Canadians check in here....

[heartsizedfarm]

Yeah that would be fun. I will look for you!

 

[heartsizedfarm]

Does anyone in the Brant club make or supply chicken saddles? For the first time I have a hen that needs one.

 

[Shesinthebarn]

That is great that you are planning on coming! I will have "BYC " on the back of one hand, haha. I will ask about the saddles...not to sure.

 

[Kueken]

Hello @ all
I just joined BYC
I am from Alberta, nice to meet some canadians here

 

[Shesinthebarn]

nice to meet you! There are a lot of us new people on this thread. Enjoy this forum...it is a lot of fun, with very knowledgeable folks!

 

[Kueken]

Thanks for the welcome.

That's what I thought so, and after almost 6 month reading I decided to join. I am also a member of a German Forum but this is not so nice or better to say easy, because they do not understand many of the problems we go through here in the north for example Winter. So it is nice to find people with similar circumstances of life.

 

[jwood]

Hi!

I live in Ontario and am brand new to the idea of chickens. I haven't gotten them yet but any advice from other Canadians would be helpful! any info about the coop during our Canadian Winters would be great (insulated?, build or home hardware purchased?). I would like to get one very soon so I can order my hatchlings!

 

[GNRMorgans]

Hi!

I live in Ontario and am brand new to the idea of chickens. I haven't gotten them yet but any advice from other Canadians would be helpful! any info about the coop during our Canadian Winters would be great (insulated?, build or home hardware purchased?). I would like to get one very soon so I can order my hatchlings!

I'm pretty new here too - so the info I've gleaned is research rather than practical first hand experience, but from what I've learned I would say the following:

Insulate your coop - but don't heat it. Make sure that when you insulate, you've added an interior wall over the insulation because the chickens will peck at the insulation.
The most important factor is VENTILATION! Make sure that you have lots of ventilation. Cold hardy chickens will manage the below freezing temps, but if it's wet and cold, that's when frostbite occurs. This will most likely be your biggest challenge, as Ontario has much higher humidity in the winter, than western Canada, I believe...?
To build your own coop, or buy...well, from my understanding, the purchased coops are smaller than they say they are - if they rate them for 8 chickens, most likely good for 5. So keep that in mind. Also, you will probably end up adding features to a purchased coop, which might make it too expensive and best to do your own thing. This would be a personal preference, and coop research should give you some idea.
Good luck with your future plans! And let us see what you've decided on!

 

[Kueken]

Hi
I am from Alberta and am too very new here, but have chickens since last October. We just went through our first chicken winter. We did build our coop from mostly reused material, like pallets for example (kept our cost's low). The coop came out pretty good I think. We did insulate with sandwich board insulation ( I think it is called this way) and covert it with the inside walls. We just decided to paint the chicken coop in spring inside, not for the purpose of looking nice, just to cover cracks and rilles, so Mites do have a harder time to settle in. Also we installed a Board below the roosting benches so we can clean it every day to keep moisture low,. Than we added one Heat Lamp pointing at the roosting benches so if they like, they can warm up a little. We only turned it on when it was bitter cold. Also we made sure there are no drafts and installed good ventilation. The window is a sliding window we can open in summer, and it is facing south so the sun warms the coop as well which worked pretty good. Because it is big and go's from the floor almost up to the ceiling. The chicks like it take a sun bath or just look outside.

We couldn't finish it completely on the outside, because of the snow which came early, but the inside is well, just a little bit touch up work on the outside and it will be good. As soon as the snow get's to an level where we can start working the ground a little we will add a fence so our poor chicks finally get a chance to go outside. (Free range is not possible at our place to much predators).

As far as I know is temperature not the biggest problem with chicken it is more the cold, drafts and humidity what makes them real uncomfortable.
When I checked them out, it was something around 40C below and I did put my hand below there wings they felt very warm and I can't say they they looked like they had been freezing.

Oh one more thing maybe, we did build the coop about 1 m above ground and insulated the floor as well. So when it heavy rains or snow is melting there is no problem than with the water.

I hope this may help you a little and gives you a start. I apologize for spelling mistakes, english is not my native language but I try.

This is not the best picture, but it shows at least a little. We had been still building when I took this one. But it shows the window nice.

 

[heartsizedfarm]

That's a good idea building it up off the ground and insulating underneath. Our very heavy spring melt this year is making my straw over concrete floor damp.