Baby it's cold outside - glad for the extra sq. footage!

[Wildsky]

Sadly I added some guineas and ducks this year - so space is now 6 ft per bird in the coop, they don't fight or act silly so its ok still. I do open up for them every day no matter what. On sunday however with windchill down to -36 I closed the coop at 2pm.

I was thinking of the drop ceiling - but I was thinking of using old feed bags stuffed with hay or something and stapled between the bars of wood up their on the ceiling. I'm not sure how well that would work, and it would be really bad if it came down in the middle of the night - so I'm still thinking about it.
AND I just threw away about 3 bags!

But we do have about 2 a week or so.

Edit to add: My coop consists of two sheds right next to each other, the "main" coop is 20x7 and the extra shed is 7x7 - the smaller one was going to be for the ducks, but they all seem happy enough together, so we cut a little popdoor between the two which stays open.

 

[chicksalot]

LOTS of ideas being kicked around here...its great. Although I don't have the luxurious room that patandchickens has, I hope what I do have will suffice...for duration of frigid and sultry summer! These suggestions are giving others like me possible ideas to try or 'tweak-to-fit' and I LOVE it when so many participate in networking! Keep it coming!

 

[CedarLake]

I'm just south of the Twin Cities so we've been having the same temperatures. Laying has definitely slowed down, and they lay so late in the morning that often by the time I get home, the eggs are frozen & cracked.

I don't have heat. I don't think they need it, although it would make my life easier since the water freezes quickly. There was one building mistake: a ceiling board I thought was nailed in place was just sitting there and warped, so now there's a gap that warm air can escape though. I just noticed it today and will fix tomorrow morning, but still the birds look fine. Just sitting there on the roosts, not even huddled together. Ducks are quacking up a storm!

I have closed one of my two ventilation ports and for the two really cold days we had this week, I didn't let them outside, but nobody looks uncomfortable.

 

[Kats]

Some great ideas about coops here!

I think, however, that you're worrying unnecessarily about the girls getting cold. Just because we are, doesn't mean they are. If they are still eating and drinking happily, I wouldn't worry.

These are big birds with lots of feathers, so they lose heat very slowly. When its 10 degrees, the little birds, like warblers and chickadees, are all out and about. Being small, they have a higher surface/volume ratio than chickens, so they lose heat much faster.

 

[sovia]

Kats is right! Here in western South Dakota, we have been having sub-zero temperatures for the past week. I think the lowest temperature we have had, without windchill, was -16F. Pretty darn cold. Our coops is not heated, but there is a heater for the water. The birds seem to be doing well in despite of everything. Egg production has dropped, but I would also expect it to do so given the time of year. The temp in the coop hasn't dropped below 15-20F. And I haven't had to worry about the ammonia smell - the poop freezes too fast!!!!

 

[CityChook]

I just want to remind everyone that the temperatures in your coop will vary depending on your location, the size of the coop, the construction, the ventilation methods and the number of birds that you have.

For us newbies like me, these are very important factors to consider when designing our first coops. Particularly if you live in an area of extreme weather. I have a small flock of birds with a coop that's too big (on purpose) and their body heat will NOT keep the coop warm - AT ALL. That's why extra ingenuity is necessary. With the frigid temps we have been experiencing (and we have 3-4 months left to go!!) and without additional heat in my coop, my birds would probably be dead by now.

I do not want to flame anyone here, but I'm guessing that if there is a 40 degree difference between outside and coop temperatures, there are a fair number of birds keeping that coop warm. And yes, they DO have lots of feathers and body mass to help trap body heat. And small wild birds are living in these temps too - but every spring we find dead birds when the snow melts away.

IMO, blanket statements like "you don't need to heat your coop - the birds will keep it warm" can be somewhat reckless for those of us still in the learning curve.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I forget, have you made a 'coop within the coop'? That is the easiest way of dealing with an apparently too-large coop, and totally removes the "too large" part of the equation

BTW, there are two other things that contribute to a large temperature difference between inside and outside: good insulation (including, in fact *especially*, the ceiling) and lotsa exposed thermal mass such as concrete or water or suchlike (that is, exposed to the indoor coop air, but well insulated from the outdoors!). Those things are particularly helpful when you have a cold snap like what we've been getting lately -- they mean that the coop cools down a LOT slower than the outdoor air, especially if you squinch the ventilation down as much as possible (and with few chickens in a large coop, that can be pretty close to closed)

I think if you look around you'll find there's actually a whole lot of people on byc whose coops are large enough, in proportion to the # birds, that the structure as a whole is not getting much meaningful heating from the chickens

Pat, with 15 chickens in a 15x40 building