# Winter Is Coming...



## JediPat (Sep 19, 2018)

What are you doing to prep your coops and runs for the winter months ahead? 

Here in Idaho we just use extra straw/shavings to insulate the coop and keep everything dry. We also bust out the heated water dish as it tends to get a bit chilly. Besides that our girls tend to do very well regardless of breed, we let egg production fall off (no fake lighting) and keep them fat and sassy.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Here I drop the tarps on three sides and leave them down during the "cold" months. During the night time hours a fourth is dropped to make me feel better. 

In five years I've only had the waterers freeze once. 

And your comment about the birds doing well in Winter is a testament to your coop being right with ventilation. That might be something to help others with.


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## JediPat (Sep 19, 2018)

robin416 said:


> And your comment about the birds doing well in Winter is a testament to your coop being right with ventilation. That might be something to help others with.


I don't know how I missed this reply...sorry. My coop was built by my grandpa, it has blue vinyl siding and a tin/shingled roof. It matches our house and shop very well. With that being said...I could never build anything like this myself...it needs some upkeep done to it before winter and I should have that done tomorrow. My wife and I also just extended the run because I got the ok to bring home a "couple" more birds.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Oh oh. By extended did you make it at least a 1/4 acre? 

What I was getting at is that the ventilation is spot on. For some reason I think you're in a fairly cold Winter environment.


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## JediPat (Sep 19, 2018)

I live in a farming town with a double sized lot, 1/4 of one of those lots is now the chickens to roam when they aren't free ranging. I only let the free with I am able to be out with them. My flock is small, I run between 4 to 10 birds at a time. When I get a new one I usually give 1 or 2 away to keep somewhat fresh egg layers in the rotation. 

I live in Western Idaho...just 2 years ago we had several feet of record breaking snowfall. We see the negatives for a month or two, nothing crazy. Our weather is known for being erratic and extreme, lol.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Any place that snows is cold to my way of thinking. But then I have heat that can toast you with humidity that is miserable. And bugs, lots of bugs. We've had warm winters the past several years so there has been a wildlife and bug population explosion. 

You do what I do, here my birds can only be out if I'm home. Just too many potential threats here. The Silkies I have left would have no chance.


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