Hello all, This is my first post hereon this forum i have been a member over on BYH for a little whie now and figured i would join over here too. Today I winterized the coop as the temps are dropping here in New England. I have 2 Red sexlink and 2 Black and have read that the hybrid birds do not hold up to well to the cold. Since my coop was made out of recycled materials and was only supposed to be temporary it was a little difficult to figure out as i don't have your traditional studded walls. So what i did was just put some insulation against the plywood and then cover it over with plastic from a roll i had laying around. It came out better then expected and if i can get my stupid sd card to work in my phone i will take some pics. I also made some doors to cover the vents and tomorrow plan to put some of the plastic around part of the run. I have read that people let the bedding build up in the coop over the winter to help with warmth. To me that sounds dangerous as far as germs go. Any input? I will be adding 2-3 more hens this week to add to the body heat in the coop as it is to large for the 4 i have now. Still trying to figure out keeping the water from freezing too?
Hello there & welcome, If you head to the learning center on the site you will find oodles of info. on bedding etc. which you will find very helpful. In the winter I use a 'sort of' deep litter method. I don't change out the straw, but every other day, take off the topmost fouled layer, rake up the remaining straw and add fresh. Keeping the litter actually helps the coop to stay warmer because of the air trapped between the straw. Some people don't remove any poop at all, just mixing it up with fresh & old. The height of the bedding can get quite amazing! As far as keeping the water from freezing - again good articles to be found here. However, I'm paranoid about fire, so I cart out fresh, tepid water 3x day - more if needs be. Perhaps not time efficient, but it works for me. Hope this helps a bit, Sue
Quote: All those "germs" were already in the chicken once. Deep litter is no "dirtier" than the ground outside
i would not close off the vents , chickens have lived quite well in the cold in just trees for years they need fresh air. they have the feathers to keep them warm.
I have two vents along the sides of the coop that will stay open at all times. They are a channel type where the wind and rain cannot get in but the air can circulate. The other vents i just made doors that can be opened and closed depending on the temp. It get down below zero here at night during the winter.
