Winter With Chickens: To Heat or Not Heat the Coop

[Kessy09]

I actually prefer the winter for myself and for the chickens. There are many, many ways to keep warm but when it's gets too hot there is only so much you can take off! I had a hard summer with the chickens this year. I was so happy for the temps to start dropping. Since you're both Manitobans feel free to check out our website. We breed rarer type breeds and I have some ongoing projects that I'm working on with different colors (currently working on the lavender and porcelain orpingtons). Always have lots of chicks in the spring!
www.pondsideacres.com

 

[Rooster Rules]

I actually prefer the winter for myself and for the chickens. There are many, many ways to keep warm but when it's gets too hot there is only so much you can take off! I had a hard summer with the chickens this year. I was so happy for the temps to start dropping. Since you're both Manitobans feel free to check out our website. We breed rarer type breeds and I have some ongoing projects that I'm working on with different colors (currently working on the lavender and porcelain orpingtons). Always have lots of chicks in the spring!
www.pondsideacres.com

yah it was hot this summer, we are located nearby too, Fillmore Rd

 

[Kessy09]

I'm pretty sure Fillmore is so close! Small world. Well we are in for a beauty of a day tomorrow. Shot two skunks in the last month (one today) - both rabid. Be careful!

 

[Rooster Rules]

I'm pretty sure Fillmore is so close! Small world. Well we are in for a beauty of a day tomorrow. Shot two skunks in the last month (one today) - both rabid. Be careful!

Have dealt with all types of critturs in this area for sure. lat year November 2012, watched my GR male dog, tangle a bit with a wolf on my driveway. The wolf saw me and took off, good thing for my dog.
my coop is small 6ftX8ftX6ft high, insulated floors walls and ceiling, Windows and is heated, gotta keep the window cracked a bit to vent it. I have 8 bantams and 3 standards living in it, an 8 X12 foot run is attached, it is covered for winter, and they go in there all day long, even on the weekend when it was cold.
Plan to build a bigger more user friendly open air coop in the future. I do not free range my birds....

 

[Kessy09]

We have two wolves (mated pair-male is a huge black wolf and the female is smaller grey). They must patrol a fairly large territory as they only show up every three months. Have taken down a lot of deer in our yard. Your coop sounds nice. And definitely enough space for what you have. We used to live by Clandeboye but our coops were small and run down-ish. Just all old sheds repurposed. With our new place I wanted the coops to be functional but very nice looking as they are close to the house. We currently are housing 30 birds. Most are purebred and my breeding birds but there a couple mixes in there. I have an olive egger I'm breeding to my cream legbar to produce offspring that lay a minty/avacado colored egg. I've also got a few excess Roos that either need a new home or will be processed in a few weeks. We don't heat or insulate and I leave windows and vents open all winter. When we were building this place our entire flock went over to a relative's place. I picked a few of my old birds but mostly brought in new stock for my new place. Actually going to be hatching another set of chicks. Starting them on Friday-Swedish flower hens from Candace at Breezy Farms.

 

[Rooster Rules]

We have two wolves (mated pair-male is a huge black wolf and the female is smaller grey). They must patrol a fairly large territory as they only show up every three months. Have taken down a lot of deer in our yard. Your coop sounds nice. And definitely enough space for what you have. We used to live by Clandeboye but our coops were small and run down-ish. Just all old sheds repurposed. With our new place I wanted the coops to be functional but very nice looking as they are close to the house. We currently are housing 30 birds. Most are purebred and my breeding birds but there a couple mixes in there. I have an olive egger I'm breeding to my cream legbar to produce offspring that lay a minty/avacado colored egg. I've also got a few excess Roos that either need a new home or will be processed in a few weeks. We don't heat or insulate and I leave windows and vents open all winter. When we were building this place our entire flock went over to a relative's place. I picked a few of my old birds but mostly brought in new stock for my new place. Actually going to be hatching another set of chicks. Starting them on Friday-Swedish flower hens from Candace at Breezy Farms.

Hi, yes there have always been wolves around here too, 440 acres of bush, creeks and swamp right behind my place, well known wildlife area. I have actually counted as many as 50-75 deer at a time around here in spring, just incredible.
I only have a few pure strains, Black Rosecombes, and 1 OEG Bantam rooster. The rest are X breeds. I did have 2 of the bantam hens hatch out a batch last spring, 8 out of 9 hatched, very healthy, and no brooder heat for them either.
I heat enough to take the edge off that about it. these birds are much tougher than us humanoids.
Your F1 offspring, should produce interesting colored eggs by the sounds of things.
I would like to breed my Black Rosecombs away from the other roos, but am reluctant to separate any of them, as they all get along now,and upsetting the pecking order is a PITA. Any suggestions?

 

[Alaskan]

There are several people on here that split up their birds into breeding pairs or trios etc. for the spring and summer, and then put everyone together for the winter.

I think one thing that really helps putting all the birds back together is moving everyone at the same time (so no one is on their own 'home turf'), or making some drastic change in the coop, to try to create the same effect.

Double up on everything, feeders and waterers as well as perches, and hiding/running away room, helps too.