Winterizing the chicken area
We are trying something new this year with our chicken’s outside area. Chickens hate the snow (at least most do - I have a few that don’t even seem to notice it and still forage all over in the deep snow.) So once the snow falls, it’s pretty hard to get the girls to leave the coop. Considering that we have even more chickens than last year, coop floor space will be at a premium in a month or so.
We installed some clear plastic roof panels along two side of their outdoor “pavilion” (covered area) to hopefully act as a bit of a snow- and wind-break. Add a few bales of straw in there, and it can be quite cozy. We also installed a gutter along the edge of the roof (something we should have done originally, because it gets pretty muddy down there) to direct rain and melting snow water out the back of the fence.
We are also going to add a covered cattle panel “hoop” entryway (similar to our garden trellises) to the open side to offer further protection. We are also re-arranging things a bit inside to maximize roost and floorspace, but we ran out of steam for attacking some of these parts of the project in one day! But here is a look at their new outdoor “nook”.
These plastic panels were so easy to work with - you can cut them with a scissor. We hope they hold up to the wind. We may need to add a little 2×2 in the middle of this 8’ stretch.
Chickens are too busy eating sunflower seeds to care about what we are up to.
I decided we’re going to forgo re-installing aviary netting on top of the run until next spring. Winters are pretty rough on the netting anyway, so hopefuly waiting will make the job easier. Having those horizontal top boards along the run is actually what will make the job WAY easier than the last time, when we were attaching top netting to side netting.
We left the side edge “dragging” along the bottom - figured it can’t hurt from a drainage perspective.
As we finished up, the downstairs firestarters were at it, their favorite hobbies being cutting down branches and burning them.
