Tips for Winterising your Hen House

When you're building your chicken coop / hen house you should ensure you take the weather into consideration, most importantly the winter which, in some areas of the world can get rather cold. If you're building your hen house in the summer the winter months are something that's easy to forget about, that's why it's imperative you include the winter in your initial plan. Needless to say if you live in a place that has warm weather all year round you don't need to worry about winterising your coop.

 

Below are five simple and easy methods of winterising your hen house / chicken coop to ensure your hens have a warm place to live during the winter.

1. Construct the walls of the house wide enough for insulation to be put in there. This is a very effective method of keeping the warmth inside the chicken coop. Make sure you remember to seal this properly otherwise your chickens will peck away at it. You may find it beneficial to have easy access to the inside of the walls that way you can add / take away the insulation depending on the current climate.

2. Another way of adding heat to the coop is to spread pine shavings on the floor and the levels where the hens sleep, this is a great way to keep them warm.

3. To survive chickens need to drink water; if their water turns to ice they cannot drink any. This is why it's really important you don't let the water turn to ice. To avoid the ice forming in the water place a heater in the hen house and keep regularly checking that the hens water isn't ice.

4. Here's a saying for you to remember; 'Ceramic lights give the hens delight'. This is an incredibly simple way to winterise your hen house, use ceramic lighting. The benefit of Ceramic lights is that give off only heat, no light. This makes it easy for your chickens / hens to sleep and keep warm during the cold days and nights.

5. If when you constructed your chicken coop / hen house you didn't include a door, shower curtains are a very good substitute. Shower curtains can do a good job of stopping the cold chills from blowing into the hen house; however you have to be the judge if this is suitable for you and the climate you live in.

These are five easy methods of winterising your Chicken Coop.