Winter run / coop heating

[3KillerBs]

Our winter temps can get down to around -5C (around 20-23F)

These are really quite moderate temperatures. The main thing will be to provide water that isn't frozen. There are many kinds of heated waterer available but I can't recommend anything because I'm in the US southeast where just bringing my waterers in at night is sufficient.

Don't be tempted to close up so much that you compromise ventilation. A generous flow of fresh air is just as important in the winter as in the summer.

Insulation Foam Board.

Chickens are notorious for eating foam board. If it's installed where they can access it they will peck it to pieces and eat the bits.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Chickens are notorious for eating foam board. If it's installed where they can access it they will peck it to pieces and eat the bits.

OH SO True! I neglected to mention that you do have to cover it. That's why I have sheets of Foam Board AND siding sheets leaning up against the backside of my coop where they can't get it. And then if I have a winter event where they can't leave the coop, I just lean one of each up against and over my chain link run for a makeshift warm coop extension.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Ooh interesting. Is that the stuff they use to insulate wooden houses and sheds? Between the panel? I suppose more overall it would be rainproofing we would need the most. We all know how chickens turn all the grass to mushy mud lol. So if I can keep their run area dry for winter. I do plan on having their run on a rotation so they can get fresh grass. But that becomes tricky in Scotland winter since grass doesn't grow then. So anything to prevent it from all turning to Marsh lands

Yes, it's this stuff, weatherproof so wherever chickens can't get to it and especially to just to store a pile, I can just lean it up against a building.

But to KillerBs point, chicken do like to peck it. So I also have a few sheets of this dura temp siding. Basically I'm turning my run into a coop when needed by just leaning this up against it as walls.

I will admit this fix is more costly than plastic. I'm just all about "easy," after having chickens this long (and strangely getting older not younger.)

 

[Len Konler]

I have an 8 X 10 shed. I insulated the wall and ceiling. It has one big window and two smaller windows. The shed has an 8 × 10 attached run that is predator proof (buried hardware cloth etc). I am near lake Michigan in WI so it can get cold and chilly beginning October and then worse.

I take 4 mil and 6 mil contractor plastic and wrap the outside run. I staple plastic on and then take cheap thin pine wood lathe and secure the plastic. I use short bigger headed nails, 1 1/4 inch roofing nails are good, but any thinner nail with a good head on it works because I remove them in spring. I like the short roofing nails because when some of the lathe splits the widw head secures the split thin wood lathe. I also have some 10' and 8' green treated lengths of wood that I reuse.
It is really important to leave a small (reachable) upper section open for venting! For gas and avoiding creating a hothouse! I do this vent on the south side. I cover this at night only in weather below 0 F OR in big storms with swirling winds. I cut a triangle on a corner about two feet long and one and a half vertically and roll the cut plastic and secure it with a piece of lathe but with the nail heads sticking out a little so I can pull it loose and secure that flap. I make sure I open that flap at sunrise (especially if sunny) to avoid heat building up as this is meant to be wind and snow block. The minimumal heat generated by plastic and sun in daylight is just enough they stay out quite a bit.
I cut the plastic down slowly and starting at top. I take a month plus to finish because I leave a two foot high bottom strip as wind break. Then when nice I take all the lathe and nails out an with water, a tiny bit od animal safe soap and sponge wipe the painted wood frame free of dirt .
Some chickens are freaked out by sudden covering of their safe run but in a day they get used to it and any flapping.
I use a thinner 4 mil plastic on the side of the coop I can see from the house (120 feet away). The thinner 4 mil always me to see the chickens and for them to see me & out into the yard. The 6 mil is more opac.
Good luck.

 

[NikkiChikks]

Ah you based in America as says 4mil? . Here we use guage for some reason which confuses me lol. I've heard mixed from people that 250 guage is perfect. And others say it rips too easily in high wind. Really not sure what one to get over here in the UK. I'll try post the ones I was looking at

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/25264330...o4y2g83Q3u&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Any ideas?

Thanks again. And sorry for slow replies. Just starting a new job so life is a little chaotic at the moment lol

That stuff should work great! And no problem with the slow replies, I myself am trying to harvest my garden before our first frost. Hope you like your new job!

 

[TammyRoesch]

I live in Kingsville, OH, SNOWBELT area...this is my 1st winter with chickens...we built a nice coop for them...my question is, should I use the automatic door and let them come in and out in the Winter or just keep them in the coop all winter?

 

[rosemarythyme]

should I use the automatic door and let them come in and out in the Winter or just keep them in the coop all winter?

I would always give them the option of going out, unless there's an extreme circumstance (i.e. tornado, flooding) where they aren't safe outside.

 

[wamtazlady]

I live in Kingsville, OH, SNOWBELT area...this is my 1st winter with chickens...we built a nice coop for them...my question is, should I use the automatic door and let them come in and out in the Winter or just keep them in the coop all winter?

I live in NW Montana. Have never, even when it's in the minus numbers, kept the chickens inside. Their food and water is in the run. Of course, 3 sides of the run are covered in clear vinyl to keep breezes off the birds.

 

[TammyRoesch]

I would always give them the option of going out, unless there's an extreme circumstance (i.e. tornado, flooding) where they aren't safe outside.

Thankyou!

 

[TammyRoesch]

I live in NW Montana. Have never, even when it's in the minus numbers, kept the chickens inside. Their food and water is in the run. Of course, 3 sides of the run are covered in clear vinyl to keep breezes off the birds.

OK, thank you!