YO GEORGIANS! :)

[carcar80]

How much winterizing do you do? I honestly didn't plan to even close their windows. They have 4" vents along the top of the wall, and a vent along the ridgeline, as well as vents at floor level in the sidewall. Am I being overconfident?
[COLOR=141823]I don't remember winterizing even in Virginia, and didn't lose birds to the cold (did have ducks freeze their breasts to the ice once though.[/COLOR]

I don't change anything for my birds/coops in winter. They have option of shelter.. It's safe from wind/wet but open air at tops.. It's up to them whether they use it.

 

[PapaChaz]

How much winterizing do you do?
I honestly didn't plan to even close their windows. They have 4" vents along the top of the wall, and a vent along the ridgeline, as well as vents at floor level in the sidewall.
Am I being overconfident?
I don't remember winterizing even in Virginia, and didn't lose birds to the cold (did have ducks freeze their breasts to the ice once though.

I'm closing the windows on the coop, just to be sure their feathers don't get rustled in any over night winds and them get chilled. Other than that, the only thing I'll do different is my watering set up. I've drained the barrel and switched to hanging waterers I can move in at night. When it's cold enough during the day to freeze it during the day, I'll just make sure to check them through out the day. I may set up a drop light in a pan or block and set the waterer on it.

that's pretty much all I've ever done. They can survive cold better than heat.

I AM thinking of building another coop run up back by my storage building that's not shaded so much and maybe moving them up there for the the winter, then using that as a grow out pen next spring

 

[PapaChaz]

If you want to breed the Ameraucanas, you need to make sure to keep the colors separate. Any mixes will be considered Easter Eggers. The chicks have to breed true to be considered true Ameraucanas. The blue/black/splash Ameraucanas are the only ones that come in different colors. But, if you bred a white one to a black one, those babies would be EEs. I have some Lavender Ameraucanas and one blue one. I would not sell the Lavender/blue mix as an Ameraucana. It would be an EE. If you want to just mix them for your own fun, then go for it! You may want to visit the Ameraucana thread and read some of them.

just a quick side note to part of this post. If you decide to go read in the 'ameraucana thread' be prepared to see some of the biggest snobby know-it-all crabby "I'm better than you and so are my chickens" bunch of people you've EVER encountered.


just sayin.............

 

[padfootpal]

I was going to put my almost 2 month old chicks out into their big coop for the first time this week but then we got a surprise visit from the freezing temperatures.

Going to wait until next week. I can't complain though, the coop is still just a frame....

 

[Red Banks]

I was going to put my almost 2 month old chicks out into their big coop for the first time this week but then we got a surprise visit from the freezing temperatures.

Going to wait until next week. I can't complain though, the coop is still just a frame....

I have 5, 6 and 7 week olds out..... 34 degrees here last night.... I looked at them first thing this morning they weren't even huddled. Just making sure everything is nice and dry.

 

[padfootpal]

Dang that's awesome. I guess my chicks are much more durable than I'm giving them credit for.

Thanks!

 

[PapaChaz]

Dang that's awesome. I guess my chicks are much more durable than I'm giving them credit for.

Thanks!

4 to 5 weeks old are fully feathered. if yours are a couple months old, they are quite capable of staying warm. I have 9 week olds that have been in the coop for 4 weeks and doing just fine. I did take out the water bucket last night and forgot to go back and hang the top part of the divider back up. This morning when I went to check on them, they were realizing the error of their 'let's go over to the other side' ways. They were all huddled together as far underneath the ramp as they could get, trying to hide from the adults......

 

[feathersaloft]

I went and closed the windows for overnight tonight. And.....the pen is SO close to finished!

We got the fencing done, and put the wire underpinning. Only need to add a gate to the side. That's tomorrow's project.
Will have to be quick, cause I went ahead and moved everyone from the original pen and coop into the empty section of the new building.
They can see each other through the divider door, and will meet face to face in the new pen, where no one will be protecting 'their' pen.
All will be brand new in there

Hoping it keeps the ruckus to a minimum as the blue AM roo meets the juvenile RIR and the two Olive Egg roos who currently rule the roosts.

 

[carcar80]

I went and closed the windows for overnight tonight. And.....the pen is SO close to finished! We got the fencing done, and put the wire underpinning. Only need to add a gate to the side. That's tomorrow's project. Will have to be quick, cause I went ahead and moved everyone from the original pen and coop into the empty section of the new building. They can see each other through the divider door, and will meet face to face in the new pen, where no one will be protecting 'their' pen. All will be brand new in there Hoping it keeps the ruckus to a minimum as the blue AM roo meets the juvenile RIR and the two Olive Egg roos who currently rule the roosts.

Y'all may have covered this and/or you may already know, but do you still have plenty of ventilation with the windows closed? More dangerous than the cold is cold + humidity..

 

[PapaChaz]

Y'all may have covered this and/or you may already know, but do you still have plenty of ventilation with the windows closed? More dangerous than the cold is cold + humidity..

scroll back through and look at some of her other pics, there are vents all along the sides under the eaves, although if it was me, I'd put at one or two roof vents in just to be sure