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

[myhenSunrise]

I have been around the sun 63 times. It is not my first "Rodeo!" Nobody "I know" heats a chicken coop. Healthy "cold hearty" chickens die from heat not cold. I live in Canada last year was subject to -40º (C or F take your pick) no light or heat in coop NO PROBLEMS. Chickens have been raised on this continent for over a hundred years without heat. If you feel you must supply heat to your chickens I suggest keeping your chickens in the house that way you can huddle with your birds when the hydro goes out. Chickens will die from cold if not given the chance to acclimatize. Hydro is more apt to go out in an ice storm or blizzard when subject to below 0º temperatures in my opinion. How would you supply heat then to your un-acclimatized birds ??? Check out my Link:
Chickens Arctic Conditions

Prolonged Periods

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/738994/chickens-arctic-conditions-prolonged-period

, I agree, but I will be getting some Vaseline for combs, wattles, and feet. Last year my aunt and uncle had their chickens at my grandparents, at the time I only had two chickens in a heated coop, but they kept theirs in the big coop in the barn. They probably lost about 1/4 of their flock, and the rest ended up with frostbite, or got sick. This year, I bought a few more chicks, and I don't want my babies going through the same thing. I'm in northwestern Ontario and last year, we got down to about -45 to-50 degrees Fahrenheit. So I will at least keep my heat lamp in there and turn in on for really cold days.

 

[Blooie]

Every single vent spot in my coop is adjustable. That means the windows on the south, west, and east sides. That means the vent on the north side. That means the vents at the top of the walls. That means the mobile home exhaust fan above the people door. That means the pop door between the coop and the run. That means every opening in my uninsulated, unheated coop can be closed against the high winds we get with our winter storms but left open on the downwind sides. Nothing is ever closed completely. In fact, the only time anything is closed is when we get our howling winter winds, usually from the north. Then only that side is closed, but even then it's left open a crack unless snow is blowing in. The hardware cloth covered openings between the rafters and the walls, up at the tippy top of the coop are the exception. They are left open all year round.

We do cover our hoop style run with greenhouse plastic in the winter. The chickens can't be left confined in a coop during those long, dark days of winter. Their entrance into the run is a covered "tunnel" - basically a three sided box. This is great for air flow without draft. Because it has a 90 degree angle they have to navigate to get in and out, winds can't blow directly into it but air from the slightly warmer run can flow through it. And they aren't stuck in the coop waiting for me to let them out in the morning. The run is usually several degrees warmer than the coop and it has a lot of boredom busters in it. The result is that we have had no frostbite issues*, no humidity or ammonia buildup, and no feather picking or gang wars.

I got into a bit of an exchange with JackE regarding insulation last year when we were at the beginning of the coop build. He was right and I was wrong. If I'd insulated that coop as heavily as I planned to initially, we'd have had so much humidity built up in there that I would have been the cause of problems for my chickens, not the solution.

* A clarification is necessary here. We did have a broody hatched chick who got frostbite. The week he was hatched it was in the upper 60s. Kids were out in their Halloween costumes with no jackets! Within 26 hours we had plummeted to 17 below during the day and even colder at night. Scout got frostbitten feet from a little bit of water that leaked out of the waterer nipples, probably as he was drinking, and his feet froze. No amount of insulation, no diligence by mom, nothing would have prevented what happened to him, nor healed him. As it is he lived to become the stumpy footed king of the coop!

 

[Chicksduckgoose]

Just wondering how you keep water from freezing in your coop? Everything I have read says chickens need a constant supply water to regulate body temperature..

 

[Alaskan]

Just wondering how you keep water from freezing in your coop? Everything I have read says chickens need a constant supply water to regulate body temperature..

I keep my water in a sheltered area in the run (wind block is very important) in a black rubber pan and fill it two times a day.

If it freezes solid in less than an hour I then add a stock tank deicer that is safe for plastic and to run dry.

Chickens can peck a hole through a thin sheet of ice... My ducks can hack a hole through ice about an inch thick.

 

[Alaskan]

Chickens will also eat snow for liquid requirements.

 

[ninjawesome]

I am keeping my eye on this thread. Thanks for everyone's suggestions!

 

[Mims]

Just how cold does it get where you are at?

OK...I tease... But I do remember the year when the hill country had an entire week of two inches of snow... I have pictures.

Don't laugh!! It got down to 40 degrees last year. I thought I was going to freeze to death!!!

Lol, actually we get to zero, and slightly below sometimes. But only for about 3 months. My kids have spent too many Christmases in shorts, only to be bundled up like the kid on A Christmas Story come Easter. I don't even bother with pretty Easter dresses any more. It's all covered with a thick coat anyway.

 

[bigmrg74]

Chickens will also eat snow for liquid requirements.

That's good in a pinch, but I don't think you would want your chickens doing that all the time. It would make them burn up a lot of calories bringing that snow up to body temp.

 

[Alaskan]

Just how cold does it get where you are at?

OK...I tease... But I do remember the year when the hill country had an entire week of two inches of snow... I have pictures.

Don't laugh!! It got down to 40 degrees last year. I thought I was going to freeze to death!!!

Lol, actually we get to zero, and slightly below sometimes. But only for about 3 months. My kids have spent too many Christmases in shorts, only to be bundled up like the kid on A Christmas Story come Easter. I don't even bother with pretty Easter dresses any more. It's all covered with a thick coat anyway.

My sister called me one year.. In a panic because there was ice on her water trough in the morning....

I told her to wait an hour i was right... It was melted off by noon.

And anyway, one of her horses was smart enough to smash a hole thorough the ice.

 

[Alaskan]

Chickens will also eat snow for liquid requirements.

That's good in a pinch, but I don't think you would want your chickens doing that all the time.  It would make them burn up a lot of calories bringing that snow up to body temp. 

I too think that having the chickens eat snow would make them eat lots more of expensive feed.

However, some people do choose to do it that way.