Building a coop

[Vermilion]

I am planning to build a chicken coop out of an old jungle gym I made for the kids
It will be off the ground about 3ft. . We live in Duluth Mn. Should I try and insulate
the coop area or will a light provide enough warmth in the winter. Just starting out so
any advice is really welcome.

John Serre Duluth Mn 218-724-5870

 

[eggbert420]

A light will be sufficient. Although by tomorrow lots of folks are going to tell you chickens can handle -5º temperatures. I can handle freezing temperatures but if there was a heat lamp available I would go stand by it.

 

[Smidgelet]

I am planning to build a chicken coop out of an old jungle gym I made for the kids
It will be off the ground about 3ft. . We live in Duluth Mn. Should I try and insulate
the coop area or will a light provide enough warmth in the winter. Just starting out so
any advice is really welcome.

John Serre Duluth Mn 218-724-5870

Happy October. Did you ever decide what to do for your winter coop? I am intrigued to find out. I did buy a panel heater, but we have a lot of power outages so I dont want them to rely on having too much heat. Started eith four chicks but the neighbors dog killed two. So with two i worry about less heat in their coop. I look forward to your thoughts.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Heat really isn't necessary unless you live in Alaska or have long stretches of deep low temperature freezes. I raised chickens in TN all year long with no insulation , just a 60 watt bulb near the water to thaw it some. Mostly you want to be sure the wind is not blowing on the chickens indoors. But you still need ventilation. I would not use a heat lamp or heater unless brooding chicks.
I used to tack used plastic feed bags over hardware cloth areas that might admit wind. Some folks use tarps.

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

This will be my first winter with chickens.
I chose cold hardy breeds.
I have neither heat nor electricity to my coop. The way I figure, chickens lived through New England winters for centuries. They should be able to cope.
I will slather my girls' combs in Vaseline should subzero temps approach and I might even offer them warm oatmeal for breakfast. As I will not have heated water I will trudge out to the run with fresh water a few times during the day. I am retired, what the heck. I need the exercise anyway.
Thinking of getting tarps to reduce wind.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I have been getting some free tarps at Harbor Freight with a purchase. Plus i will be ordering big tarps for the hoop coop i am building. That will be interesting. I will be posting about it on my build thread. The temperatures will be dropping at night soon, not looking forward to that.