OK I’m fretting about our girls being cold. I know most of you have thought of this long before now. My first question is how do you tell if a chicken is cold? How much winterizing do we need to do in Coastal Southern California? It’s been really cold this week, low 40’sF at night and 60’sF during the day, some years it will dip to the high 20’s for a few nights at a time. I know a bunch of you are laughing at me right now, but cold is relative and we’re trying to pamper our girls. We have 4, almost 7 month olds who have just started laying.
Our hen house is 6’9” x 3’8” built in a 6’9”x 10’4” covered run. The roosts are 3’ 8” long at one end, while the pop hole is as far down the long wall as it can be. DH just finished installing a pop door (he’s been going out the last few night and covering it). Just under the roof of the hen house we left a gap, all the way around, of 2”- 8” covered with hardware cloth for ventilation. Do folks think we should cover some or all of the venting (middle pic) under the eves? I was thinking maybe the half near the roost?
Also we put doors on both narrow end of the hen house for access. They are installed such that there is a small gap, does this need to be filled?
Thanks for looking and sharing your experience with a newbie.
Our hen house is 6’9” x 3’8” built in a 6’9”x 10’4” covered run. The roosts are 3’ 8” long at one end, while the pop hole is as far down the long wall as it can be. DH just finished installing a pop door (he’s been going out the last few night and covering it). Just under the roof of the hen house we left a gap, all the way around, of 2”- 8” covered with hardware cloth for ventilation. Do folks think we should cover some or all of the venting (middle pic) under the eves? I was thinking maybe the half near the roost?
Also we put doors on both narrow end of the hen house for access. They are installed such that there is a small gap, does this need to be filled?
Thanks for looking and sharing your experience with a newbie.
