Winter Food & Water

[jreardon1918]

We only have 5 Hens at this point. So 5 gallons lasts quite a while. To fill the bucket, I just bring a gallon of hot water out in the morning and top off the bucket. No carrying a 5 gallon full bucket for me.

 

[wamtazlady]

Not quite as far north as Ontario. We are in SE Mass. The water and food stay in the run year round. We wrap some of the run with plastic. This is a picture from two years ago. We now do the wrapping with dollar store clear shower curtains. They are more see through. As you can see, we leave about 12" open on the north and south sides. The door faces east and is not wrapped. The 5 gallon water bucket has horizontal nipples and a 250 watt stock tank heater.

I tried dollar store clear vinyl shower curtains this past winter. Part way through the winter they disintegrated. I'll be paying more money and get mine at Walmart from now on.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

... get mine at Walmart from now on....

Like those will be better quality.

 

[wamtazlady]

Like those will be better quality.

I have bought and used clear vinyl shower curtains from the dollar store and Walmart. The dollar store ones were ripped, in poor shape, and had to be replaced in February. The shower curtains from Walmart were removed in April and could have been reused if I had been careful when I removed them. Being in a hurry I just tore them down. So yes, I do believe the ones I bought at Walmart were a much better quality.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

View attachment 1925362
My run has an open ceiling/roof of Corregated steel so there is ventilation points along the bottoms edge at the soffits as well as the ridge cap. Then when I cover the sides with plexi glass, I was going to leave the top 1-2” open. That would be 6ft high , so well above the chickens and allow airflow up under the roof. 1-2 inches of open space wouldn’t allow the elements to get in but airflow.

Perfect. And gorgeous coop!

 

[jreardon1918]

I tried dollar store clear vinyl shower curtains this past winter. Part way through the winter they disintegrated. I'll be paying more money and get mine at Walmart from now on.

I worried about that they would not last. I wrapped the tops & bottoms around a board. Used tape to securely fasten and then carefully screwed into place. I have a picture here that shows the result at the end of the winter. The plastic under the coop is the 4 mil plastic that is not very see thru. That is two years old.

 

[Alaskan]

Hello-

I have a relatively small coop- just a roost bar and nesting boxes- and my chickens' food and water is all outside. Here in Wisconsin we get COLD winters. I'm wondering if I should put food and water inside the coop for winter? If I leave food and water outside (with heat source to keep from freezing) will my chickens go outside to eat/drink? Or will they prefer to stay inside?

I worry about putting food and water inside the coop because of pests, but also want my chickens to stay healthy through the winter! Wondering what those with small flocks / small coops do?

Thanks!

The key is to make sure that they can exit the coop to where the feed and water are, and not get blasted by wind or covered in snow. A bit of roofed run is fantastic.

I was thinking I would cover the sides of my run with clear plexi glass for the winter to block wind and the elements. Maybe leave the top few inches open only

I tried once to leave the top part open... and so much snow blew in.

Also, that is not that much ventilation.

I think it is way better to have 1 or 2, maybe 3 walls of the run solid (as in clear plastic, whatever), but wall 4 completely open.

Fresh air is important.