-20 and goats are COLD! Much better!

Im glad they are doing better!

I would actually not do a raised floor but pile on the bedding starting at least a couple of months ago. Sorry, to late now. But next year, get that dirty bedding, poo, pee, etc piling up and composting. Then just add on top of it if wasted hay is not enough.

You can make a sleeping box with a low-ish roof, too, that they can crawl into and their body heat will be trapped more. I'd avoid the heater asap as it will be expensive and will slow any growth of their coats.

Give them some coarser hay and lots of it when it is colder for more fermentation in their rumens.

With a snug box, you may get away with a bulb or two inside a jelly jar fixture. We use these fixtures (available at any good hardware store) in horse stalls to prevent breakage if the horse goes up for any reason. It is a metal cage over the bulb with a heavy glass jar under the cage. Pretty unbreakable unless you have a sledge hammer.

Make the entrance to the box with a high sill (like a 12" or taller board) to keep bedding in and drafts out. You can even add a heavy fabric "door" to keep even more drafts out and they will learn to push through it. They may chew on it, though.

If your box is nice and sturdy, it can even increase your "floor space" by adding a second story in that area. The goats will enjoy sleeping on top of it in better weather.

Remember, you will need to clean in there, so keep that in mind so it is easy to take apart later if needed.

We had goats in Northern Maine when the temps (w/o wind chill) were well below 0 for weeks on end....maybe getting up to -10 during the day, then -20-40 at night. The bedding was well over a foot thick by the time it got cold, and not so much fun to clean out in the spring! Isn't it cool how you can accurately tell the temperature by how much it hurts your nose to breath?

The heater is quite temporary. Plus, its an 8 degree difference in a 4 foot square area. Stand outside that, and its much colder!
I intend to keep a close eye on them, and put it on for short periods if I see lots of shivering.
Its the only things that worked so far

I would love it if I had deep litter going on in there!
But we have had them for only a month
Chickens have a good two feet in areas already!

Oh, I forgot to mention, the Alpines "asthma" disapeared with the heater.
It gets real bad when temps drop down like this.
Sure wish I could get rid of it for good, but she has had it for 5 years or so.

freemotion said:

I would actually not do a raised floor but pile on the bedding starting at least a couple of months ago. Sorry, to late now. But next year, get that dirty bedding, poo, pee, etc piling up and composting. Then just add on top of it if wasted hay is not enough.

You can make a sleeping box with a low-ish roof, too, that they can crawl into and their body heat will be trapped more. I'd avoid the heater asap as it will be expensive and will slow any growth of their coats.

Give them some coarser hay and lots of it when it is colder for more fermentation in their rumens.

With a snug box, you may get away with a bulb or two inside a jelly jar fixture. We use these fixtures (available at any good hardware store) in horse stalls to prevent breakage if the horse goes up for any reason. It is a metal cage over the bulb with a heavy glass jar under the cage. Pretty unbreakable unless you have a sledge hammer.

Make the entrance to the box with a high sill (like a 12" or taller board) to keep bedding in and drafts out. You can even add a heavy fabric "door" to keep even more drafts out and they will learn to push through it. They may chew on it, though.

If your box is nice and sturdy, it can even increase your "floor space" by adding a second story in that area. The goats will enjoy sleeping on top of it in better weather.

Remember, you will need to clean in there, so keep that in mind so it is easy to take apart later if needed.

We had goats in Northern Maine when the temps (w/o wind chill) were well below 0 for weeks on end....maybe getting up to -10 during the day, then -20-40 at night. The bedding was well over a foot thick by the time it got cold, and not so much fun to clean out in the spring! Isn't it cool how you can accurately tell the temperature by how much it hurts your nose to breath?

Click to expand...

Hurts my nose?
That only lasts for about two minutes
After that it no longer hurts!

Yeah...after that it falls off!

Then the chickens play tag with it!

Yup, they are hardy things.
I second Free's method; pile in lots of hay! If you can extra straw/hay bales you could stack them around the foundation to keep the heat in better.
We have our goats split between two sheds; a wooden frame shed covered with sheet metal, and a wooden frame shed covered with plywood. When there is a dramatic drop in temp they will sometimes shiver but nothing too alarming, especially when you have 5+
I would maybe put some probios or Gatorade/molasses/honey in their water and that should help.