Surviving the Polar Vortex with our Backyard Flock!

Taking a brief break from our Australia adventures to update folks on how we weathered (no pun intended) the recent outbreak of horrifically cold weather here in the middle of nowhere in North Central Wisconsin!   

I wasn't worried about us so much as I was concerned for our flock of chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys!  Our coop is not heated, but it is insulated.  As it's about 15 years old and was built with old weathered pine boards, there were definitely some drafts.  In 2010, someone was offering 4x8 sheets of styrofoam insulation for free and I managed to grab it up!  We placed those sheets between the studs of the coop and covered it with particle board (chickens will peck at the styrofoam!). 

Before -- lots of places for cold wind to blow through!  

AFTER:  You can see the styrofoam above the window in this picture.  

The coop still looks pretty much like this, but there are a few areas that had some drafts.  I put plastic over both windows because they are quite drafty.  I bought a few bales of straw from Erica's future in-laws and spread one around the floor of the coop and put two bales in front of the door.  We've always had problems with the door warping in the winter, no matter what we do and always have a crack where cold wind can come through.  (If anyone has any suggestions on how to build a new door that won't warp, I'd be happy to hear them!)   Two additional whole bales of straw were placed in front of the coop to block any wind.  There is a large gap above the door that I also wanted to block, and as I was very cold at this point, I just had Greg grab a piece of an old mattress pad we had and shoved it in there!  Yes, it's redneck, but guess what?  I don't care!  It did what it was meant to do!  

I also added some more plastic to the vent area at the top of the coop on the east side.  There is plenty of other ventilation, so I wasn't worried about not having enough.  When I ran out of plastic, I used some old feed bags!  Necessity IS the mother of invention, right?!  

In case you're wondering, those PVC tubes are their feeders.  They work great and keep the feed clean and dry! 

I ended up putting a second bale of straw down for bedding yesterday (thanks, Robby and Ken!), because it was supposed to be even colder overnight (<-- Seriously?  Can it really get any colder here?!)  The chickens would normally sleep on their roost, but in this cold, they were nesting on the ground.  They are smart enough to recognize that the straw offers them a good layer of insulation to help keep them warm!  If you watch a chicken in the winter, you'll see them "fluff" their feathers, and may stay fluffed (other birds, as well).   What this does is it traps air between their feathers and body and acts as insulation to help keep them warm.  Isn't God amazing in how He created these incredible birds? 

I know there are people from all over reading this, and we all have different definitions of cold.  During this polar vortex, we had nighttime temperatures of 35 below zero (F) and wind chills (feels like temperatures) of 55 to 60 below zero!  This was the coldest weather we've had in 23 years!  That's longer than Abby's been alive!!!!!!  Yes, it was cold.  Yes, it was miserable, but we all survived, including our flock!  It feels like our furnace has not shut off for the last two days!  I can only imagine how much propane we have gone through to keep the house warm!  But, at least we have propane and good working furnace!

You can see a gap in the boards above, where cold air was blowing through.  In the picture below, you can see that I covered it with an old feed bag.  Staple guns are great for this sort of thing!  

Just for fun, here's a picture of me as I'm heading outside in 40 below zero wind chills to take care of the chickens!  Fashion goes right out the window when it's that cold.  Staying warm is all that matters!  And for the record, even in the coop, out of the wind, I have NEVER gotten SO cold SO fast EVER!   I'm told I look "angry" and I haven't even been outside yet!  Well, just the thought of going out there in that cold was enough to make me not happy, but the thought of not knowing how they were all doing was enough to make me go!  Normally, Greg would take care of them, but I really wanted to do this myself, as not only is the cold even harder on him, but I'm just that much of a control freak that I needed to be able to see for myself how they were doing.  

I truly believe that covering any potential drafts and spreading extra straw (2 bales) for bedding and putting two whole bales in front of the door to cover any additional potential drafts made all the difference for my flock and is what kept them alive in their unheated (but insulated) coop during this "cold snap." 

I must admit, they are getting cabin fever. Today, they were trying to sneak out the door when I was taking care of them! It's going to be a whopping 12 degrees above zero tomorrow, so they will be allowed to go outside once again! I'm sure they will be thrilled this weekend, when it's more than 100 degrees warmer! Yes, it is predicted to be a balmy 36 degrees on Saturday and 40 on Sunday!!!!! YAY! 

Stay warm everyone! 

Julie

P.S.:  For anyone that wonders why we don't have a heat lamp in our chicken coop, here's a short story of what happened about ten years ago:

I woke up one winter morning and looked out the window at what I thought was "steam" coming out the top vent of the coop. When Aaron (about 16 at the time)  went outside to open the chickens before leaving for school a little while later, there was a FLASH of fire! He grabbed the shovel that was next to the coop and shoveled snow onto the fire to put it out! The chickens were all huddled on the floor as far away as possible. The heat lamp had fallen and landed "face down" in the straw. Fortunately, it was winter and the straw was damp, so it only smoldered.  BUT, with the air from the door being opened, the smoldering flashed into a fire! It could have been so much worse! Not only could we have lost the chickens and the coop, but Aaron could have been horribly burned! We've never used a heat lamp again. It's just not worth it. It's just too dangerous and is the way 99% of chicken coop fires start!