Anywhere else?

[ALGardenMom]

Garden Girl,

I know you have the chicken tractor for your chickens, but do you have any other coop for them? What do you do during the winter? We got down to 17 degrees a few days ago.

Thanks

[gardengirl72]

Chickens are very hardy. I have another coop, but I rarely use it. I cover the tractor on three sides with a tarp and use and electric heater base(when working).

You would be surprised at how hardy chickens are. They are a lot like pidgeons.

[PJJ]

I had the same questions for Patti a while back. She gave me the same answer. lol

I live in southern IN. The temps have been in single digits and below 0 a few nights this past week. And the teens during the day. We do have a small house on one end of our tractors. That worked well when they were little. Now that they've grown, they can't all get in their though. We put fresh pine wood shavings in the pens and covered them with tarps. The chickens are doing very well. I don't have a heater base for the water so have to water them more often. That kinda stinks! Otherwise all is well.

Just keep them dry and block the wind.

[Fred's Fine Fowl]

I think that having a small coop, 8x8 for example (16 chickens) would make it nicer for the chicken owner and also for the birds when they are snowbound.

As Patti says, chickens, specifically the cold hearty breeds, do handle adverse conditions very well, so long as they are dry and out of the wind.

But how about the person tending them? Wouldn't you rather "walk into" a small building constructed just for them? The chickens could have light on a timer, a heated drinker and a bin for their food off the floor. Heat is not necessary, I'm not a fan of heat lamps for mature birds.

I'll be honest, I like walking out into the freezing windblown winter mornings, bitter cold, only to open the door and enter a sanctuary of warmth and contented chickens. I actually have flip down seats in one coop, so I can sit and watch them picking through the litter. Windows on the south side admit sunshine, when there is "sunshine"... it's a pleasant environment.

Something else to consider, if you do construct a small coop, consider having the door threshold and chicken doors well off the floor.. a foot at least. This means you will step down when entering the coop. This allows for what's known as a "deep litter system"... as pine shavings mix with chicken droppings, deepening, it becomes compost and actually generates heat.

Winter heat, is also why you should have a building sized right for the number of birds. If there are too few birds, they will not increase the level of heat in the space. However, if you have 16 full sized chickens in a 8x8 foot coop, their body heat and respiration will increase the interior temperature also.

The deep litter system also provides a nice padded landing for them when they leap from their perches. Throwing scratch grains and cracked corn on the litter, keeps them turning and working the bedding. I do not use droppings pits. All my birds are litter raised and kept.

Also, if you do build a coop of any size, elevate it off the ground and do not surround it with straw bales... I recommend at least a height of one foot off the ground. This does two things, one-prohibits rodents from setting up house beneath your structure and two-chickens will stand under it for shade and an escape from a sudden rain storm.

Then, when you are using your raised garden bed chicken tractors, simply place the chickens in that system as needed. When they are not needed in your raised bed, then replace them in the permanent coop and run.

Sound good? I hope so (">

[shebear]

Sounds just like grandpa's set up Fred. I wondered about the set up with the doors and grandpa also said it made it a little harder for animals to get in too. He also had roosts a couple of feet off the floor in the back and a few close to the roof for the flying ladies. I miss those days of feeding the chickens and getting eggs but they're not happening in a city.

[MamaGigi]

Hi all! I mentioned my idea of having some hens to a neighbor who said they thought it would be a neat idea. They asked if we were going to have roosters and I said, only if by accident. He mentioned that chickens/rabbits may entice snakes to come out of our wooded area out back. Does anyone have any experience with this? I don't want to condemn any animal to becoming easy prey, nor do I want to find one suddenly (or my children.)

[gardenjoinery]

We had a couple of our chickens stay out by accident on some of the coldest nights this winter (boy are they ditzy without a rooster!) and they were totally fine in sub-zero temps. I keep a little heat on them for my own peace of mind, but I really don't think they care!

We have not had any problem with vermin. Actually, we have been strangely pest- and predator-free, considering that our coop backs up to woods and a stream away from the house. I don't give them compost in their yard, mostly, and their food is a dry organic mash. I just put compost in the compost pile and they fly over and pick it, so there isn't rotting stuff in their yard. I wash the egg shells and peel out the membranes so that they can eat the shells for calcium in addition to the shellfish stuff.