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[delisha]

Winter in Wisconsin can be challenging for the coops. It is very important to make sure your coop is draft free yet it has good ventilation. If you put your hand under a sleeping chicken on a cold bitter night, you will feel warmth and dampness. They generate humidity and heat in Wisconsin. It is very important for high humidity regions to keep the coop dry. A damp coop can damage combs. We have windows in the peaks of the coops and they are left open a crack during the winter. We also have installed a natural air exchanger in the roofs. Fresh air flow is important.

We deep litter to help with natural heat. That little pile of leaves, straw, wood chips, and dirt makes its own microbial activity center for the chickens. They scratch threw it daily to look for goodies and help with stiring. When we clean the boards we simply add it to the dry litter to create a good bacteria factory and encourage good growths to keep the chickens healthy. If it gets too dry we add L.A.B.S. to generate and promote healthy growths.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...e-easiest-way-to-deal-with-chicken-litter-dlm

To relieve boredom we hang fruits and vegetable they have to work and jump to eat them. There is less for them to do during snow storms and spend a great deal of time in the coop. Exercise is vital for good health. We have an emergency tote for the chicken filled with things we might need.






shoveled paths..the birds are out of the coops after i shovel..even in deep snow they find goodies by bushes and under leaves I have not raked.

activity strings

fresh herbs, straw and deep litter.

all three buildings are coops..that is a lot of snow to shovel..you can barely see the paths.
air exchanger on roof


Fresh water is important during the winter. They need liquids to generate heat. We have several heated water containers and a back up generator if the electricity goes out. I worry about water more than food. They can find all kinds of food in the deep litter, but no water. I keep extra containers of water available.

 

[Our Roost]

prov31mom23, Jokingly, you should call this the "Tunnel of love".

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Very cold and humid here in winter, very hot and humid in summer and not my first year with chickens by a long shot.
Keeping a hygrometer in the coop told me I didn't have enough ventilation. Every coop I build has bigger openings. 9 Housing units now. The last 6 have 1/3 or more of both the East and West walls open. If a bad storm approaches I drop the vented shutter over the opening toward the prevailing wind. Otherwise the breeze moves right through. I don't seal all the cracks either. I've never lost a chicken to cold but plenty to heat.
I do line the walls of the brooder house with straw bales - after all, they're just chicks.

 

[AppleJackAcres]

Ventilation and moisture. This is what everyone is saying I'm sure. This year I plan on making more vents at the top of the coop, keeping the coop dry, adding clear plastic vinyl around the run to make a green house effect, and checking the humidity in the coop. My coop is well insulated and I keep a small heater inside to keep the temp around 40-50 degrees. Besides the ventilation the other key is making sure that their bedding is dry. The one thing I will be doing this year is adding sweet pdz to their bedding. I was just at the ARBA convention over the weekend, they had a stand there and explaned all the different uses of pdz. Besides using it with horses it can be used in rabbit hutches, chicken coops, and even cat litter boxes. Pdz helps with odor control and it also helps with moisture control. Keeping the coop dry and well ventilated is essential to keeping the chickens happy and healthy. pdz pet deodorizer

 

[minifarmkat]

We have a small space heater in the coop that works double duty. Not only does it keep the girls warm but it's close enough to the water reservoir to keep their water from freezing. My grandmother used to tell me that chickens get warm from the inside out, which seems to explain why they love the warm water in winter!

 

[SilkieMom8875]

We have a small space heater in the coop that works double duty. Not only does it keep the girls warm but it's close enough to the water reservoir to keep their water from freezing. My grandmother used to tell me that chickens get warm from the inside out, which seems to explain why they love the warm water in winter! 

I don't mean to be rude but isn't that a fire hazard ??

 

[minifarmkat]

Maybe if it wasn't installed correctly. Ours is an infrared heater (much safer than the ones with the exposed elements). It also has a rabbit wire cage around it so that none of the girls or any of their debris can come in contact with it, and it's pretty high on the wall so they shouldn't have contact with it in the first place. We thought out every worst case scenario we could think of and took steps to prevent it.

 

[SilkieMom8875]

Maybe if it wasn't installed correctly. Ours is an infrared heater (much safer than the ones with the exposed elements). It also has a rabbit wire cage around it so that none of the girls or any of their debris can come in contact with it, and it's pretty high on the wall so they shouldn't have contact with it in the first place. We thought out every worst case scenario we could think of and took steps to prevent it. 

Oh good to know. Thanks for clearing that up for me!!

 

[minifarmkat]

Oh good to know. Thanks for clearing that up for me!!

No problem, I should have specified in the first place.

 

[Farmer Viola]

Living in the Pacific Northwest, our winters are very rainy. We rarely drop to freezing temperatures, but constantly battle moisture problems.

To winter-proof my hens, I add 2 solid walls to their run so they have a windbreak, with a breezeway. The roof of the run is half covered for summer, and fully covered in time for the winter rains.

For the coop itself, I make sure to sprinkle diatomaceous earth (DE) in the nests and inside the coop, *before* the rain starts (around August). DE helps absorb moisture and kill insects, preventing lice and mites. I also rub their legs and feet with olive oil in September to keep them from getting scaly leg mites. Nothing like a greased chicken all prepped for winter!