Okay, this isn’t as much as an informative blog, although I will include a couple of links to other helpful blog articles, as it is a plea for help! When we originally brought our chickens home we had thought that we would just keep them through the summer and fall and then make them into stew (or somebody would). But, we have decided that it would be a good idea to try and keep some layers over the winter to experiment and learn. Right now the hens are just in their normal movable pen, but as the temperatures drop and the snow flies I realize it is time to do something winterized … or slightly winterized.
We would like the girls to keep laying a little bit over the winter just because… We have become accustomed to the eggs each morning and if we are going to be feeding them it would be nice to have something from them. I have thought about a few different ideas for a winter house (each of which include a light bulb or heat lamp), but I haven’t really decided on anything. First I was just going to use some OSB I scavenged, some tin that we have down at the farm and some 2×4’s to make a lean-to off of our shed. We would then attach our movable pen to give them a little room outside. It seems like a good idea, but then we would have lean-to that wouldn’t really be used the rest of the year.
Another idea that we had was to park the pen in the garden and just slap some plywood all the way around (or most of the way) in order to close it up a bit from the wind and cold air. This idea seemed okay, and we could move it if we needed to, but I just thought it wouldn’t work very well for bedding or provide much room for the hens.
Then my wife stumbled upon Walter Jeffries’ post on his blog, Sugar Mountain Farm, about their “Winter Hen Coop”. It is a pretty impressive structure (if practical is impressive … which I believe it is) that also works as a summer coop. I like the idea and I think I could use a couple of cattle panels to make my frame. Possibly I would just tear apart my present coop in order to make this one because I think it would lighter and easier to move in the coming spring. Also, I love the idea of putting a base of hay bales around the bottom for warmth, bedding, and food. You can also read more about adding a sunroom by reading this POST.
So, do you have any great ideas? We are going to get some new hens in the early spring, but just wanted to winter these over in order to gain experience and keep a small supply of eggs coming in. Oh, I should also probably mention that we are talking about five birds right now, but it has been as high as six.
I look forward to hearing from everyone!
We built a larger version of the “Winter Hen Coop” that is about 8’x9′ and 6’tall inside in the middle. We have studded up the end walls and are covering the top and top half of the walls with heavy tarp (from large signs, they are called sign “faces” – free!)and the bottom with chicken wire. When the chicks are big enough to go outside we’re going to probably cover the chicken wire sides with straw bales and put two heat lamps inside. I want to raise the coop onto a base of straw bales like the “Winter Hen Coop” but my brother in law thinks we should move it through the winter since we don’t really get much snow.
I built a movable coop for my chickens, and I think that it will allow them to survive the winter. You can see it on my blog if you search for “chickens”.
Good luck!
The nice thing about the hay bale foundation is it creates a compost pile in addition to insulating and raising the structure. Note that putting the coop in a wind protected location is beneficial. If none is available, consider stacking a row of hay bales on the windward side.
I like the relative lightness of our 4’x12′ coop but a little bigger would be nice.
One trick we do to combat the winter egg slow down is we have a lot more chickens than we need to produce eggs for our family in the summer. Then in the winter we still get some eggs even when the birds slow down. This does mean there are periods when we get a couple dozen a day. Fortunately we’re not paying for chicken feed most of the year since they scavenge bugs and grass for the warm months. In the fall I tend to cull some to soup.
If you follow this link it will give you and idea for a chicken coop made out of cattle panels, it suggests making them a lil wider than is structurally sound, i only make mine 8 feet wide and once you make end wall for them they are very sturdy and wont budge in the heaviest wind, although the tarps might fly away. this is not the best for winter, however, i have read that the UN actually uses these structures to make houses in 3rd world countries. they smply take burlap or other old cloth and dip them in a concrete slurry and drape several layers over the cage. I have seen ppl use these for small storage sheds aswell. hope this helps a lil http://attra.ncat.org/images/poulthous/hoop_house_dia.jpg
http://www.plamondon.com/hoop-coop.html
Thanks everyone for your comments. Hopefully I will be heading to the farm to pick up some materials. Of course I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet 🙂
I just covered the run with old plywood and the A frame with two layers of Plastic. The South facing wall is left open the Northside I placed styrofoam panels and heaped the snow on them. I use a heatlamp in the run. I have found that production went up as soon as I added some light. Chickens didn’t seem to like the long dark days of winter. When it got in the -20 -30c I bought a water heater to keep the water from freezing. Happy chucks. 8 eggs a day in winter from 10 hens.
I just covered the run with old plywood and the A frame with two layers of Plastic. The South facing wall is left open the Northside I placed styrofoam panels and heaped the snow on them. I use a heatlamp in the run. I have found that production went up as soon as I added some light. Chickens didn’t seem to like the long dark days of winter. When it got in the -20 -30c I bought a water heater to keep the water from freezing. Happy chucks. 8 eggs a day in winter from 10 hens.
I was thinking of buying the above package that explains how to build a chicken coop. Has anyone heard of it and if so, would you recommend it? If not, is there another step-by-step guide you could recommend?