Winterizing questions for my coop/run

[MB13534]

Hi all.

I have 7 hens that are about 24 weeks old located in Portland Maine. Should be cold hearty (buff orp, lav orp, 2 easter eggers, black copper maran, black astralorp, and a plymouth barred rock. This is my first flock, and of course my first winter. I have done plenty of research and I am confident I am on the right track and I will detail my winterizing plan so far; my biggest concern/question is the whole ventilation debate in the coop.

I have provided pictures for reference. But essentially I have an 8'x16' run wrapped with 1/2'' hardware cloth (including an apron), a sloped metal roof, and a woodchip ground cover. Outside is about 1500sqft fenced area where I let them free range during the day. This is just to keep them rather contained.

I was planning on wrapping the run with clear shower curtain to reduce as much wind as possible. If this is a good idea, should I do the entire thing including the door? Or just 3 walls?

The food is in those 3 large PVC pipes in the picture. The joints are sealed and the access is under the coop. It essentially has 3 roofs so I don't think I need to worry about that getting wet or anything.
The coop is about 120ft from my house, but I am going to run 10/3 outdoor extension cord to a premier1 heated poultry waterer that I just got https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/heated-poultry-waterer I also plan on placing this under the coop so I can try to prevent any extra draft from hitting it

My biggest question/concern is the coop itself. The access door is on the left, and that is an omelet and it seems to seal quite well. It leads directly to the two perch bars (one 4x2 flat and one 3x2 flat). In the front towards the right is a large hardware cloth door. I am getting mixes research on whether or not this will be drafty for the chickens. They will be sleeping to the left, and the nesting boxes are to the right. I lifted the roof so the whole top is completely open for exhaust, 2-3 inches all around or so.

I am torn if I should leave it and that the cross breeze will not hit the birds, but will head up and out of the coop. Or if I should close the door off, and make some sort of much lower intake hole. Or maybe just close off the top portion of the door. I kind of like the idea of having the open door, but only if I am confident it wont jeopardize the birds.

Any and all thoughts are welcome and appreciated. Looking for any additional winterizing strategies, or anything else I might not have thought of. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dominique King]

I live in New Hampshire so I get the cold weather part.
So here are some things to take into consideration:
Which direction does the wind blow?
The wind will blow snow into the cracks and crevices in your coop.
And if enough wind gets through it could ruffle your chickens feathers.
make sure it is buttoned up enough to prevent that. I see that you are using board & batten for your walls, so that is good.
Is your roof strong enough to support snow?
I would say use the deep litter method for the cold weather part.
Keep the waterer outside if you can to prevent frostbite for your chickies in your coop.
I let my chickens out in their yard in the winter with a spot where I placed bunches of logs to soak up the sun to melt the snow around them.
I will try to answer any more questions I can but this is what I have share for now.
I hope this helps!

 

[rosemarythyme]

You'll get your best answer if you can test for draftiness on a typical windy day in your area by holding or tying a feather or light string/yarn to the roost area and seeing if the wind coming from the various vents make it flutter. If there's slight movement, that's fine. Fluttering or obvious movement, that's a draft.

My guess is because of your ample roof line venting (very good design on that!) that ventilation via the coop's "roof" should suffice for winter.

 

[aart]

Good choice of heated waterer.
Are they already using the horizontal nipples?
It can take them some getting used to, so I would start them now before you have to pug it in.

Wrap 3 sides of run and close the larger door in coop, there's plenty of ventilation in the coop with any other openings.