Toys for the Winter Chicken House

[MROO]

-40 is the same in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.

Translation: "Brrrrrrr"
Too freakin' cold to be playing around outside unprotected!

 

[MROO]

I agree with wrapping at least part of the run. You could wrap that lower door or put in a piece of plexiglass. Even if it's only accessible from the exposed run, it would give your girls another protected place to hang out.

There's not a lot of room for "toys" in the upper coop, but you could hang a chicken swing parallel to the gable peak. Hang it high, but keep it short, so your ladies can't make any "deposits" on their roosting coop-mates. You could put a mirror on the wall, but adding that extra "occupant" may make the space seem "crowded."

You can also grow some trays of grass or other greens (lentils are cheap and sprout easily.) A friend of mine sprouts trays of wild bird seed in water - no soil or paper towels. When she wants to add greens, either as a supplement or a boredom buster, she just lifts off the plastic and cuts out a root mat. I love the concept, but I can't keep my cats out of the greens!

 

[Rangergord]

I have clear polycarbonate on all sides of my lower run and under the coop. Warms up during the day and blocks the wind. They go into the run all day though our daytime lows so far have been 15-20F. Even at 0 and negative numbers, I think the clear polycarbonate or clear shower curtains would give enough of a greenhouse effect and block the wind that they would be comfortable enough to get out into the run. Clear is better because it allows light and solar energy to pass through increasing the temperature vs solid or dark colors/surfaces because of their reduced light transmission. Learned that clear plastic was better than black plastic when composting in the winter.

Polycarbonate especially double wall is awesome. Just a bit of sun on it and things warm right up inside. It has been very expensive for a long time but lately I see the price coming down, probably because it’s imported from China now, and we don’t have duties on it.

 

[Ponypoor]

We're in our first winter with chickens in Alberta. We've already had some temperatures below -20 (and everything so far has been great). I know when it gets REALLY cold (-40) we might need to keep the birds in their house all day. Their run is full of all sorts of toys, mirrors, perches, ladders, etc. I purposely haven't put anything in their house for their entertainment because they only use it for laying eggs and sleeping. But should I put something in there for those (hopefully just a) few days this winter when it will be bitterly chilly? If so, what are some great ideas that take up little space? I don't want my hens to turn on each other.

We have 4 hens. We're doing the deep litter method with hemp bedding (probably about 7 inches deep right now).

The "living space" of the house is probably about 3'8" by 3'8" (it was 4x4 but we lost some square inches to the insulation). The nesting boxes are outside of this so those aren't included in these measurements. We have 1 roosting bar that is 4 feet long and a foot away from the back wall. They have a heat panel on the back wall which I can operate from my phone at different heat settings if it gets really cold (I have a hygrometer in there that measures the temperature and humidity which is also connected to my phone so I can keep an eye on it all times). (I'm amazed at how much their little bodies heat up their house through the night!) The christmas lights on the ceiling are for me more than the chickens - I turn them on for a few seconds to check the inside of the coop when it's dark outside. I'm not worried about drafts or ventilation.

Their pop door is manual so I go out every morning/evening to open/close it. It's smaller now that what is shown in the picture. I enclosed part of it so that only one girl at a time can go in/out.

I COULD open their pop door on those bitterly cold days. Do some chickens stay in the coop and some go outside? So far all of ours have spent every day outside in their run. They only go in to lay their eggs and then come right back out. I'm shocked really by how hardy they are. We did get a hybrid breed that is "designed" (for lack of a better description) to be both cold-hardy AND have a good laying record. (They're Lohmann Browns.) I don't want them to develop any bad behaviors inside their house in the worst of winter.

So to circle back to my question for you seasoned chicken veterans in cold lands.... should I put any sort of toy/entertainment inside their house for those -40 degree days?View attachment 4262644View attachment 4262645View attachment 4262646

That’s a very cute coop. I personally wouldn’t put anything in the coop, on really cold days you can give them raw veggies like carrot or a head of cabbage to keep them entertained. This is what I do here.

If you haven’t done so, I would wrap the outdoor run with heavy poly to act as a
wimd break, and make a lovely micro climate - I know you get more sunlight during the day than I would get, so that will help warm up the run if it’s enclosed. Speaking of daylight you’ll need to supplement them with vitamin D - I use this product
https://chicknswell.ca/products/chickn-calcium

You can likely get it at Hashbrown homestead supplies.

Hope you girls are doing well so far - only 138 days till May 2 4!

 

[Ponypoor]

Polycarbonate especially double wall is awesome. Just a bit of sun on it and things warm right up inside. It has been very expensive for a long time but lately I see the price coming down, probably because it’s imported from China now, and we don’t have duties on it.

Still horrendously expensive here unfortunately. But I love it, I use it instead of plexiglass for windows in
The barn door.

 

[Ponypoor]

We're in our first winter with chickens in Alberta. We've already had some temperatures below -20 (and everything so far has been great). I know when it gets REALLY cold (-40) we might need to keep the birds in their house all day. Their run is full of all sorts of toys, mirrors, perches, ladders, etc. I purposely haven't put anything in their house for their entertainment because they only use it for laying eggs and sleeping. But should I put something in there for those (hopefully just a) few days this winter when it will be bitterly chilly? If so, what are some great ideas that take up little space? I don't want my hens to turn on each other.

We have 4 hens. We're doing the deep litter method with hemp bedding (probably about 7 inches deep right now).

The "living space" of the house is probably about 3'8" by 3'8" (it was 4x4 but we lost some square inches to the insulation). The nesting boxes are outside of this so those aren't included in these measurements. We have 1 roosting bar that is 4 feet long and a foot away from the back wall. They have a heat panel on the back wall which I can operate from my phone at different heat settings if it gets really cold (I have a hygrometer in there that measures the temperature and humidity which is also connected to my phone so I can keep an eye on it all times). (I'm amazed at how much their little bodies heat up their house through the night!) The christmas lights on the ceiling are for me more than the chickens - I turn them on for a few seconds to check the inside of the coop when it's dark outside. I'm not worried about drafts or ventilation.

Their pop door is manual so I go out every morning/evening to open/close it. It's smaller now that what is shown in the picture. I enclosed part of it so that only one girl at a time can go in/out.

I COULD open their pop door on those bitterly cold days. Do some chickens stay in the coop and some go outside? So far all of ours have spent every day outside in their run. They only go in to lay their eggs and then come right back out. I'm shocked really by how hardy they are. We did get a hybrid breed that is "designed" (for lack of a better description) to be both cold-hardy AND have a good laying record. (They're Lohmann Browns.) I don't want them to develop any bad behaviors inside their house in the worst of winter.

So to circle back to my question for you seasoned chicken veterans in cold lands.... should I put any sort of toy/entertainment inside their house for those -40 degree days?View attachment 4262644View attachment 4262645View attachment 4262646

FYI I love the flowery wall paper! Awesome!

 

[Ponypoor]

Very true, but few of us have a feel for how quickly the two systems diverge on either side of -40°.

Note: I would be miserable at this level of cold on either scale. I whine bitterly at 22°F (-5.5°C).

Anything less then 28C (82F) is cold
For me…… I looove winter….

 

[Ponypoor]

Hilarious! I am in the Peace River region. I notice my birds don’t like the outdoors at about -20C . They start complaining at -15. A plastic covered run to increase the space is what I have. They have 8 square feet per bird in the Coop and 8 square feet in the run. That way I have few behavioural issues. I also have a 180watt chicken heater that I use at -20 and below. Raises the coop temp by 10 C but not above freezing so there is no excess humidity.

Spent much time out your way (up on the Chinchaga), my weekly drive to town was to PR every Sunday….

My gang starts showing cold stress at about -5C I try to keep warm up locations for them. I have three that overnight in my heated feedroom.

While I find they handle the cools better than heat, extreme cold they just don’t tolerate well. Last week I got one of those portable diesel heaters used for camping, I did a temp hoard in of the hot air hose to see how it worked - awesome! The chooks and I hung out by it for a few hours. My barn is likley too big for it to heat the whole thing, but I bet it would warm up @mightybeckster outdoor run if it were enclosed - giving added living space.

Food for thought anyways.

 

[Ponypoor]

Translation: "Brrrrrrr"
Too freakin' cold to be playing around outside unprotected!

Yep, don’t blink your eyes will water and you lashes freeze together

 

[Rangergord]

Still horrendously expensive here unfortunately. But I love it, I use it instead of plexiglass for windows in
The barn door.

Check out the link below. The biggest issue I have here is transportation. This works for me.
https://share.temu.com/BxGUnUsk2ZA