Winter questions- located in WI

[Busia77]

Few questions as I start thinking about winter prep-

1. Do I need to heat my coop?
2. Do I need extra light for my laying hens?
3. How do I know how much ventilation I need? Coop is insulated.

I'm in WI, I know these questions depend highly on the type of winter in the area.

Thanks for any advice!!

 

[kk5263]

Hi

We live in central Ontario Canada
We do not heat the coup and it is not insulated.
We use light bulbs in a old pot to heat waterer, 60W till it gets about 5 -10 below 0 Celsius when it gets colder then switch to 100W
We do put a light on a timer to make the day longer. Some say turn it on in the morning, if you have roasters its not a good idea.
We have gaps not a real tight building so ventilation not a problem.

Ken

 

[Howard E]

In almost all situations, no heat is needed in a chicken house. Birds can adapt to almost all extremes of winter climate if you help them out.

First of all, and this is largely ignored these days, is it helps if you selected birds that are cold hardy. In general, that means small combs and wattles. Frozen or frostbite on combs and wattles is the main concern. They come with built in insulation in the form of feathers. It also helps if they are in condition for winter and are given sufficient feed to fuel their metabolism. Get all that right, and your birds can handle a lot. To give you an idea of how extreme of weather birds were expected to survive in, one old school way of providing them water was to expect them to eat snow. That was a routine practice once upon a time. Even today I notice the wild birds in my backyard eating snow on really cold days when all the water is frozen.

Next point, dry is warm, so to help them stay warm, they need to be kept dry. That requires ventilation to let moisture escape. The moisture comes from the birds themselves. Old school standard rule of thumb was 1 SF of ventilation per 10 SF of floor space. In general, if the coop is tight enough to prevent the wind from blowing through, no insulation is needed at all. So well ventilated, with minimal drafts. Sounds implausible on the surface, but can be done.

As a substitute for artificial light, a lot of south facing windows to let in natural light from the winter sun, combined with an interior that is painted white to reflect natural light around, goes a long way towards keeping them laying and in good shape. Enhancing natural light extends the day as much as possible, keeping them feeding etc.

So dark, damp and drafty is bad. Well lit with natural light, dry and well ventilated is what you want. (What they want).

 

[chickens really]

I have a well ventilated, insulated Coop..It is 12x12...I do run a heat lamp in my coop once the temp really drop at night to -10..I am in North Central Alberta and it gets cold...My floor is a raised wood floor with Lino. I have a deep layer of sand also in the Coop and Run...
My water never freezes and my hens lay eggs all winter...Every morning I open the pop door so they can go outside if they choose to walk around in the run?

Do what makes you feel right for your Chickens...

Good luck

 

[Hokum Coco]

Few questions as I start thinking about winter prep-

2. Do I need extra light for my laying hens? For extra eggs "Yes".

Coop is insulated.
It definitely has advantages and benifits if it is in your budget but not really necessary in most cases.



I am subject to -40º weather l live in Canada think North Pole. I have been keeping chickens and birds for decades.

Your best practice I find is to not be too concerned about winterizing or heating your coop to help your birds combat the cold.

Predator proofing "ABSOLUTELY".

Your efforts should be spent in winterizing your birds and letting them acclimatize to their surroundings.
This is done by feeding them whole corn as an added supplement in a separate feeder.

The extra nourishment is more then adequate to bring them through the
"COLDEST" winter.

Do keep an eye open for birds that maybe not be adapting well to the new menu and may be at the lower end of the pecking order they can sometimes run into problems and may need extra TLC.

That being said in a perfect world the flock will flourish and do just fine .

I do not add any extra heat or lighting.
Egg production does slack off but I have more than enough eggs for the table all winter long (24 hens).

Some people may disagree with my method but it has worked well for me and I am not about to change.

I look at it in the same light as winterizing your car.

You really do

"NOT"


have to winterize your car if you can keep it in a controlled environment at all times otherwise you are in for

"MAJOR" problems.

When it comes to lighting if you find you are short on eggs it does apparently help. I personally do not bother in my operation eggs are sold only to neighbours when they are available (if the sign is out I have eggs). Eggs in my operation have a tendency to crack and freeze during the winter months (we do not discard them and are fine but use them in house not for sale) the more eggs you produce during these months the more eggs will fall into this category.

I have roughly 24 Golden Comet hens the longest I ever been out of eggs can be measured in hours >12<24. You will find that the egg supply in any hen is a finite resource the quicker you milk the eggs out of a hen the faster it will be spent and end up in your stew pot.

On average one hen produces somewhere between 600 to 700 eggs in its life time. Lighting only effect the speed of delivery of the eggs which at the end of the day would amount to less than a year in the hens life is my guess

If you do decide extra lighting is necessary have your light on a timer to lengthen the day "MAKE SURE IT IS SECURED BY 2 MEANS OF SUPPORT" one being a "SAFETY CHAIN" in case one fails especially if it is an incandescent bulb or heat lamp.

I personally raise hens as a hobby; and for their manure to enrich my vegetable garden any thing else the hens provide is merely a bonus.

Here is one BONUS NOW not many people can enjoy seeing in their back yard on a regular basis.

Nest boxes
In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new. Feed bags are a nylon mesh bag.
Frozen poop just peels off in below freezing temperatures and just flakes off in summer when left out in the sun to bake and dry.

I have 65 trips around the sun it is the best method I have stumbled upon.

Make sure the twine is removed from the open end of the bag it can get tangled around your birds.

 

[aart]

You might want a heated waterer...really saves a lot of head ache once you get it set up.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples

My birds nosh on snow all the time, despite their warm water inside coop.

The shed I built my coop in already had an insulated floor, I think it helps.