to have it figured out...?
Maybe I'm interrupting the course of what naturally should happen with chickens in winter. Rather than allowing them to stop egg production and divert their energy to growing great insulation, I am manipulating this with artificial light and temps to support egg production instead.
What can I say?? I like my eggs. The question is how do I feed my own need for eggs, and feed the chickens needs to be healthy, strong and able to weather the winter. I suppose I could install vents (holes in the overhang covered in chicken wire and on the floor) but now it seem heating the coop is futile as all the warmed air will escape through the very same holes.
Suggestions welcome....thanks

 

[junkman56]

ventilation , ventilation, ventilation that is key for healthy chickens in the winter, you want the moisture to escape the coop thru the upper vents, if the moisture has no place to exit, your chickens can and will get frost bite.
do a search on BYC for ventilation, you will learn quite a bit... I did

 

[cooliechick]

My old coop, now deceased due to a huge Douglas fir tree, had a large screen window ( 3' x 3') on the south side, and, a smaller one (1' x 2') up by the roof on the east side. Luckily, no chickens were harmed, though the tree landed right next to the perch they were sleeping upon.

It can get as cold here as in the low teens (F) and, not get above freezing for about a month. Never the less, I have had chickens in it for years with no problems, and no heat. It was clean and dry year round.

After the loss of the coop, I am now using chain link dog kennels (6' x 12') with tarps or metal roofing over the top. The sides have plastic tarps around two or three sides. I still have not had a problem with any of my chickens.

I agree with lots of ventilation and no heat. I do give them warm water when watering during the freezing times. I am thinking of creating lids for my nipple water buckets to stop the freezing of the water. I'm going to start with ordinary light bulbs, voltage depending on heat from the bulb, and a plastic or metal hood that will fit over the water buckets. In the beginning of this thread, there is an interesting heater on top of a nipple bucket... I wonder where it can be found. I'm thinking a similar set up only with a small bulb.

My soil is quite sandy so there are no drainage problems. When it starts needing cleaning, I turn over the soil with my spading fork. This turns up beloved bugs and new scratching ground. My goal is to raise the quality of the soil in this area. A win - win for me until I have to find a new area for them.

 

[redsix]

It's the time of year when our flocks spent much of their time indoors, in their coops, so this week I want to talk about coops and what we put in there for our flocks. Specifically...

- What bedding/material works best for the coop floor and the nest boxes?
- How can you keep the coop dry, especially now, over the winter months?
- Roosts and nest boxes - How many do you provide, how much space on the roosts, what do you use as nest boxes and how do you make them attractive for the hens, etc?
- What "boredom busters" can you provide to amuse and distract bored, cooped up birds when the weather is really bad?
- What else do you provide/do to make sure the flock is happy and comfortable in there?

I like use good quality second cutting hay. It has mostly flat blade grasses and fewer stem grasses than first cutting, so it is nice and soft. Chickens also seem to enjoy eating some of it.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Coop is approx 3.6x3.6metres
I use a combo of bedding... Coop is on dirt floor. Sand mixed in dirt for one area so great for dust bathing, straw in nest boxes and in brooder coop, straw also used on some floor to cover dirt. Some sand under roost for easy scoop poop cleaning. Heavy duty Bbq mats used on some of the floor for easy cleaning and stops animals things digging through, also good for keeping floor drier as the dirt often gets wet in Winter even with entire top half of 3 sides of the coop open for ventilation.
I have 14 chickens currently and there is spare roosting space for additions.
Roosts up on shelves so there is multi level space for them to move around if weather is bad and they stay inside.

Roosts on the left, nests and brooder coop on right. Sand bath space at the back area. Plenty of storage space on top of shelves too.
I must admit I do love the sand, I'm so glad I tried it. No more shoveling out tons of straw! And it's great for a wet weather dry dust bath!

 

[Dlepage]

This is our first winter with chickens so I will be following this thread. We are in Michigan.

We are in Kitchener Waterloo Ontario and it’s our first winter with our pet chickens
I have a sand floor inside the coop and inside the run. I also put clear plastic over the run to block snow and wind. They seem very comfortable. I have two cozy coop heaters by their perch and only set them to low just to keep the chill off them at night. I have no food or water in the coop but I have a heated water supply and all the food they want in the run. This keeps the moisture down in the coop. No frostbite I scoop poop every morning so no smell