Canada winter coop- designing my coop- Help!

[Rooka_2]

In the spring I moved my flock to this other shed on our property. The people that lived here before us used this as their chicken coop. I'm wanting to make it more functional and esthetically pleasing. Our winters drop to -45⁰ most years, it's been as low as -72⁰ with the windchill. The average ranging about -30⁰.
There is electricity in this building, i can put a heat lamp up. Should i just paint the wood white or should i put in insulation and cover it with something? Would you do drywall? I feel like something I could pressure wash would be more optimal.

The floor is concrete, What should I use as flooring? Ive heard so much about using sand, i have a sand and small gravel rock crush available to me. Should i fill it with that? Ive been using wood shavings, and its not bad, but its definitely not deep and i find its kinda a pain to clean up.

i have a heated barn, so my silkies, mandarins and probably my houdans will winter in there so they dont freeze to death. This shed would house my orpingtons over winter.

I plan on replacing the backdoor before winter to something solid. Will the two windows in the front be enough ventilation?

Any cool ideas for coops? So far I'm planning on building a sealed off maternity ward at the back on the bottom then doing roosting bars on top of that with a sand pit base for easy clean up, im going to use an ikea shelf for nesting boxes, put in some cute chicken swings, a chandelier and mirrors along the bottom and feeding pvc pipes with a watering barrel.
I feel like i know what i want but what to do with the walls and floor is really holding me back. I just cant figure out what would be best.

ana

 

[Chickmathcasualty]

I built mine with insulation inside the walls and I put up some vapour barrier with wall panels over top and added corrugated plastic on top (it’s cheap and it’s plastic so I can spray it down easy enough but haven’t needed to do so yet.)
You could add some holes in the walls and put in small ventilation fans
I switched over to sand this summer and so far I’ve loved it, there’s good and bad with all bedding options but it’ll retain heat because it’s a natural insulator and it’s easy to scoop the poops as well as doesn’t mould like straw or chips.
If you install a couple heat bulbs in the top the chickas should be ok for winter. Also I highly recommend going on tiktok and searching chicken coop tours for some good ideas for setting up the inside to make it a wonderful place for the chickens and an easy to clean space for you!

 

[Chickmathcasualty]

I would also add that you should perhaps cut a smaller door just for the chickens to enter and exit and a way to close up those windows because once it’s -40 and blowing snow your babies will be COLD and chickens do not like snow or cold.
I’m newish to chickens on my own but I know that growing up we had only one small window in our coop of 50+ meat birds and there was never an issue with ventilation for them over the winter as long as there was some air in and out and it wasn’t left closed up

 

[aart]

Have you already been thru a winter with your chickens?

This might help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/cold-weather-poultry-housing-and-care.72010/

 

[Rooka_2]

Have you already been thru a winter with your chickens?

This might help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/cold-weather-poultry-housing-and-care.72010/

Last winter I only had the silkies as we moved here last October. The silkies wintered in our heated barn

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. I'm in the wrong climate to help you at all.

@Ted Brown is in Canada and can probably give appropriate advice.

 

[Ted Brown]

... Our winters drop to -45⁰ most years, it's been as low as -72⁰ with the windchill. The average ranging about -30⁰.

Where do you live? I am on the Ontario Quebec border, average winter here is ~-15C, rare short periods of -30C and lower. @Alaskan could perhaps offer advice?

There is electricity in this building, i can put a heat lamp up. Should i just paint the wood white or should i put in insulation and cover it with something? Would you do drywall? I feel like something I could pressure wash would be more optimal.

I have no experience with Orphingtons; I have Chanteclers and mixed breeds. I have an open air Woods coop (lots of ventilation), I do not heat, 24/7 access to run.

I painted the inside with white wash mix from back in the day, cheap, effective, easily renewed. Leave the studs exposed, enclosed walls with insulation make great havens for mice and other pests. Best not to power wash the inside, use deep bedding with drop boards cleaned frequently.

The floor is concrete, What should I use as flooring? Ive heard so much about using sand, i have a sand and small gravel rock crush available to me. Should i fill it with that? Ive been using wood shavings, and its not bad, but its definitely not deep and i find its kinda a pain to clean up.

Lucky you for concrete. I use deep bedding on a wood plank floor WITH DROPBBOARDS UNDER ROOSTS and CLEANED FREQUENTLY. No mess, no smell, change bedding once per year.

I have read sand is great in a climate where it drys quickly/easily otherwise it smells and cannot be cleaned.

... Will the two windows in the front be enough ventilation?

No. Usual advice is 1 square foot per bird open 24/7, no drafts over the roosts.

 

[Sic]

I'm in Alaska, however our winters are not as cold as yours. I have chanteclers. My coop is 10'x13' inside a 22'x22' roofed run, the roof of the coop is insulated, no insulation in the walls, framed 2x4 walls, inside walls are plywood and covered with white FRP(fiberglass reinforced plastic) panels, they are easy to clean and keep sanitized. I highly recommend FRP. The exterior walls are plywood and these are covered by 3" thick tongue and groove cedar. Making my coop walls about 8 inches thick with a hollow core air pocket. I have an open air coop, so one end is 10'x6' hardware cloth, and that open end has a roof overhang of 8'. I have sand on the floor of my coop and this works well for me, however, I don't keep water in the coop - thinking you might have issues with sand getting quite wet and freezing, my ducks were outside, in a fort Knox enclosure of hardware cloth on deep litter and lots of water and this worked well for them. Good Luck with project.

 

[Ted Brown]

@Sic, are your Chants White or Partridge?

You must have special access to cedar, I have never even heard of 3" thick T&G cedar boards. To replicate that would be many many thousands of dollars; your coop is very unique indeed!

I have seen a bunkie (single 12 by 12 room) built from 2" cedar stock, T&G like joints yielding nominal 1.5" solid walls. That was over $20k.

 

[Sic]

@Sic, are your Chants White or Partridge?

You must have special access to cedar, I have never even heard of 3" thick T&G cedar boards. To replicate that would be many many thousands of dollars; your coop is very unique indeed!

I have seen a bunkie (single 12 by 12 room) built from 2" cedar stock, T&G like joints yielding nominal 1.5" solid walls. That was over $20k.

Greetings Ted,
Partridge, white birds have a very low life expectancy due to eagle predation.

We're offgrid on an island, have yellow cedar and a Norwood sawmill, the sawmill was the best investment we ever made. The floors of our cabin are true 4x12 rough sawn yellow cedar plank, and I'd imagine the cost of that would be substantial if you tried to buy it somewhere, if you could. The 3/4 inch plywood for the coop floor/walls/ceiling was our biggest investment cost-wise on the coop, though as a general contractor we do get some price reduction and aren't paying full retail.