Winter lock down in a week or two.

[VI KING RANCH]

Well I have decided that I will be keeping my quad of modern games, 1 lavender orphington, 2 oegb, 3 Americanas, and 2 white leghorn bantams all in my brand new 8x8 A frame coop over the winter as it gets really really wet. There is excellent ventilation and they will be let out on every suitably day but here in a cowpoke of weeks the ground will bet terribly wet and I am afraid og my show birds poor feet and feathers. The coop is 12' tall and has tons of perches and swinging perches. The insulation will be going in this weekend and the birds after that.

 

[VI KING RANCH]

What is everyones thoughts? The thing is if I don't lock them up then it will rain all day for a couple months and each night it will freeze! I don't want my personel favourites to get hurt or worse... I will have about 1' deep fir shavings. The A frame is two floors with 8" vents running along the base of the second floor to allow lots of air movement. The second floor is used for feed storage and one day my pigeons.

 

[perchie.girl]

Id love to see a picture of your coop..... sounds like a good setup... to me. I don't live where it rains. But do you have a run for them as well or can they scratch on the ground right in the coop. Could you do a covered run for them as well?

 

[VI KING RANCH]

Ya they have a run but very soon when it starts to rain it really starts to rain and the ground will be to wet for a human to walk on and I am worried about them getting hurt. There is no way for me to cover there run and it will start freezing very soon. From past experience freezing temps and rain soaked birds don't go well together.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Is it possible to tarp just a portion of your run and put sand down so if and when it gets wet the water will move on without making mud? I know if it snows tarping can be problematic but if you made a lean to or something like that of tarp material it would slide off. Maybe a temparary tarped A frame structure. ...... Just some thoughts.

Me I only have to contend with high wind so My coop will have only two solide walls (prevailing winds) a tarp roof and wire on the other two walls. Dad used to say it was so windy he saw the same chicken lay an egg twice..... hee hee.

 

[Animalian]

I say let them run in the mud. If they have clean legs its shouldn't be a problem for them. If the mud gets caked on just wash their legs in a bucket of water before the go into the coop for the night (put them in a little early to dry). I do that for mine. Two of mine have feathered feet so I bring them in and blowdry the leg feathers, (normally the d'uccles belly too cos shes so short lol). I wouldn't expect someone with lots to do that though! lol

letting them out to run around = no issues with picking/bordom and then bothering to clean them, therefore letting the skin 'breathe' overnight = no issues

 

[Time-Out]

1 foot deep shavings?! Won't they drown?

 

[Hawkeye95]

Put down a thick layer of sand or small pea gravel in the run. If it's thick enough, YOU can walk on it without sinking in mud. You might even want to put down a layer of stone screenings first before you put down the sand or gravel. Personally... I wouldn't want to lock my birds up the entire winter- they'd probably kill each other. I'd also cover a portion of the run, tarp it, or something. They make hurricane tarp- that stuff is STRONG. It will hold up to 120 MPH winds. Just sayin' there are options out there if you think about it and look around and keep an open mind.

 

[VI KING RANCH]

I never thought of sand! I will use some and I will try a tarp but with the tip of the a fram at twelve feet...oh boy I have my work cut out for me now lol

 

[VI KING RANCH]

Quote:
Well my show birds when in conditioning pens have 1.5 feet of shavings. The bantam way nothing so they don't sink and after a day or two is pretty well packed until the start rototilling it lol