Best pre-fab coops for northern New England/Canada?

[Misskpw]

Hi everyone -
I'm looking around at pre-fab coops for my father, who is looking to have a small flock (3-4) in his backyard outside of Montreal (very long, cold winters!). I've not seen anything insulated yet -- anyone have a recommendation? He does not want to build one (he's really getting chickens for my younger sister). I found some decent looking ones that were uninsulated & with attached runs (nice) ... anyone know of good insulated coops? Thank you!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Sheds!!! Great for snowy weather when they want to live indoors. Warmer for when you do chicken chores too!!

You can have Home Depot / Lowes build it for you even. Oh...Canada...hmm- well here in the USA we have large hardware stores where you can order a shed to be delivered and assembled.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

I would not bother with insulation. Ventilation is much more important. Chickens are pretty coldhardy if you get the right breeds. What use is insulation if you have to keep vents open for much needed ventilation.

Search the board for ventilation in coops.

I second the shed option. Easy to clean because you can walk into them. You can ask whoever builds them to put in a divider wall so that you have storage for your feed and other supplies. Let's say you would get a 7x10 shed (a pretty typical size, I think) then you could have a 7x5 area for the chickens (more than enough for 4 chickens) so that they would have room to be in when it is snowy outside, and a 7x5 area to store things.

 

[blucoondawg]

Agree, insulation is not necessary, nor is adding heat. I have had night time temps of down to -35 this winter and a lot of nights down to -25 and the birds did fine, I have both pea comb and single comb varieties, I even have a Sicilian Buttercup with a huge crown type comb and he didn't frostbite at all, he is not supposed to be a cold hardy bird either but you wouldn't know it.