Winterized Coop

Well, we finished winterizing the chicken coop/rabbit hutch today. Yes, we've been running a little behind in getting this done and unfortunately the rabbits felt the brunt or rather the chill but it's done now.

I built two 6' doors that we hung up top to protect the rabbits. During the winter the plastic will stay on and come summer it will be removed. The doors will remain all season long, which I also built with wire. This way the rabbits will finally be protected from any critter trying to get at them, i.e. a raccoon. We and the rabbits have been lucky to date - no critter incidents.

As you can see in the below picture, the doors are hinged up top so the doors can swing up to open. I drilled some holes; one in the door and one in the cage front to put a broom handle in, which will hold the door open for easy access to the rabbits for feeding. Each door is held shut and snug with a bungee cord.

The chickens are housed underneath and doing just fine. The two sex-links are going through a molt. When this happens, which is typically once a year, the birds stop laying. So we're down to just one egg a day from New Honey. Also the cold weather and shorter days usually have an effect on egg production.

Bottom line is that the animals are finally snug and settled in for the long New England winter - bring it on!