Rural Gardening: Fresh Air Poultry Houses - Good or Bad?, 1 by CountryGardens

CountryGardens wrote:
My chickens survived the winter within a cold building.
We had a flock of hens, about 60. They spent the winter inside an old corn crib. We put roofing tin over the sides to cover the slatted walls. The only problem we had was water freezing up. Even with the heater bases. We got around 30 eggs every day all winter long.
(Had to pick them often or they would freeze.)

We also started with 125 chicks hatched October 1. We had them in a 10 x 10 room at first, with 3 heat lamps going. As they got older & needed more room, we added another 10 x 10 area. We cut out the heat lamps after a couple months. By mid winter, they were looking for more room. So we opened up the other corn crib for them. This one was covered with old fiberglass roofing. Kept the wind out but not the cold.
They started laying eggs about end of February. They have gone nuts on number of eggs every since. 3 weeks ago Sunday we kept track. We got 121 eggs. We have only lost 3 of these hens. 1 was deformed at birth, the other 2 just turned up dead. So 122 hens, 121 eggs, not bad. They seem to do this every day, although we don't count them each day. They also lay 99% of their eggs before 9 AM.

Picture is dated February 27.

I think the biggest problem with chickens or any animal is trying to do things that are unnatural. Animals & birds can adapt as needed.
Bernie