A Couple of Coop building Questions

[wyododge]

Insulation is not necessary and may just provide a great place for mice to nest. Our coop has outer and inner walls with just air space and good ventilation. We average -20 to -30 in the winter. Most important is a dry well ventilated coop. We chose to finish the inside due to predators. We built a fort Knox. For water we use a bucket with nipples and a bird bath de-icer.

As far as roosts we trimmed dead branches and kinda weaved them together. The bark gives them something to hold on to and they look pretty cool. You can have one go to the floor for a ramp.

You will not need a heat lamp, they have plenty of insulation and if you get a cold snap a little sprinkle of grain will warm them up. Think pheasant, they are outside all over the place and do just fine in a tree. Your chickens would too. We do everything we can to get our chickens used to the cold as soon as possible. We leave the windows open even when the wind picks up to get them acclimated. They are actually happier and more active when it is cold out.

Just our personal experience though.

 

[frostbite]

Thanks Wyododge, it's helpful to hear from someone else with true cold extremes. I was planning on using a 100 watt light bulb in the coop for 14 hours a day to keep them laying. Do you know whether the heat added by the light will cause a problem? Or will the variability between day and night be natural enough and gentle enough to not matter?

 

[wannalive]

insulation is up to you. it caint hurt, but is unnessesary. if your coop can stay dry, and as draft free as possible(while still allowing for ventilation)
i am sure alot of ppl will dissagree, but heat in the coop is a no-no. for several reasons, one they bassicaly get use to the heat, and never get accustomed to the cold. then what happens when your power goes out.. plus what happens when you try to warm up something that is cold, or vise versa, you get condensation( the biggest factor in frostbite). plus a fire risk, wood coop, shavings, plus a bunch of birds pilled up in a room, with a heat lamp, birds fighting, jumping around knocking stuff over(all equal disaster imo)

 

[chickendales]

silkies almost never roost or use nesting boxes off the ground

 

[tsmith1499]

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I will not insulate the coop. I will paint the entire inside though. Just looks cleaner and I think would be easier to clean than unfinished OSB paneling. I am just waiting for the stupid RAIN to stop so I can get back to coop construction!! I have 2 friends waiting to help me as soon as we can get some dry weather.

On the subject of roosts and nest boxes. I am planning on putting in 3 nest boxes about 12" off the floor and at least 2 rows of roosts. We are planning on possibly getting some other breeds, so I want them to have somewhere to go even if the silkies don't. One thing I have found interesting though. I have 3 red silkies in one cage and 2 gray silkies in another. I put in a 4x4 piece just so they would have something to roost on if they wanted to until their permanant coop is finished. The 3 reds all will roost on it, but the 2 grays almost never roost on it. They kind of huddle with each other in a corner. I guess every chicken has it's own preferences and personalities!! Thanks, Tom

 

[chickendales]

Quote:
all my silkies huddle in a corner and lay there eggs in rabbit nesting boxs on the floor

 

[wyododge]

Quote:
I see your in Alaska so the 14 hour thing makes sense, go with the 100w if it becones a problem go down to 65. That's what we use but we have a bit more daylight than you and we keep the windows open. But it is only down to the mid thirties at night here.

I guess I will never understand this whole draft thing some seem to get all knotted up about. My mother had chickens in an old coop you could SEE through. It got down to -38 for four weeks and we had numerous 40 plus mph wind storms. They just ran around and did the best they could to face the wind. Our biggest problem was trying to figure out how to tie the door open so the wind would not rip it off that rickety old coop. In the end, you guessed it... Bailing twine reinforced with duct tape...

 

[wyododge]

Tsmith1499 - we did paint the inside of ours. We actually dumped the paint on the floor to roll our rollers in. Took a couple days to dry, but it sure will help protect the floor. Best part is no darn trays to clean!!!

On edit--- post 14 got me to thinking we took wire mesh and made an 8" diameter tube 12" long and cut 2" slits on one end. Bent the slits out and used them for screw tabs to cover the light bulbs on the ceiling so the birds would not break the bulbs. Only problem is they seem to be attracted to my forehead... But the bulbs are all intact. Can't really say that for all the marbles though.

 

[karlamaria]

It's cold here fast, we get down in the 20's by the end of October and it gets colder and colder. We range from 20 above to 30/40 below zero. I insulated, and plan to wrap my run with tarps to. Frigid cold means my girls are out there in it and I hate to think of any animal out in brittle temps with out some help. 20/30 degree's yeah, but colder then that and I firmly believe that coop needs to be inslated.

 

[LiLRedCV]

We've had chickens since spring 2010 and I am not an expert by any means! (bought older gals for the first flock with some pullets later in the summer) Never insulated the coop or wrapped it for extra protection. Only added heat for one night. Our girls managed just fine. When I thought to keep them "cooped up" when we had over 20" of snow over Thanksgiving week, they went absolutely bonkers. Went ahead and let them out to free-range as usual after much debate and they played around in the snow before going back in and snuggling up happy as can be. After that? We let them do as they'd normally do during their days and nights. They kept on laying without missing a beat.

One thought... if you regularly heat your coop what do you think will happen if and/or when there's a power outage? They won't be properly acclimated to the conditions and that might pose a more serious problem to your flock.