Winterizing Your Coop and Run

“Let’s Talk” Winterizing your chicken coop and run. As the cold weather sets in, it’s time to start preparing your chicken “coop and run to help keep your flock warm and healthy during these winter months.

I’ve owned chickens for six years now and have picked up some tips and tricks along the way that I will share. Let me start out by saying that (most) chickens breeds are more cold hardy than you might think. Chickens have a higher internal body temperatures than humans, usually around 105°, so they don’t feel the cold quite as dramatically as we do. They will also adjust their posture in the winter months, usually hunkering a little closer to the ground, and puffing out their feathers, to help retain body heat. All that said, there is still some things we can do to help our feathery friends get through the winter months.

Let’s start with the chicken coop. You’ll want to do one last really deep clean of your coop before the temperatures fall even further. Scrap off your roosting bars, scrub everything down and take out the old bedding.  You’re not going to want to spend time doing this in the dead of winter. Once it’s all cleaned out, ensure there are no gaps in your structure that could present drafts, especially if they are close to their roosts. While you want to remove drafts, you still want to ensure there is proper ventilation. Damp air is more detrimental to a chickens health and can cause respiratory infections, than cold air. If your coop has multiple windows in it it would be ok to cover up all but one of them. Along with your chicken door, this should ensure proper air flow. Once you have cleaned and addressed drafts/air flow, it’s time to add the bedding back in. Only put a thin layer down though. Why? It is recommended to use the deep litter method for bedding in the winter months. Meaning you’ll continue to add new bedding on top of the old, not removing the old. The idea behind this is that it helps create a layer of insulation at the base of their coop, and as the poop breaks down it helps create a little bit of heat. It’s also just easier on us humans to not have to go and clean out bedding in the winter months. I would recommend adding some kind of oder block each time you add a new layer of bedding. I prefer to use lime. 

Not everyone has a chicken run attached to their coop, but if you do, I would recommend wrapping the coop. You can use any number of things, from tarps, to painters plastic or even straw bails (if your run isn’t very tall). I prefer to use clear shower curtains though. They are a little thicker than some other materials, they’ll usually hold up for multiple winters, and since they are clear they look a little more esthetically pleasing to the eye, and the chickens can still see out. Just like with the coop, you want to ensure there is still proper ventilation. At the very least I would recommend wrapping the south and west sides of your run, as that’s primarily the direction wind/snow come from. But if you wrap it all, just leave some gaps here and there for air flow. If your run doesn’t have a roof you might also want to tarp it, just make sure it’s pulled tight enough to not cave in if snow accumulates on it (I’ve made that mistake before).  Chickens do NOT like walking on snow, so whatever you can do, be it wrapping their run and covering the top, to help keep the snow out of their run, they’ll be very grateful. I don’t keep bedding down in my run Spring-Fall, but I do add bedding in the winter months. This just helps provide one additional layer of protection between their feet and the cold ground. As you rake up your leaves, throw them in the chicken run! Straw or pine shavings work just fine also. 

Now, let’s talk about food and water. As far as food, you don’t need to change much, but I would recommend feeding them in the afternoon if possible, as a full belly before bed will help keep them warmer. If you prefer continuing your normal feeding routine, consider throwing down some scratch grains in their run before bedtime. Anything high in carbs will help keep them warmer at night. For water, if possible, swap out your normal waterers for heated waterers. This will help ensure your water doesn’t freeze. If you are unable to get a source of power to your coop for heated waterers, there is still a few tips and tricks you can use. You could swap out their normal waterers for rubber bowls. These are easier to dump frozen water from and won’t crack. If you want to keep using their normal waterers, you’ll need to go out several times a day to swap out their water. You can turn your normal waterers upside down at night though, especially this time of year when it’s warm enough in the day to thaw the water, but cold enough at night to freeze it. By turning them upside down, once you turn it upside the frozen water will be at the top, not the base, and any unfrozen water can sip down to be drank right away.

Those are the key points to winterizing your chicken coops and runs for the winter, but here are a few other miscellaneous tips or tricks. 

- Chickens get board easily and if their free range time is reduced in the winter months they need additional things to do. You could add a dirt bath area in their chicken run, filled with dirt, sand, ashes, etc for them to be able to clean themselves. 

- You can buy lettuce or cabbage and run a rope through it and hang it up in the run for the chickens to peck around at it, keeping them entertained for hours. 

- Edible plants are harder to come by in the winter months, but chickens will eat hay/straw/leaves/alfalfa if presented to them and there is nothing else to forage. 

- Add additional roosts or even stumps to give them more areas to spread out and explore.

- Raise your chicken waterers a little higher in the winter. This will help your chickens not dangle their wattles in the water as they drink, which would lead to frost bite.

- If your run isn’t covered, and it snows, get out and shovel up the snow as quickly as possible. Chickens feet can get frost bite also and they’ll avoid walking on cold ground if they can. 

- DO NOT add heaters or heat lamps to your chicken coop or run in the winter. This is a big fire hazard and will only increase the moisture level in your coop/run, presenting more unneeded health concerns.

That’s it! I hope these tips help you as you prepare your chickens for these colder months. As I stated to start, chickens are very cold hardy. I know people who do all of these things, and I know people who only do a few, or none of these things, and their chickens survive. Chickens are far more likely to die of excessive heat than they are of bitter cold. But if you have the time and are willing to put in the effort, I would recommend adopting some of these ideas for your feathery flock.

Check out our accompanying video about winterizing your coop HERE

Happy Clucking!

- Paul (@17chickensandcounting)