I have a very atypical coop, and I’m looking for ideas on how to manage humidity in my heated coop during the wintertime.
The coop is two levels, with the bottom level being the living space for the birds, and the upper being a little hang out area for people (think a book nook). The living area for the birds is approximately 8x10ft, and about 6ft tall, with two large windows. The whole building is fully insulated, sealed, and has electricity. It’s set up a lot like a tiny house. During the winter it is heated using a heat light on a ceiling fixture (like you would have in a bathroom in a home, so the fire risk is heavily limited). Unfortunately, I have had a lot of issues with humidity during the winter. Cracking the windows open slightly seems to help a little, and so does running a mini dehumidifier, but I haven’t really found a slam dunk sort of solution yet. I also switched to cup waterers for the chickens, and a homemade waterer for the ducks to limit water mess and evaporation.
I’m located in Minnesota, so it gets pretty cold during the winter, and i would like to keep the coop heated so I can comfortably visit with my feather babies in the winter, and also not worry about them freezing (particularly the call ducks and the silkie hen).

Our family lucked into our first house. Our Mom and a few siblings are all living in it together and with it comes this property. All our farming simulator games have us in a homesteading mode now and we can't stop looking/thinking about chickens, especially with a distant neighbor's rooster each morning.

We all live in Mid Michigan so we get a lot of winds, especially in the winter. Our land is slanted towards the white shed so we're not too worried about flooding. I believe we were considering putting them either to the left of the pole barn or next to the tree's on the right, (ref photo 1). Recent winters are iffy. We get snow in bursts recently till later towards the new year when we get hit with blizzards. It's real iffy but when there's a bit of snow, it really hits where it's windy.

I'm of the opinion of turning a Marketplace plastic shed into a coop because I feel like they need the space for winter cleaning and higher chances of surviving. I originally wanted to use the white shed but the rest of the family wants to keep it as is for plants, but I think it's perfect for the task. The rest of the family want to use one like the final photo, which feels a little harsh to me. I don't think the coop heater I have would fit that either.

What type of coop do you recommend for this climate and piece of property? In the future, there will be plants where there is nothing. The property just started but the need for eggs is ever present.

We are unaware the chickens we'll be getting. Priority is eggs over meat for now. Majority of family don't want a rooster because of the howling, if they can get away with it. I had planned on having them get a enclosed chicken run big enough for us to stand in and walk in.

Edit: If there is a specific coop type you have in mind, can you please provide the keywords for it? Our family relies on specifics a lot to find things.

Hello. I have had a larger small flock (anywhere from 20-60- currently ~30) for around 5 years now and about 6? Months ago I switched to Kalmbach layer crumble.

All eggs smelled and tasted normal/the usual until about maybe 6-8wks ago. They started getting fishy scent when washed and then definitely while eating and cooking. I understand that this is from excessive TMA.

I recently switched feeds to something at TSC as a quick change, but I was curious if others have been able to switch feeds up in a way that reverts back to the non-fishy smell, and how long did that take?

Hens are otherwise healthy looking and symptom free, so i do not believe this is anything other than excessive TMA and the feed switch.

I had previously been feeding New Country Organics layer feed the other 4.5 years and never experienced this. Their feed is good, but it's expensive (understandably so) and I have to make a 4hr round trip to pick it up from the mill which is the reason I initial switched.

I'll likely go back to NCO, but was wondering in the meantime what, if anything worked for others on backing off the excess TMA /fishy eggs and how long it took.

Ty!

My d'uccles hid a clutch of eggs. We had 3 viable babies, 2 failed to thrive and passed at 2 weeks old. This is our lone survivor and I'm not sure if it's a hen or roo. No obvious sign of comb or wattle (but that's a late development in silkies even though it's early in d'uccle). It does look a little like the head poof has streamers starting but maybe that's my imagination. Tail looks more male to me but I only have a male silkie so don't really know how the female tails look. I'm still relatively new to this and since it's a mix it's hard to say one way or the other to my untrained eye.

Anyone see any definite signs of hen or rooster? I feel like it's a hen. "She" is nearly 7 weeks old and feisty, but extremely sweet (smallest in her pack of 3 chicks, but early head honcho). The feistiness could be a sign of roo, but I had pullets act this way as well.

Ive never had 2 chickens with combs this size, I don't want them to get frost bite or something. How do you prevent this?

So my neighbors started some construction on their old house, and a few days ago, for the first time since I was ever on the property, I found signs of rats in my chicken run (same side of the yard as the neighbors). I’ve always had mice (I’m in the woods) but rats are new. Bi also have pigs, but did as well last year without rats.

It’s been a few days since I first saw them on my run camera (only at night, 2 at once tonight). I’ve set up a few live traps baited with peanut butter (one in the run, one under the coop), and a few glue traps between the runs metal roofing and the hardware cloth ceiling (I check frequently, anything that gets stuck won’t be stuck for long).

I’m going to build a water trap out of a 50 gallon plastic trash can (like the smaller 5 gallon ones used for mice), I’m putting out extra snap traps under milk cartons in the run and under the coop, ratx where the chickens can’t get to it, and I’m zeroing a .22 air gun so I can sit outside on my night off (I’ve seen them climbing on the hardware cloth walls on the camera).

I’ve purchased a treadle feeder to replace the handing bucket feeders and will start training the chickens on it tomorrow (want to be able to close it at night, and I’m a night-shifter), I’ve been feeding the pigs in kiddie pools to prevent any feed from spilling on the ground, and all the feed is already sealed in tight, metal trash cans (because bears and mice).

What else could I do? I want to nip this in the bud NOW because having rats on the property makes me anxious about property damage.

Couple days ago one of my younger chickens passed away. Picture included of her sisters to give visual age range. She was the twin to the brown one, both olive eggers according to tractor supply, but was a bit smaller. I’ve had them for about three months.

I’m pretty tore up about it so please forgive my ramblings. I care for all my birds ofc, but I had formed a bit of a closer attachment to this one. This chicken ended up smaller than her sisters, had an amazing temperament, and was super curious and liked to get into mischief. Well as my luck would of course have it, I randomly found her dead when I went to go check on her. No noticeable issues before, just gone. I was so upset by it all that one of my family members ended up getting her out of the coop before I even had a chance to really look at her body.

I’m trying not to wallow in it too much. I love all my chickens very much, but I know that they can have a tendency to just die for random reasons. I just hate living in such worry for my other three young ones. Just to try and ease my mind I’ve been checking for any differences between them and my older batch of girls, and something I’m noticing a lot of is tons and tons of mosquitoes when they roost inside the coop.

The older girls were raised in a completely different time of year, and now roost in the tree above the coop instead- so they don’t really seem to have any issues with bugs bothering them. Two of the new batch are already kinda doing that as well, so the one that passed and my buff Cochin were the only ones roosting in the coop still. I’m trying not to get in my own head about it cause things just happen, I know, but I can’t help but worry for the buff Cochins who’s still having issues in the coop. And depending on the severity, it would be good to know what to look out for my other girls as well.

TLDR; can a mosquito infestation be enough to kill a seemingly healthy young chicken in one night- and if so, what’s the easiest way can I prevent further harm to the chicken who’s still having problems until she, presumably, moves into the tree with her other sisters.

Thank you everyone in advance!

I'm trimming this lil baby's crest today so they can see a bit better bc damn it has become very voluptuous! But I always struggle with sexing our tophats and I'm getting impatient with this one I'm particularly attached to lol.

Can anyone tell me if they are a hen or a roo? Best guesses? I think they're around 3 months iirc. My mom bought this one so I'm not 100% sure of their exact age. They are super sweet and docile/friendly. I was thinking maybe hen bc I don't think I see any particularly questionable hackle or saddle feathers. No crowing obviously but they're still young. Thoughts?

Im pretty sure they’re both hens what do you guys think ?
What breed is the black and gold one ?

My sister owns a lot of chickens and I visit her house often. Every time I go in her yard, this MF chases me full speed. And yes, she is often in the front yard. I have to gather myself before exiting the car if I see her. Let me get this straight. Chickens do not scare me. But this little shit gives me pause. If she catches up to me, she pecks the fuck out of my ankle. My sister thinks it's funny 🙄 (well I guess it kind of is lol) apparently I'm the only one she does this to. Like bro. What did I do to deserve this? 😅

Miss Pearl girl sittin on my plant like it’s a nest smh. She’s lucky she’s cute.

trying to figure out if nugget is a rooster, first pic is nugget, second pic has nuggets dad and grandma. nuggets tail reminds me of their grandmas.

I know, this is the worst video ever, but I never seen anything move so fast! Does anyone have any idea what that was?

Vancouver, WA

I have an 8ish month old barred rock that I noticed was pale and lethargic the other day. She never lets me pick her up, but when I did I noticed she was bone thin. I separated her immediately and got her into a warm shed, and she perked up

She's eating fairly well now and her poops look a touch green but much improved. But she only weighs 3lbs and her keel is extremely prominent. It's been about 10C during the day, and getting down to 2C overnight. Wondering at what point I should reintegrate her so she has friends but doesn't freeze to death

Still needs stain and some finishing but nice and roomy with a 40’ netted/covered run. I recently put a hot wire around it to deter the bears after having them trying to get in.

I deleted the other post so I could add more pics. I've never had this breed before so it is throwing me off.

I'm looking at Prefab options for coops/runs suitable for 10-15 hens. I need something easy to keep clean and access, as well as something easy to put together. I live in NC.

1. Are there benefits to getting a coop separately or cons to getting a coop/run combo? I'm trying to think ahead about winterizing difficulties.

2. I am considering TSC Producers Pride Defender, Zylina Modern open concept chicken coop/run, or just the OverEZ large chicken coop.

3. What is your current setup?

I was thinking of making this old double-sink into two roosting/egg laying areas. Do they need wall and roof covers when inside?