Winterizing Coop & Chicken

[Mrs. K]

Really save your money. They don't need heat, and really can completely heat themselves if they are more than 3 weeks old. Adding heat can be very dangerous and is not necessary with young animals.

What you should spend your money that I just saved you is a bigger coop. Chicks get amazingly big, and need space. If it is a pre fab coop, and says it will hold 4, probably should not have more that 2. If you have 7 birds in there it is going to rapidly get too small and that will create terrible social problems and fighting.

Mrs K

 

[Madzillah]

Coop expansion already planned! Doubling the size. Middle of IL, so we get a few weeks of negative numbers. I've seen posts where MN folks leave them out with success, but I also have seen frostbite.
I did get Wyandottes due to cold tolerance, but walking is important.
Coop is currently non-insulated plywood with plenty of ventilation. Floor is raised 18 inches. We were planning on straw underneath. Going to use deep litter method with drop boards, but they just transitioned to the coop.
I was thinking on terms of cold acclimation; they don't yet have all the head/neck feathers , so no hat and scarf. Temps dropped suddenly from high 60s to mid 40s at night at the time they were transitioning from the stable 70 degree bathroom. I think this next week will help with lows remaining stable in the high to mid 50s.

 

[lazy gardener]

Coop expansion already planned! Doubling the size. Middle of IL, so we get a few weeks of negative numbers. I've seen posts where MN folks leave them out with success, but I also have seen frostbite.
I did get Wyandottes due to cold tolerance, but walking is important.
Coop is currently non-insulated plywood with plenty of ventilation. Floor is raised 18 inches. We were planning on straw underneath. Going to use deep litter method with drop boards, but they just transitioned to the coop.
I was thinking on terms of cold acclimation; they don't yet have all the head/neck feathers , so no hat and scarf. Temps dropped suddenly from high 60s to mid 40s at night at the time they were transitioning from the stable 70 degree bathroom. I think this next week will help with lows remaining stable in the high to mid 50s.

As long as their bodies are feathered out, they will be just fine. Chicks tend to pig pile at night. That creates a lot of mutual warmth!!! It does take a while for those head feathers to come in. Consider this: When you go outside, you most likely are perfectly comfortable with temps in 40's without a hat and scarf. Same with your chicks. My chicks brood outside with a heating pad, and wean themselves off heat around 4 weeks of age, in mid May. Temps then often get down to low 40's high 30's sometimes with frosts at that time.

 

[bluecoop]

agree with most on here, no heat needed. protection from the wind and good ventilation is key. I live in Idaho, near Yellowstone, it gets to -40 on occasions and will not be above freezing for three or four months....never had any problems with the gals, I'm sure they're not overly happy but neither am I

 

[Ash1974]

agree with most on here, no heat needed. protection from the wind and good ventilation is key. I live in Idaho, near Yellowstone, it gets to -40 on occasions and will not be above freezing for three or four months....never had any problems with the gals, I'm sure they're not overly happy but neither am I

What breed do you have? I have Rhode Island Red's and the temps sound similar to the temps we get here in Central Ontario