Another perk to the vinyl panels

As you already know, we live in North Carolina!  For anyone who doesn’t live in the southern part of the United States, this means that last week, we had beautiful sunny weather with highs in the upper 70’s! Incredible, right?

Well, it also means that the day after it was 78 degrees, temperatures plummeted into the low 30’s, and we have been under a winter storm warning for ice storms for the last 2 days! 

These vinyl panels are perfect for this type of weather. Our coop gets lots of wind, so the panels protect the chickens from thinking they are in a hurricane all the time, when temperatures are hovering in the 20-40’s, we leave the panels up. When a warm snap comes, we lower sections to allow breeze to blow through and keep them cool. So, last week, we lowered 4 of the upper sections to keep them cool enough during that warm snap. 

Then, we raced out yesterday morning, when it was 27 degrees and raining, and raised the panels again. This kept the rain, wind, and ice from blowing into the coop. And yes, I currently have a small light going in one small cleaned out section of the coop. I know this can be a fire hazard, but I have taken many preventative measures to ensure their safety. I have 2 hens that are enduring a very hard molt. They had no feathers on their backs, stomachs, and very few on their wings. They refused to stay up in the nesting box/coop area where it is enclosed, so once again, these panels keep the wind off them. The light gives them somewhere to warm up some if they need to. The light is firmly secured in two different places to make sure it cannot fall, and the ground underneath it is cleared. I only leave it on for a few hours during the day, on very cold days only, and it is never left on at night.  I couldn’t help it. My little Bella was without feathers, and she actually was standing in a corner shivering very hard, as soon as their feathers have returned, the light will be removed.