Before Building Chicken Coops And Getting Ready For The Winter Tips

It's not too early to think about the effect that cold weather will have on your chicken coop. You experience a decrease in egg production and unsatisfied hens. So is it feasible to guard your flock from harsh winters? Following merely a few simple tips, you can easily avoid hurting your chickens and make them feel comfortable despite the cold weather. Although hens love the cold, they suffer when it snows and temperature drops below freezing point. One way to stand up to a lower then typical egg production is to provide maximum warmth in the hen house. We'll get into how to protect your hens for the duration of the winter months. You will need to think of this ahead of time as you start building chicken coops, as it's more difficult to do this after you're done with the chicken house.

Make sure you provide electric lighting in the coop. While you select your chicken coop building plans look at providing electricity, which will help you keep the coop warm. Also, the birds need about 14 hours of light on a daily basis and with using electrical lighting you can easily supply that, any time they are unable to go outside because of the weather conditions. Using ceramic lamps is fine but they only produce heat and no light. Good exposure to light increases the egg production.

You shouldn't just block all the windows to try and keep them covered. Your chickens require fresh air as well. Which means that you want to insulate the house enough to maintain it warm, but keep the fresh air circulating.

Make sure to provide fresh drinking water to your flock especially during time when the water is frozen outside, you'll need to constantly supply them with normal temperature water.

Insulation of the walls of the coop will keep the cold air out while maintaining constant temperature inside the coop by retaining warm air. With proper insulation setup, your flock will be dry and comfy during the winter season.

Keeping your hens feel warm is needed during winter season. A roost will provide your chickens with a spot to snooze on. Hens like to sleep on raised places, so including a roost while you're building a chicken coop will provide a spot for them to rest as well as feel pleasant. Putting nesting boxes higher than of roost will make them sleep in the nesting box, a little something you want to avoid. So place the roost higher than the breeding box. Bedding the roost plank with straw and hay bales will provide even more warmth for your birds.

These are just a few ideas which are simple to follow and are also cost effective. Make sure you include them to provide maximum protection for your flock from the cold weather while selecting chicken coop building plans.

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About the Author:
Looking for more building chicken coops how to's? Need to pick the right layout from a myriad of building chicken coop plans? Go to our blog and get lots of fresh and useful tips.

Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com

Tags: building chicken coops , building chicken houses , chicken coop building plans , building chicken coops plans , chicken houses designs , small chicken house pla

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