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

[iwanaplae2]

Started my winterizing project for my first New England winter with chickens, I am going to sandwich clear sheet plastic between the hardware cloth and the plastic lattice. I will close the windows and add an electric water heater to keep it from freezing and that's about it.

First let me say, that is an absolutely adorable coop! Second, I would be concerned about sealing up the run like that. For one, there should be plenty of ventilation for the girls. Their bodies (like ours) create a lot of heat. Think of it as you sitting in your car on a cold day, and the windows fog up. From what I was reading, all that extra condensation can create unwanted health issues for the girls. Not to mention mold issues...never a good thing for anyone. The other thing I would worry about is the amount of natural light. The girls need 12-14 hours a day in order to lay their eggs. Maybe if you only did your plastic half way up. That way they are protected from the draft, but have plenty of light and ventilation. Just my thoughts Good luck!

 

[iwanaplae2]

I live in the willamette valley of Oregon. Our winters are fairly mild. I don't mean California mild...but nothing like MI, or WI. We have been known to get a little snow from time to time. But our winters are usually just cold and wet. Our winterizing consists of temp. fixing the coop roof (as mentioned in an earlier post). But we still need to add a gutter along the back if our sloped roof line. I'm worried about the rain washing away the foundation of the coop. Not to mention our yard is is almost a foot higher than our neighbors.
Now onto the subject of keeping the water from freezing. While we may not get much snow (although we are definitely due a harsh winter), we do get some really cold nights! It's been know to get down to 15-30 degrees at night. I use a hanging five gallon bucket with nipples in the bottom. Works great for us. Water stays clean, girls took to it right away. But I've been trying to figure out how to keep it from freezing...
What are your thoughts on running electricity out to the coop and using one of these threaded through the lid? You know just plug it in at night and unplug it in the morning?

These are only designed to heat a coffee cup hot enough to say make tea or hot cocoa. I was thinking maybe in 3-4 gallons of water it would keep it just warm enough to not freeze...Thoughts?

 

[jimmywalt]

iwanaplae2 -

What about a submersible aquarium heater? Only $14.94 from Walmart. Says it does 5 to 15 gallons.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tetra-Hea...07221872104020507144&affillinktype=10&veh=aff

This is what I'm using in my bucket waterer (I just built this morning) - In the rectangle bucket on left side of picture. The bucket on the right is a 5 gallon feeder.

I'm also going to use a fountain pump from Harbor Freight ($5.99).
http://www.harborfreight.com/92-gph-miniature-submersible-fountain-pump-68389.html

Pump and heater pictured in round 5 gallon bucket that I'm not going to use....... Going with the rectangular for a smaller footprint.

 

[ChicksCoopHome]

This is my first winter with the gurlz and I am looking into the do's and don'ts of chicken raising during winter. I have heard that heaters and lamps are not necessary because chickens are designed to endure the cold. How true is this? What food can you reccomend to keep the hens warm?

Kirsten Vedal
http://chickencoopathome.com/

 

[jsmith2952]

read through this thread right from the beginning--lots of good stuff!! Also, I found stuff by patandchickens really helpful.

like this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/winter-coop-temperatures

and this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop


It's my first winter too and I'm totally paranoid. Thankfully, reading this thread and the above-linked articles have really helped ease my mind!

Hope that helps!

 

[iwanaplae2]

iwanaplae2 - What about a submersible aquarium heater? Only $14.94 from Walmart. Says it does 5 to 15 gallons. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tetra-Hea...07221872104020507144&affillinktype=10&veh=aff This is what I'm using in my bucket waterer (I just built this morning) - In the rectangle bucket on left side of picture. The bucket on the right is a 5 gallon feeder. I'm also going to use a fountain pump from Harbor Freight ($5.99). http://www.harborfreight.com/92-gph-miniature-submersible-fountain-pump-68389.html Pump and heater pictured in round 5 gallon bucket that I'm not going to use....... Going with the rectangular for a smaller footprint.

Ever have one of those duh moments? Well I guess this would be one of them lol Thank you Jimmywalt. Don't know why, but it never even occurred to me to use something actually MADE for heating larger quantities of water! Duh! lol

 

[Gifa]

Get a good thermometer/hygrometer so you can monitor conditions inside the coop.



In the summer, I use sand as coop bedding. It's cool to the touch, and a good exfoliant for their feet... and easy to clean. But in the winter, it's too cold, and they hate it... So, I switch to wood pellets which, using water, I break down enough that it can be sifted through a quarter inch mesh. By spring, it's almost entirely broken down to sawdust and starts getting a little dustier than I care for, but that's about the time I swap it out for sand. The sawdust goes right to the compost bin, where it supercharges it and breaks down really fast. In the photo below you can see where I offered a pan of Stall Dry for dustbathing in... They never used it... and I suspect it was because it was absolutely frigid. So, I won't be offering it this winter. As you can see, I only keep food in the coop. No water. This keeps the humidity low.


So, starting in October, I start tarping the run to start sheltering it from excess moisture and wind. These are heavy duty clear tarps that I found on Tarpaflex.com on sale and I just zip tied them to the run. As you can see, I leave the bottom 12" of the run untarped... Airflow is important and completely tarping it up would restrict the fresh air component of my hens' lifestyle more than they would like. I have an automatic chicken door that is set to open at 4am in the summer, and 6 am in the winter...All winter long I would peek out there first thing in the morning and catch them all lined up at the front under the coop to watch the sunrise.


Around Thanksgiving I finish tarping up the run. But down here in Kansas City there are still some warm days, so I don't seal up the door. The first snow was very gentle, so even with the door uncovered the run stayed snow free. But starting in December, the plexi windows were latched down and stayed that way until March.





Come January though... it was getting really really cold. So we covered the door with some plexi panels. And when there was enough snow, I went ahead and piled it up around the bottom 12 inches. This was also about the time I used some 6 mil plastic to cover the wall and roof vents on the west side all of the way and the roof vents on the east side about 75%. The hygrometer on my remote weather station thing came in handy here. Never got above 50% humidity in the coop until the chicken door popped open and spilled chickens into the run.


During the summer months, I toss all my grass clippings into the run. Without the tarps over the run, that 2"-3" layer of dried grass is what kept their run mud free and dry. During the winter though... a deeper and warmer bedding is needed for them to nestle into. Putting whole straw bales up against the sides also gave them fun things to attack and jump up on should they not care to be down on floor level. I also have corner roosts for that though... which they take advantage of year round. They also helped to baffle the airflow because the tarps don't cover the bottom 12 inches, except on the north end there.



On some snowy days some of the snow would blow in... but as you can see, it's not a crazy amount. On the really cold nights though, I would take a rake into the run and pull all of the loose straw up and pile it up to block off the bottom... which the chickens delighted in kicking back to the middle every morning.


And then there was the day I caught them dustbathing in the run... during a snow storm.



In addition to pulling the straw up against the sides of the run on exceptionally cold nights, I would also treat them to a warm pan of what I call Sticky Chicky before bedtime or first thing in the morning depending on the forecast... It's basically oatmeal cooked with milk with some of their feed, a handful of scratch and a dollop of plain yogurt. Sending them to bed with crops full of a warm hearty meal seemed like a nice thing to do for them. But you must be careful, as they will gladly tear your arm off to be the first beak in the pan.



Temps down here in KC hover between 20 and 40 degrees all winter long, but we do get down to 0 around mid January, and on those nights I placed a heated landscaping brick in the coop with them. And there was a couple of times I needed to apply a little bit of bag balm on my leghorn's comb... it was just looking dry and chapped, but not frostbitten.

Up in Maine, you have the benefit of more snow than we get... Deep snow is actually a little bit of a blessing... because it can help insulate your coop some. Down here deep and persistent snow is rare... so, one thing we can do more readily is get our girls out on the warmer days for some limited "ranging" time...




I think the important thing is... be attentive. If your flock is small and they are more pet like in nature, you can and probably will go more out of your way to make them more comfortable... if you have hundreds of birds, that level of care and attention becomes a little more difficult... and as history shows, chickens are ok with that.

Hope you don't mind, I quoted the post I made in this thread a hundred years ago... but the husband and I just built this:



...for the north 64 square foot half of their 156 sq.ft. run. In this pic, it's resting on the wheelbarrow we finished building it on...I'll edit this post tomorrow with a pic of it all installed... We lifted it up there and attached it tonight, working in the dark...

It's basically a covered pergola type roof with that clear corrugate stuff... If it doesn't hold up, we'll replace with the corrugate metal stuff later. But it's meant to be the permanent all season roof... Hoping for some passive solar heating in the winter, and a nice big rain guard over their outdoor feeder when all the tarps are off during the rest of the year.

Gonna use those fabulous clear tarps we got last year on all the rest just like in my post.

I should probably hang a gutter under the back and set up a rain barrel, eh?

 

[LadyCluck77]

That is fantastic- I really LOVE your set-up. This original post is what inspired me to start the work on my run- we now do have a roof over a small part of the run, attached to the coop and covered with heavy duty plastic- but using the clear roofing would indeed be perfect. I think it would hold up pretty well, and if we can get ahold of some, I'd like to build a simple A-frame out of it, just to give them more space to stay dry and out of direct wind.
Reminds me I still need to pick up some hay- October is such a busy month

 

[minmin1258]

T

...

Chick starter has grit in it for baby chicks. But I don't think layer pellets do. If yourbirds free range a bit they can pick up gravel bits from the road or yard what have you. Bottom of their run dependent on what the substrate is there. Once it snows and things get covered those sources are then limited to the birds of course.
In your new run id put up some roosts so the birds can jump up off the cold ground and warm their feet during the cold days.

You'll maybe need a rubber bowl to bring warm water to in the winter couple times a day if you don't have electric. The frozen circle just pops out of the rubber bowl and you add new.

As for a roof not holding a snow load you'll need boards and nails to reinforce your roof it sounds like. [/quoteThank u for your help. Working t find some one who can help me with the new boards and "roofing". Purchased rubber bowls today figured if one is good two is better...lol. Appreciate the advice. Oh and picked up some grit too.

 

[Charisse]

I am more of a newbie, but I put wood chips on the bottom floor, shavings in their boxes, and I hang the light from when they were baby chicks in the corner of their indoor area, so they can get warmed up, or stay cool if that is what they need. The light always hangs in the corner, but I only turn it on if it is freezing. We only get a little snow where I live. A foot or so a few times a year.