Winter is Coming! Checklists, tips, advice for a newbie

[Alaskan]

Never enough time in the summer to get everything done.

Never

 

[aart]

You know that you should have dug that hole earlier.

Never enough time in the summer to get everything done.

Never

No Kidding.....even here.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Without a doubt the shortest summer AND fall (what fall!?!) for me ever. We had snow last Friday!

 

[Alaskan]

I must have shipped all of my cold south.

Still fall

 

[katescritters]

I have Red Jungle Fowl and Saipan chickens. The Jungle Fowl are 5 months old, Saipan are 3 months.
The jungle fowl are permanently fluffed and look quite unhappy during the day. They huddle up with my Dominiques at night, as much as the Dominiques will allow anyway.
The Saipans are more or less as feathered as they are going to get. They are currently separated from the other chickens (big wire dog cage inside the coop), pending introduction to the flock. I have a heat lamp set up to give them a warm area.

The jungle fowl have "some" down-ish feathers. The Saipans have none. Really, as in all hard feathers no fuzzy feathers at all.
Does anyone have experience keeping tropical breeds in cold climates?
Wondering how warm to keep the coop, and how will that affect the other birds; 8 Dominique hens and 2 silkie roos?

 

[aart]

keeping tropical breeds in cold climates

That would be an excellent new thread title.

 

[Alaskan]

I have Red Jungle Fowl and Saipan chickens. The Jungle Fowl are 5 months old, Saipan are 3 months.
The jungle fowl are permanently fluffed and look quite unhappy during the day. They huddle up with my Dominiques at night, as much as the Dominiques will allow anyway.
The Saipans are more or less as feathered as they are going to get. They are currently separated from the other chickens (big wire dog cage inside the coop), pending introduction to the flock. I have a heat lamp set up to give them a warm area.

The jungle fowl have "some" down-ish feathers. The Saipans have none. Really, as in all hard feathers no fuzzy feathers at all.
Does anyone have experience keeping tropical breeds in cold climates?
Wondering how warm to keep the coop, and how will that affect the other birds; 8 Dominique hens and 2 silkie roos?

I am thinking those warm weather breeds will need a warm coop.... I would put all of the tropical breeds in their own warm coop.

Keep the "regular " chickens in their own coop with zero heat.

The tropical breed coop .... find a different way to heat, not a heat lamp. A hardwired heat bulb, if done correctly might work... depending on how cold you get. Remember that one blast of cold air on a hot bulb will cause the bulb to shatter.

Look into heat plates, heat mats, and other heat options.

 

[bigmrg74]

I have Red Jungle Fowl and Saipan chickens. The Jungle Fowl are 5 months old, Saipan are 3 months.
The jungle fowl are permanently fluffed and look quite unhappy during the day. They huddle up with my Dominiques at night, as much as the Dominiques will allow anyway.
The Saipans are more or less as feathered as they are going to get. They are currently separated from the other chickens (big wire dog cage inside the coop), pending introduction to the flock. I have a heat lamp set up to give them a warm area.

The jungle fowl have "some" down-ish feathers. The Saipans have none. Really, as in all hard feathers no fuzzy feathers at all.
Does anyone have experience keeping tropical breeds in cold climates?
Wondering how warm to keep the coop, and how will that affect the other birds; 8 Dominique hens and 2 silkie roos?

Pictures of your coop set up would be helpful.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

I did a blog post today on my blog focusing on the topic of winterizing my chicken coops. I will provide the link below. You may find it of help to you.

https://thekuntryklucker.blog/2018/11/04/ready-for-ol-man-winter/

 

[Terri126]

My winter prep starts with wrapping the outdoor run in clear vinyl shower curtains I by for $5 each at a local discount store. This keeps the wind and snow out of the run, so I don't have to shovel the run after each snowstorm. This also keeps the run area quite a bit warmer - my waterers stopped freezing during the days. I stock up on hay so I can make the bedding deeper - I have ducks in with my chickens, and they enjoy a nice thick bed of soft dry hay. This year I am adding DIY heated bases for my top fill waterers. I am taking 10 gallon galvanized tubs, and putting them upside down in the run. The waterer goes on top, and a utility work light goes underneath, inside the tub. I'll have to play with the wattage of the bulb in the lamp, but I think 40 watts should do it. The lamp has a hook on the top of the bulb protection cage, and I will add an eye bolt on the inside of the tub to hook the lamp too, keeping it up off the ground, close to the top of the tub.

I'll be doing most of this in November, usually at 10pm right before the first snow storm is coming!