Our chickens here at Buckingham Avenue spend most of their time happily free-ranging during the warmer months. They also have a large coop and run equipped with all the essentials. Chickens are fairly easy to care for and essentially require three things to thrive: shelter, food, and water. In this post, I’ll be revealing our renovated chicken coop and sharing my favorite products. These products have automated the process of caring for my chickens and create confidence that they are happy and healthy. Although I visit my coop daily (or more), I love having their food, water, and shelter automated so that we can leave them for short trips without having to worry. I also have a few tips for managing your coop during the winter months, especially in cold states like Minnesota. Are you interested in learning how to keep your chickens laying eggs all winter? Read on!
In addition to farm fresh eggs, check out additional products that are sold on Buckingham Avenue Market’s online shop. You can find information about our farm stand, hand poured candles, homegrown popcorn, and more!
*As an Amazon Associate I may earn from qualifying purchases.
Creating the ideal chicken coop
Shelter is one of the most important aspects of keeping chickens safe. We have coyotes and foxes that roam around our property, as well as other predators, and chickens must have a safe shelter. The first step of our renovation involved replacing the windows in our existing structure. We repaired any holes or openings and divided the space. Half our chicken coop building is designed for the chickens to live in, the other half serves more as a potting shed and storage for supplies. After the building itself was secure, we could plan a comfortable place for our chickens to sleep and lay their eggs.
Automated chicken coop door
Our automated chicken coop door was an expensive investment but was by far the best purchase we’ve made for our chickens. It has a sensor that allows it to open at sunrise and close and sunset, which can be adjusted by the user. It is secure and safe for our chickens. I feel so much better knowing that our chickens are locked in at night without having to physically open or close their door. The automated door was also a great purchase for times when we travel or are busy. Combined with their fenced-in run, this purchase has allowed us to leave our chickens for short trips without worrying if they are safe.
We purchased our automated chicken coop door on Amazon, which can be found in this link. It runs on a 6v battery that lasted for two years before we had to replace it. There are cheaper options available but I have heard stories about other versions breaking during freezing temperatures. This door has worked great for me (and survived the Polar Vortex of 2019, hey fellow Minnesotan), and I even purchased it again when I made an additional coop for my ducks.
Keeping the chicken coop warm
The first measure we took to keep our chickens warm was to insulate our coop. We used rigid foam board insulation between the exterior wall and our interior finish. Ventilation is also important. In the summer, we keep a box fan in one of the coop windows to circulate air out of the coop. We left areas open below the roofline for ventilation, which is sufficient in the winter.
There is a lot of debate on wether or not to include a heat lamp in your coop. There is certainly a risk of fire with straw and birds moving around. However, the tallest point in our coop is 8 ft high. We installed heat lamps at the highest locations that can be used when temperatures are very low.
These heat duct thermostats are a great option for automating the heat lamp in your coop. You can set them to turn on when it gets warm or cold. If you set the thermostat to turn on when the temperature is below a certain temperature, it will give power to the outlet. This has been helpful for us when temperatures have dropped well below zero.
Maintaining a clean coop with the deep litter method
We use the deep litter method to keep our coop warm and clean. This involves keeping a thick layer of straw on the floor of their coop. We have a concrete floor and lay a sheet of plastic down before spreading the straw. With the deep litter method, the chickens tend to keep the coop clean and warm by scratching and moving the straw around. With this method, I only have to deep clean and replace all the straw 2-3 times per year. I will occasionally flip the straw with a rake to bring clean straw to the surface. I also sprinkle chicken scratch daily to encourage the chickens to scratch in the straw and move things around.
Suppling your chickens with endless water
Supplying our chickens with enough water has actually been one of the tougher struggles. We finally came up with a system that works well in the winter and one that works well in the summer. In the summer, we supply our chickens with an “endless water” supply in their run. We used a 55-gallon drum (which can be purchased on Amazon but is much cheaper at your local hardware store) and added waterer nipples. The waterer nipples can leak. This is why we keep the water tank in the run (we learned this the hard way). We also added only two waterer nipples. to minimize how much they leak.
In the winter months, this tank deicer can be dropped into one of the holes in the lid (it does require power). It will keep the water from freezing and allow your chickens to have a substantial water supply at all times. We occasionally offer other forms of water in the coop when we have young chicks. However, we have found that our chickens kick straw into the traditional water containers.
Feeding your chickens
We supply our chickens with food using a gravity feeder. This minimizes waste and allows them to have plenty of food available at any time. Depending on how often our chickens free-range, I can sometimes get away with filling their food only once per week. Other options for supplying food to your chickens include using a big game feeder (which is expensive but easy to implement) or making a gravity feeder out of PVC (which is a cheap option).
Our chickens love treats. I sprinkle chicken scratch throughout their coop and run. I buy our chicken scratch from our local farm store but smaller bags can also be purchased on Amazon. They also love mealworms! My chickens come running when I shake their bag of mealworms, even if they’re free-ranging far from the coop. This is a great trick for getting them to return to their run if I feel the need to lock them in. I will stand in their run and shake the bag while sprinting mealworms. When they all come in to snack, I can close their gate and keep them safe inside.
Bonus – How to keep your chickens laying eggs in the winter!
Our chickens consistently lay eggs throughout the winter. Chickens need light to lay eggs, which is why they lay so much more frequently during the summer when the days are longer. We use a plug-in timer to adjust when we would like the outlet to power on and off and then plug a light into this outlet. We simply replaced the bulb in one of our heat lamps to supply light but no heat. This allows us to turn on the light early in the morning and keep it on later in the evening. The extra light has been very helpful during the winter months when the sun rises late and sets early.
Chicken coop reveal!
Our happy chickens have a safe shelter during all seasons with access to plenty of food and water. Keeping our chickens happy and healthy has allowed them to consistently lay delicious farm fresh eggs. What tips and tricks have you learned while caring for your chickens? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.
You can also save this post to reference later or share it with others.
