Coop Door Frozen Shut - Any Tips?

[Crazy4Fowl]

My duck coop run door is completely frozen shut. I can only access them from the coop house door. Any tips on short term solutions, e.g. thawing ice, and long term solutions, e.g. changing duck coop door design? Average temps have been 20-30°.

 

[FrostRanger]

Well, an immediate solution to get the door unstuck would be to carefully pour hot water on it. Not sure about long term solutions other than perhaps salting the area

 

[StinkyAcres]

Do you have a mattock or pickaxe?

A long term solution would be to raise the door to a height that would clear your average snow depth. I hang my doors and gates 6+ inches off the ground for this reason:

Also keep pools and waterers away from the door so the ducks can't splash water around it.

 

[StinkyAcres]

And I would add a diagonal brace to your door while you're at it to prevent it from sagging.

 

[Ruler of the Roost]

I'd look into installing some sort of an electric heating device around the frame that could be remote actuated from your house. Turn it on 15 minutes before you go outside...ice is gone!

 

[Ted Brown]

Buy a bag of ice salt at your local...

Sprinkle a few handfuls along the bottom, wait a couple of hours and remove what you can with a shovel. Repeat until gate is free.

Hereafter clear away from gate when it snows.

 

[saysfaa]

Is it snow and ice blocking the gate? Or the ground rising from frost heave? Some of the solutions for snow and ice may make frost heave worse.

When my coop door couldn't open due to frost heave, I shoveled the frozen ground away. But that was a solid door and it happened early enough in the winter that the frost was only several inches down.

If I'd had a gate like yours, and it was this late in the winter so the ground was frozen more solidly, I might move the gate instead. One of: rehang the existing gate, replace the gate, cut the bottom off it.

 

[avjudge]

Buy a bag of ice salt at your local...

Sprinkle a few handfuls along the bottom, wait a couple of hours and remove what you can with a shovel. Repeat until gate is free.

And if it is icy, not snow, I would recommend using a square dirt shovel rather than a snow shovel. I keep mine handy in the winter.

 

[Ted Brown]

Salt will melt ice & snow down to - 9C/15F.