Winterizing a small coop (7 chickens)

[DobieLover]

I'll go add to my profile, but we are upstate NY. Just starting to get frost at night. It's been chilly a little earlier this year, but we expect a winter with 20's at night and 30's during the day.
I think the advice of focusing on the windows and reopening those vents up high (a good 3-4 feet above the roost bar) is what we're going to work on this week - by Friday when it's supposed to be in the low 20's (which is a little bonkers before Thanksgiving). I've also got to spend the week convincing my 5-year old to put on her coat in the morning :/.

I know exactly the weather you are having as I am in Upstate NY too.
This is how I ventilate my coop:

Soffits open. Gable vents open. Both backed with 1/2" hardware cloth.
Pop door open. Ridge vent open.
All the above venting is left open year round.
Note the crack of light coming in on the top of the right window. They are not tight windows but they do not allow drafts on the birds.
I have two windows, that are not near the roosts, that I leave cracked open.
Try for something similar and your birds should do well.
Keep the bedding dry.
IMHO, poop boards are the best asset for keeping the coop clean and dry.
If you have a waterer inside the coop, make sure it is a closed style.
This is what I have in the coop. I'll be installing the thermostatically controlled bird bath heater in it today.

 

[chrissynemetz]

I think covering the widows is a good idea, and definitely open the screened vents. Ventilation is super important.
And good luck with your 5 year old....

 

[alex5chickens]

I know exactly the weather you are having as I am in Upstate NY too.
This is how I ventilate my coop:
View attachment 1952964
Soffits open. Gable vents open. Both backed with 1/2" hardware cloth.
Pop door open. Ridge vent open.
All the above venting is left open year round.
Note the crack of light coming in on the top of the right window. They are not tight windows but they do not allow drafts on the birds.
I have two windows, that are not near the roosts, that I leave cracked open.
Try for something similar and your birds should do well.
Keep the bedding dry.
IMHO, poop boards are the best asset for keeping the coop clean and dry.
If you have a waterer inside the coop, make sure it is a closed style.
This is what I have in the coop. I'll be installing the thermostatically controlled bird bath heater in it today.
View attachment 1952967

Nice setup!

 

[alex5chickens]

I have a chicken tractor covered in greenhouse plastic that I use for my 5 birds, and I have 6 inch vents on the top of both ends of the tractor. The main thing is keeping the inside dry, and draft free, not necessarily super warm. Especially if you have cold hardy birds, they can handle the cold if you keep their coop dry and draft free. Hope this helps!

 

[aart]

I'll go add to my profile, but we are upstate NY.

Pics of your coop, inside and out, would really help here.

Here some guides to show you how:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/announcements-feedback-issues-guides.3/?prefix_id=3

Also how to add your location so it shows under your avatar,
remember to scroll way down and hit 'Save'.

 

[CaptainSamH]

I know exactly the weather you are having as I am in Upstate NY too.
This is how I ventilate my coop:
View attachment 1952964
Soffits open. Gable vents open. Both backed with 1/2" hardware cloth.
Pop door open. Ridge vent open.
All the above venting is left open year round.
Note the crack of light coming in on the top of the right window. They are not tight windows but they do not allow drafts on the birds.
I have two windows, that are not near the roosts, that I leave cracked open.
Try for something similar and your birds should do well.
Keep the bedding dry.
IMHO, poop boards are the best asset for keeping the coop clean and dry.
If you have a waterer inside the coop, make sure it is a closed style.
This is what I have in the coop. I'll be installing the thermostatically controlled bird bath heater in it today.
View attachment 1952967

I got the drafty windows covered in plastic and have left the upper joints open and may even open the upper windows up a bit more. We will be doing some rearranging of boxes and roosting bars because they're not laying where we want them to and will look at incorporating a poop board.

Talk to me about this water rig. Right now we just have regular waterer with the jug and open tray, but it is starting to freeze so now I have a low heat red bulb lamp over it (which keeps it thawed without really heating the coop), but I don't want to mess with the birds' thermoregulation.

Thanks for the pics and help! (I'll try and get some pics of ours if can get in when the light is enough for my crappy camera).

 

[CaptainSamH]

I have a chicken tractor covered in greenhouse plastic that I use for my 5 birds, and I have 6 inch vents on the top of both ends of the tractor. The main thing is keeping the inside dry, and draft free, not necessarily super warm. Especially if you have cold hardy birds, they can handle the cold if you keep their coop dry and draft free. Hope this helps!

Totally helps...there are large screened openings (almost 2sq.ft. each) up top on opposing walls that we roughly boarded up (left a crack around the perimeter). My plan was to remove some of the boarding, but I was unsure of how much...your 6 inch vents gives me a good guideline.
As for the birds... I believe at least two of the breeds are cold hardy - Rhode Island Red and Black Sex Link. I don't know about the Amberlinks (I'm currently nursing one of them for some unknown ailment, so we'll see if we get that far with her) or the Asia Black. And it's my understanding that our other one - a White Leghorn - is particularly susceptible to wind. We lost two of those last year suddenly - woke up to frozen birds - didn't know why, but we had just had a fairly severe windstorm that took out trees and power lines.

 

[CaptainSamH]

Pics of your coop, inside and out, would really help here.

Here some guides to show you how:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/announcements-feedback-issues-guides.3/?prefix_id=3

Also how to add your location so it shows under your avatar,
remember to scroll way down and hit 'Save'.

View attachment 1953695

Thanks for walking me through that...hope those changes got saved... will get coop photos hopefully this weekend (I can't manage to get in there with the camera while it's still light enough).

 

[aart]

hope those changes got saved

Yep, they did!

I have a chicken tractor covered in greenhouse plastic that I use for my 5 birds, and I have 6 inch vents on the top of both ends of the tractor. The main thing is keeping the inside dry, and draft free, not necessarily super warm. Especially if you have cold hardy birds, they can handle the cold if you keep their coop dry and draft free. Hope this helps!

@alex5chickens ...pics of your coop?
...and...
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[CaptainSamH]

Yep, they did!

@alex5chickens ...pics of your coop?
...and...
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!
View attachment 1955139

Since we're doing tech stuff...how I do only quote some of a post?