Who says tight, warm, no draft coop?? Nonsense!!

[chicken ridl]

Now I am second guessing the auto door.
I live in east central Ill. we are flat landers with very few trees all corn fields here. Lots of very strong cold winds from any direction in the winter. I have windows that I close and I would like to close the doors at night. They have plenty of out side pen.
I have a vented ridge cap the complete lenght of the roof. 20 feet that I will not block that for winter. Does anyone know what I mean on the ridge cap? My chicken house doe's not smell,it has a wood floor and is dry. I do get a large pile up under the roost.
It seams to get pretty dusty in there I don't care for that. I run 2 heat lamps only no other heat. Last year I had some frost bite on combs and lots of frozen eggs. I am changeing my roost to 2 x 4s layed flat so they can roost on the 4'' side. I read on here were that will keep the toes from getting frost bite.
My step daughter graduated high school last fall I told her if you don't remember anything I have ever told you remember this.
( from this day forword every day gets a little tougher.) You will always look back and see how much easyer life was.

 

[rcentner]

Everyone seems to have thier own ideas! I am glad to see I am not the only one wonderin what to do for the 1st winter and since we all have different set ups and weather it's so hard to figure out what to do. Be careful what you read...if it's from the 1920's it's proabably not very helpful since there are many new products out there. Like one person said....if I lived in florida, with no predators the open air coop would be great. I love the snow pics from vancouver. I had the first measureable snow fall yesterday and I was surprised that my chickens did not want to come out of the coop even though 1/2 the run is covered and was dry. So today I have work to do! wind block and insulation and food access in the coop (which was not in my plans as I thought they would come out to the runs no matter what the weather). Good luck to everyone in the winter season..I wish no frostbite for everyone!

 

[chicken ridl]

I had to add another comment. I am sure glad I installed my autodoor before the winds.
Yesterday we had gust up to 45 mph. Today it is well below zero with the wind chill.
Sorry i can't buy into the open air 3 sided coops in my neck of the woods.
I have a brand new coop I built this spring. It's 10 x 20 7 feet tall at the peak. I have 3 heat lamps in it.
No insulation and a few air leaks with the ridge cap vented. It was 22 degrees in there this morning.
I have access to 3 outside pens but I have all the doors closed eccept the auto door.
We will have lots of frozen eggs.

 

[rirluvr]

maybe people who live in places where chickens freeze were not meant to have chickens? I mean sure with modern technology everyone is able to provide heat and such but if it were up to nature I think chickens would seize to exist in those really really cold areas or they would adapt. Which breed of chicken is the one known to handle the cold the most? Light Brahmas?

 

[DawnSuiter]

Ya know.. when I first decided to get chickens... I started by finding the breeds that could survive well in really cold weather.
Then when I had a list, I picked them based on other features & information
I arrived at Orpingtons, Cochins & Australorps.

Below zero the last few days.. they don't care.

The aussies have the best setup on the far left, 3 walls of plastic
Everyone else is an Orpington... they are open with plastic on the back and they are fine.

BUT AGAIN... it's not significantly cold here too much. We mostly stay just around 20's & 30's during the day, and the teens at night only.

 

[ksukristin]

Wow this is just a great read! I agree with many other posters that a lot of coop design depends on where you live (my chickens would BAKE in an enclosed coop in the summer here in arizona) what breed of chickens you have (cold hardiness) and what your personal preferences are (or how crazy your chickens are!). I love seeing all of the different and charming coop designs- and how each one responds to the environment and location on an individual basis...just great stuff!

right now I can't help but laugh at how spoiled my chickens are- we're only getting down into the upper 30s/low 40s at night here this time of year and these snowy pictures of some of your chickens are making ME shiver! LOL

 

[rirluvr]

@DawnSuiter

How is that cold affecting their egg production?

20-30's I think are doable. But some people on here say they are way below 0.

*when I was younger I used to dream about living in a place where I could sit on the sofa with a fireplace going and watching the snow falling down outside. Going outside and making snow angels and such. Now with 45 degree weather in California I know I was not meant for the cold. I get up and dread taking a shower and walking out to the cold. Barefoot on tile does not help either. I know now that I was not meant for snow and if I really want to see snow I can drive to see it just for fun.

 

[mistyfeather]

wow...when my husband left for work yesterday morning we were at -11 ! last yere we hit -20 to -25 several times. my friends RIR's dod just fine in an unheated coop. that is what i am geting for cold hardy birds. RIR.

 

[DawnSuiter]

No effect on egg production, this year so far or last. Nest boxes are plastic totes in a dark color so they are nice & warm inside, and there are cool ones too in the shade. Warm water is about the only other thing I am doing. If we indeed are to get a blustery abnormal winter around here, I would probably plastic up the front or perhaps make some "huddle boxes" as we are talking about in another thread. It does seem likely that I will have to do one or the other.. our normal below freezing doesn't start for another month... so it's looking like a bad one this year.