With this rain today it has been a pain to cover the entire coop with a sheet of plastic (I'm running fans) but there is also much water that puddles, but yesterday I moved the coop to a higher area. My problem this winter may be snow and rain and cold weather all of which is somewhat unpredictable in my area. Sometimes we have very mild winters and a few years back over 40" of snow for weeks.
I was thinking I could maybe buy several bales of straw and lay them on top of a large tarp, flat, end to end, and then wrap the tarp over top the bales and tuck them all in to keep the straw dry and then lay large sheets of plywood on top to make a flat bottom. Then, cover the plywood with a rolled heavy rubber (non-slip type), and then lay the run and coop on top of it all. The rubber flooring would be cut to just fit inside the run/coop bottom but not have either sitting on top of it. My plan was to, on nice days, take down the coop part (it's portable - 66 lbs with handles) and pull out the rubber from the run and the coop, and throw out all the bedding on it, and replace with fresh. While doing this the chickens can run about in the chicken yard.
I also plan to put clear plastic, very heavy duty and UV protected type, and cut to size and staple gun it to the sides of the ark run/coop to keep out the wind. Also, the end of the run, partially cover but to allow some air to enter. My ark coop has a bottom ladder so there is not much I can do about updrafts during the day, but at night I pull the ladder up. I am not worried my hens will get cold as they will keep each other warm in the roost area. I may put something on top of the A-frame coop top to keep out water as it leaks sometimes. Hindsight being 20/20 I wish I had not bought an ark style. I may, instead of clear plastic on the sides of the coop have wooden squares cut to size to fit snugly into the open wire sides and put handles on them. Ideally, I'd like to have both wood and Plexiglas inserts like that as sometimes I wonder if the sun is too much it could get hot in there during the day (like a green house, yet I like the light. Maybe one side wood and one side Plexiglas's?
There really is limited access when the run and coop are pushed together. I have a top lid but I have to pull the coop back at least 8 inches for the lid not to hit the handles of the coop (the guy that built the run cut the lid in but he didn't have the coop there when he built it so he did his best. P.S. I'm not allowed to have chickens so they are hidden away in the back part of the yard with woods, my fence and house blocking the view (also a berm). I just want my chickens, who will be spending much time inside, and if we get endless rain or a big snow, I have to have that coop off the ground. I cannot build any type of platform and thought straw bales would work nicely, and also insulate from the bottom.
Has anyone every lifted their coop up on straw bales for the winter? Any pitfalls anyone can think of I might have missed? You can see my coop and run on my photo page. If you have photos of something you did that is similar and feel like posting I would appreciate it. Thanks. -RSL
I was thinking I could maybe buy several bales of straw and lay them on top of a large tarp, flat, end to end, and then wrap the tarp over top the bales and tuck them all in to keep the straw dry and then lay large sheets of plywood on top to make a flat bottom. Then, cover the plywood with a rolled heavy rubber (non-slip type), and then lay the run and coop on top of it all. The rubber flooring would be cut to just fit inside the run/coop bottom but not have either sitting on top of it. My plan was to, on nice days, take down the coop part (it's portable - 66 lbs with handles) and pull out the rubber from the run and the coop, and throw out all the bedding on it, and replace with fresh. While doing this the chickens can run about in the chicken yard.
I also plan to put clear plastic, very heavy duty and UV protected type, and cut to size and staple gun it to the sides of the ark run/coop to keep out the wind. Also, the end of the run, partially cover but to allow some air to enter. My ark coop has a bottom ladder so there is not much I can do about updrafts during the day, but at night I pull the ladder up. I am not worried my hens will get cold as they will keep each other warm in the roost area. I may put something on top of the A-frame coop top to keep out water as it leaks sometimes. Hindsight being 20/20 I wish I had not bought an ark style. I may, instead of clear plastic on the sides of the coop have wooden squares cut to size to fit snugly into the open wire sides and put handles on them. Ideally, I'd like to have both wood and Plexiglas inserts like that as sometimes I wonder if the sun is too much it could get hot in there during the day (like a green house, yet I like the light. Maybe one side wood and one side Plexiglas's?
There really is limited access when the run and coop are pushed together. I have a top lid but I have to pull the coop back at least 8 inches for the lid not to hit the handles of the coop (the guy that built the run cut the lid in but he didn't have the coop there when he built it so he did his best. P.S. I'm not allowed to have chickens so they are hidden away in the back part of the yard with woods, my fence and house blocking the view (also a berm). I just want my chickens, who will be spending much time inside, and if we get endless rain or a big snow, I have to have that coop off the ground. I cannot build any type of platform and thought straw bales would work nicely, and also insulate from the bottom.
Has anyone every lifted their coop up on straw bales for the winter? Any pitfalls anyone can think of I might have missed? You can see my coop and run on my photo page. If you have photos of something you did that is similar and feel like posting I would appreciate it. Thanks. -RSL
