So now this chicken experiment is entering what I've arbitrarily have named Phase II. Phase I is the part where I don't accidentally kill them and they get old enough to actually lay eggs, Phase II is the part where they live through the winter.

I'm not going to heat their coop. The only thing I plan to heat at all is their water. I planned on having a larger solar panel and a battery bank at this point, but that hasn't happened. What I'm going to do is get some sort of stock tank de-icer that is small enough to fit down a 6" PVC pipe, and run it through the top of the water tank cap. As you've seen from the build photos, the "water tank" is a 6" PVC pipe with a 90 degree bend in the middle. I can empty the whole thing and pull a de-icer to the middle of the exposed portion of the pipe, and I think that will do the trick. The pipe only holds something like 3 gallons. I have a power outlet right next to the coop, so it won't be a huge deal. Any from other chicken or live stock owners on how much de-icer I actually need would be welcome.

Chickens in the cold. Chickens supposedly have a body temp of 108 degrees F, and their feathers are natural down coats. I've read some where that a single chicken can survive a night of some ridiculous temp like -20F, and colder if there are other birds to huddle near. Common chicken advice is to have wide, flat roosts so that when they sit down to put their feathers over their feet, their toes are flatter and the feathers can cover their whole foot. As opposed to if they had their toes curled around a branch and the feathers couldn't cover the part directly under the branch. The other part is good ventilation so all the moisture from their breath and poop can get out of the coop instead of condensing on the walls ceiling and freezing. GilpinGuy can tell you more about the moisture I'm sure. I'll update as winter goes along. So far they don't seem to be phased. I put the wall of the coop back on and it seems to be pretty pleasant in the coop (no drafts).

Wall back on the coop. You can see that the wide overhangs are effective for keeping rain off the sides. Notice the dry patch of concrete immediately in front of the coop after raining all night long.


Chickens doing their thing and not being bothered by it being 38 F and soaking wet every where.