Chicken Solarium

It is getting cold here in NorthEast Ohio, and I know that with time, that beautiful thing we call snow will be falling.  I was looking into ways to get the chickens outside to enjoy the sunshine durring those frigid cold months. The chicken coop we have for the chickens is perfect for roosting and sleeping 17 chickens, but not 24/7! I found a link showing someone's chicken solarium, and I started to think about what we could use to make one here on the homestead.

 

 

The great part about the solarium is that we had everything we needed on hand!  We replaced sliding glass doors at the front of our house several years ago with french doors, so we had a large, heavy pane of glass ready to be used as a solarium.  The best part is, the glass is so long, it can accommodate most of the chickens in the area!

We know which direction the snow drifts form, so we closed off one side of the solarium with bricks that we had lying around from other projects that have taken place around the homestead.  As you can see from this picture, the sun shines on this area pretty nicely between the hours of 10AM and 5PM. 

Now, when the snow begins to fall, we will have to shovel a pathway from the chicken coop to the solarium for the chickens to enjoy the warmth and sunshine… and get the stink blown off of their feathers!