Winterizing the Coop & Run for New England Winter – Part 1

Hard to believe it’s that time already. I feel like I’ve been working on the chicken area since we got them in April. But the leaves are all fallen, frost is coming, and pretty soon there will be snow on the ground. For the past few weeks, I’ve been making slow progress winterizing the coop and the run. There’s a few key points I need to consider: Keeping their water from freezing, keeping it draft free, and keeping it dry. Here’s what we’ve been working on.

Keeping it Dry – !

Through one of the chicken Facebook groups we’re part of, we found someone giving away their run for free, only a short drive away (the run was also made by Coops for a Cause, same as ours). It only cost us $50 to rent a truck for Home Depot, and a few hours of time, but we were able to disassemble the run and bring it home. I was mostly interested in the plastic roofing panels – I figured I could repurpose those and cover the one part of our run that isn’t currently covered. Between picking up and transporting the run, and framing out the new section of the roof, we probably invested 2 solid days of work to cover this section of the run. I did have to grab a few 2x4s from Home Depot to complete this section, but I was able to use some scrap wood and wood from the repurposed run. All in, this new section of roof probably cost under $100.

: Sketching out various roof ideas

: Roof coming together

: I spy an Anne

: Surveying my domain

Keeping it Draft Free

This step was significantly more time consuming than adding another section of roof. In order to keep it draft free, I ordered a 50 yard roll of 40 gauge vinyl from Marine Vinyl Fabrics. I created a temporary work table & jig outside, and started cutting sheets of vinyl to fit vertical wall section of the run and under the coop. I added grommets around the boarder of the vinyl and attached it to the run with hooks and screws. This way we can roll the vinyl up on nice days, or secure it down when it gets cold and windy. This process of cutting and adding grommets took 3 or 4 weekends of work. There are cheaper ways of doing this, like using tarps or shower curtains. But I opted for thick vinyl in hopes that it lasts a few seasons at least. Browse through photos below to see the progress.