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

[EagleEyes]

So here is our setup. We had some cor.plastic lined on the top and the wind blew it off

we are planning to make a proper roof this weekend to protect from rain and snow. I would like to make a smaller door on the side like in the second picture instead of having the gaint swing door that we are currently using. I would like to line the outside with clear tarp to protect from the wind but dh doesnt want to. He thinks the wind will tear it apart too easily. And we do get some strong winds sometimes but not always strong... but at least some constant cold wind. Im seeing from everyone on the forum that most chickens dont like to walk in the snow so ours will probably be locked up in the run... so I guess I am asking am I right or is dh right "enough" in thinking wind protection isnt needed in the run?

I'm with you. Wind protection will be much appreciated by your hens as will a roof to keep the snow out this winter. And a little door for them to go out into the yard is one of the best things that I did.
Here is a pic to show you what I did, not that I'm any kind of expert, but I do learn.
Metal roof, small door to the yard and plastic on the bottom of the run. Coop is the door that is open and opens to the run.

 

[traceyj]

I lined my run with straw bales, yes they will go mouldy but we are below -10 now day and night so they are pretty much frozen! Just need to tarp the front side and they have a fairly snow/wind proof area to wander outside. I'll still have to shovel it but it's better than locking them in all the time.

 

[Shabana]

My eldest son.
Straw arrives for the winter runs. Roll on spring!

 

[cafrhe]

I have been reading this thread and am happy for so much good advice/tips!!

I am a little worried about my girls. Just before the cold hit (in NJ and on day 2 of below freezing temps), we moved the chickens to a new 8x10 coop. The walls are insulated, it has a tin roof and still needs a little sealing around the door. I would like to put a drop ceiling over the roosting area, but havent gotten there yet.

We had 13 girls of approx the same age in a 4x7 coop with 3 levels of roosts. Their pecking order was well established and there seemed to be no sleeping issues. We also had a new roo and 2 new pullets in another coop. They have been together for a couple of months in the small coop waiting to be integrated. During the day all the chickens free-ranged together for the last month or so. Now they are all together in the big coop. I have an L shaped roost--1 2x4 along the 10' wall and then Led across the 8' wall. They are having difficulty settling down at night and the 2 pullets start the night off in a nest box together. The roo no longer sleeps with them and they are clearly not yet accepted by the girls (one is large--a brahma, one is small-dominique we think). We do move them up on the perch after dark. Besides the pullet issue, the original girls are no longer roosting all together. Now there seem to be a couple of groupings and more pecking order issues.

I am concerned that if they are not huddling together, they will get too cold. They have been in the big coop for 2 full weeks now. Should I be able to expect that they will work it out or is all the extra room allowing them to separate?

I had also started deep litter method in the old coop. I now have fresh shavings in the new coop, but they are not covering the floor well (they drift towards the edges). Was considering taking the old bedding from the old coop and adding it. Is that a good idea, or should I just add more new shavings. Considering raking up some leaves as well...

Thanks for any advice.

 

[hennible]

I wouldn't worry about them huddling they will huddle up there cold The pecking order should settle back down for you. I have lots of subsets in my coop, six that roost up high, 2 cuddle together on a roost down low, 2 that insist on sitting on a shelf and another 4 that huddle high on another roost. I'm not sure about the bedding personally I would just add more litter (fresh litter) and start a nice deep litter base all over. If you add leaves make sure they are bone dry they go moldy pretty easy... Good luck.

 

[cafrhe]

Thanks Hennible. I did add another bale of fresh shavings. Will hold off on the leaves for now. Not organized enough to gather any when it was above freezing this year....too busy building the coop!

I made a comfy area under the roost shelf that the brahma and Dominique can huddle together instead of the nest boxes.

 

[PandorasKitten]

Hi Everyone,

I'm in Colorado Springs and brand new to chicken owning/raising. I ordered my chicks before fully researching to realize that no, they won't just be inside all winter and we can get a coop erected come springtime. So.... we'll be building a chicken coop in the dead of winter. SMH Lesson 1 I suppose.

Last week we got down to -2F and last year I believe we got to -15F. The chicks are Barred Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, and 3 Dominique roos. They all are scheduled to hatch on Dec. 8th. We supposed to get 15 chicks total (for warmth during shipping). We need some seasoned chicken owner advice on coop construction.

My long term goal is to raise meat rabbits and house them in cages inside of the chicken coop. Thus, the coop needs to be decent sized in order to accommodate that. I'd like the coop to be at least 5'5" tall, preferably 6' tall. Since we'll have 15 birds, I'll need some advice of how wide/long to make the coop. I was planning to collect free pallets and other free wood on Craigslist to construct the coop. The spot we picked will be next to the house and one side is a long, tall wooden fence (which will help with the run). I intend to track down chain link fencing for the run. The ground is currently covered in mulch. I very much want to do the deep litter method. I'm confused now as to whether I should use the coop floor as my compost space (would then be adding compost scraps to coop floor) or if I should have a second compost area inside the run itself. Also, since the floor inside the coop would be the ground and we want them as protected as possible, should we lay down some hardware cloth first and attach that up the sides to the base of the walls then cover the hardware cloth with several inches of shavings or will the chickens not scratch in there?

I did read about wind protection and will look into either a tarp or shower curtain option to help "weatherproof" the run. I've seen many folks with bales (straw or hay?) in their coops. I do expect a decent amount of snow this year (though not like Buffalo!). Our backyard is southwest facing. The coop and run will be on the east side of the yard next to our house and fence.

My major concerns right now are:
What should I use for brooder bedding? I see different ideas on different options. I have newspaper and straw on hand, so can I use that?
How big does the brooder need to be for 15 chicks for 6 weeks?
How big does the coop need to be once we get them outside (keeping in mind that we'll eventually need room for 5 rabbit rages)? Also, I read that I need to keep them inside the coop for 2 weeks when they first venture outside? And they'll need the coop to be 65 degrees? For how long?
If we get the coop built first, then if the chicks have to be locked up, we'd have another couple weeks to build the run, correct?

Also, our landlord tells us the house has a major racoon problem, so advice on how to prevent chick slaughter would be awesome.

I know it's a lot of questions and the more I research the more questions I have. Thank you to anyone who takes the time to answer them.

 

[LadyCluck77]

Hi Pandoras Kitten, and

Square footage per bird is usually suggested around 2 to 4 square feet per bird. Build your coop as large as you can afford, and can do in this weather what you can, but if you need to, you can always add on to it later. Few of us have built only one coop and never made changes to it. Build the chicken side now, you can always build the rabbit side later.
Free pallets are great, there is a how to YouTube video which shows the whole process. They used about 200 pallets, so the more you can find, the better. For our addition, we used a material called t-11, which is inexpensive, and we stuffed the space between the framing with insulation and then stapled feed bags to prevent pecking at it.
If you can, make it easy for yourself to close the pop door without entering the run, using a dowel stick or a pulley, so that you can open and close it up easily.
You'll also want a larger door accessed from the outside to clean it out when you need to.

This is a photo of my current coop- before we put the run roof on, we only had the little area where the heated waterer and the ramp are that first winter.

One nest box for about every four hens, so you'll want three or four of them. If you can access those from the outside too, you're in good shape.

If you roof your run, slant it as much as possible so the snow slides off. And I do suggest roofing at least some of the run, especially near the pop door and ramp.

My favorite bedding for chicks is shavings, pine shavings are only a few dollars from the feed store, so I just pick it up when I buy feed. Make sure the chicks are fully feathered before you put them outside. When I brood chicks, I use the largest plastic totes they have at Walmart. Those run about 25$ each, but you'll want two of them by the time your chicks are four weeks old. Also, they can fly within days, so you'll want a screen to put over your brooders.

If it was me, I would probably brood this batch around 8 weeks or as long as I could stand it since the weather has been iffy. In the springtime, I'm usually really tired of the dust by five weeks. Put old sheets over everything in the brood room. It will make clean up a lot better.
There are threads on BYC about brooding that will probably be extremely helpful, from the basics, to the complicated.
Chicks will kick up lots of bedding and poo into their food and water, youll want to change it twice a day. Keep them warm, dry, and prevent splay-leg by not using newspaper or anything that can get slippery. They also like to perch, so a little scrap-wood perch is helpful.

It is really awesome to own chickens, I hope all of this information is helpful rather than overwhelming. Just take one thing at a time and learn as you go.
The first time I hatched chicks I accidentally killed four of them by putting the heat too directly over them. I had to keep reminding myself that this is a learning experience. All of us make mistakes sometimes.

 

[Brennigan]

I have been reading this thread and am happy for so much good advice/tips!!

I am concerned that if they are not huddling together, they will get too cold. They have been in the big coop for 2 full weeks now. Should I be able to expect that they will work it out or is all the extra room allowing them to separate?

I had also started deep litter method in the old coop. I now have fresh shavings in the new coop, but they are not covering the floor well (they drift towards the edges). Was considering taking the old bedding from the old coop and adding it. Is that a good idea, or should I just add more new shavings. Considering raking up some leaves as well...

Thanks for any advice.

I wouldn't worry about them huddling they will huddle up there cold The pecking order should settle back down for you. I have lots of subsets in my coop, six that roost up high, 2 cuddle together on a roost down low, 2 that insist on sitting on a shelf and another 4 that huddle high on another roost. I'm not sure about the bedding personally I would just add more litter (fresh litter) and start a nice deep litter base all over. If you add leaves make sure they are bone dry they go moldy pretty easy... Good luck.

We lost a hen right before winter hit, and so we just have two hens in the entire coop! They huddle just a little and then will roost separately most every night. We were in the teens last week and they did fine! Its my first winter, and it feels scary...but I'm happy to have come out of that bitter cold and know they can handle it!

 

[MelissaZeno]

This is a great thread thank you.