What is everyone doing to prepare for winter?

[fishnet1971]

friends with fowl, Your coop looks awesome as well! I have heard the shavings left all winter produces a lot of heat as well. I may try that too. The hay bales helped around the base of the coop to stop the bitter winds. The only thing bad was that they also hold moisture. I learned DO NOT put them directly on the wood siding. It makes the floor damp.

 

[coolcanoechic]

This will be my first winter with my coop here in New Boston, NH. My DH laughs when he see me scrubbing the roosts and poop board surround (but I know he appreciates the fact that we got through the summer with no odor or pest issues). Your coop is beautiful and I love the new ramp that you've made with the hardware cloth. Can the chickens use it OK? I always thought you needed those little ramps with the rungs attached, I'm such a newbie. @ChickenObsessed, do you use the leaves in your run or in your coop? Our hoop run will be finished this weekend and I was going to install some sand. Should I add leaves or something else too?

The hardware cloth is new to me. I copied it from another member. They said the chickens will get used to it. So far, they will go up, but not down. Silly birds.

 

[coolcanoechic]

Inside.

Most important, MAKE SURE you shovel their pathway to the house so they can come in for oatmeal and hot chocolate.....

and do decorate for Christmas. They appreciate it.




Remember, the girls like pink too...

And they will appreciate a path to the birdfeeder. (sorry, way to many photos... I know...)

Last year, my chickens would not walk on the snow. No exceptions! I had to scrape it down to the dirt before they would go out.

 

[fishnet1971]

they know when they have us wrapped around thier tiny toes.......

 

[7L Farm]

Ahhh, winter my birds love winter. After the 100 degree heat forever & a day its great. My only preparation is blocking off the wind. Throw up a tarp are two & I'm done. Heat is my worse enemy besides predators. It does get cold here & its a different kind of cold because of our humidity level here. Trick is to not block all the windows just block off the wind. Nothing likes cold wind blowing on them but frostbite can cause problems so I just leave some windows completely opened & that normally does the trick. The birds acclimatize to their environment they live in & this helps keep them healthy.
One bit of advice I can contribute is don't wait for a norther to blow in before you react. If you know its coming do what needs to be done ahead of time. Other wise you could get caught trying to put up tarps etc. with a 30 or 40 mile an hour cold wind blowing & it makes for a miserable time .

 

[memechick]

I just found this thread .... I live in NH also and this will be my first winter with the girls so I am heeding all the advice possible.

Rekkas Peeps ........ are you going to the seminar in Carlisle, MA? With terryg?

Fishnet ......... I love your pictures!! I think I can see MayMay .......MayMay is famous. How is she doing .... I was reading that she had a couple of rough weeks.

Coolcanoechick ........ the heated bowl that you designed ...... what size bulb do you have in there ....... and do you just put a standard stainless steel bowl over that? DH is going to replace the roosts this weekend with 2x4's mounted on their sides so the girls can protect their feet ...... right now they have 2x2's.

 

[coolcanoechic]

Hi Gloria,
The heated bowl I use inside the coop is actually a rabbit hutch water dish. It runs only when the temp drops. The other thing I am going to try is a flower pot with a bulb. It may not work. I'll have to wait until it gets cold enough to try it. It may require a bulb with high wattage, but I got one of those thermo cubes to plug it into. Hope it works. If not, I'm sure I'll find plenty of cookie tins around Christmas time.

 

[Jakoda]

This will be my first winter with the chickies. As you can see I have it partially roofed, if I can't afford to throw a couple more panels on the roof, this winter I plan on tarping the rest of the roof. The sun rises behind the coop so in the winter, with no leaves on the trees, I'm counting on some solar heat. Since alot of the wind comes in from the west, I plan on using either some plastic to block off the top section of the sides and hang some to be able to "drop" it down the bottom half in case of bad weather.

I'm not to worried about heat inside the shed, the sun hits it daily thru the winter, and it's usually not to cold here.. I do like the rug on the roosts idea tho!

 

[coolcanoechic]

Last winter, I put plastic up around my run too. It blocks the wind as well as keeps the blowing snow out.

 

[Jakoda]

someone gave me an idea today at work, instead of plastic, Im going to try heavy duty clear shower liners !! much cheaper