Cold Climate Coop- What do I do?

[OldMacDonald]

Fred- I want the coop warm enough that the hens will keep laying, even if they slow down. It occasionally gets below zero, but normally it's in the teens or so at night. I would prefer not to heat it if possible, instead relying on the chickens' body heat. It's a small coop- 3' deep, 10' long and 4' tall. The run is beneath it and has the same measurements.

 

[HappyChickenLover]

Don't make it too big, the bigger it is the colder it feels

 

[HappyChickenLover]

As far as eggs if they get too cold they won't hatch, but allways good to keep eating

 

[Fred's Hens]

Yup. I agree. The chickens produce "some" body heat, not a lot. The litter produces "some", which is why the inside of the coop is typically 10-15 degrees warmer than outside. The thing is this. At -30 (which we had twice this winter) that still computes to -15.

Thus, there simply is almost no financially sane way to heat a coup in Michigan. Thus, ventilation is MORE important to prevent frostbite, which is a consequence of condensation much more than temperature. Folks from Alaska and Canada post on here all the time with the same logic.

If on those half dozen, sub-zero nights, you want to help your hens, you COULD provide a radiant ceramic heater over the roost. That way, you're warming the chickens, not trying to heat the coop. I say could do that. I have not chosen to go that route, as I put my energies into selecting cold hardy breeds and only cold hardy, winter laying breeds. Laying was down in Dec-Feb, but it never fell below 75% on the worst winter days. Best regards on your design and new adventure.

 

[booker81]

We never put heat in the coop all winter. Laying seems more light related than heat, more than once we didn't collect eggs soon enough and ended up with "eggcicles". The snow covered their pop door most of the time, so having the high vents let the ammonia and whatnot out, and kept the wind away from their roosts. I never blocked the high vents. The litter was about a foot deep and "old" - started in April. It was composting and it created heat - never was frozen. It would be a good 20 degrees warmer in the coop than outside, and no windchill

The only thing that needs heat is the water, unless you like busting ice and bringing out water twice a day

I have production reds, red sex links, SLW, california gray, GLW, Ameraucanas, Light Brahma, and one Polish, only the prod Red rooster got a bit of frostbite on his GIANT comb, but that's regrowing nicely. I also use a 2x6" with the wide side for their roost, so they can really tuck their feet in. Everyone was happy through the winter, even though they stayed in a 10x10 coop all winter long.

Keeping food and fresh, thawed water goes a long way for chicken happiness in the cold. That's also why I spread scratch and BOSS on their litter - let them keep their little minds busy while the stayed indoors all winter.

 

[welsummer4]

The best advice is to raise breeds that lay in cold weather, i.e., Sussex, Buckeye, RIR, Chantecler. I live in WI and don't heat or insulate, but still keep about 4 square feet (twice that in warm weather) of ventilation open at all times, even when it dips below zero. Basically, my hen-house stays about the same temp as the outside air. It is, however, completely draft free below 4 ft (the roost is 2 ft. off the floor). My chickens lay most of the Winter and have never had frostbite. They are happy and healthy chickens.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
No no no, that is dangerous to do in a small (meaning, backyard rather than industrial-scale) chicken coop in a cold winter!! Much too drafty at the chickens.

You get perfectly good air exchange all thru just ONE opening, high atop the wall. Obviously it has to be sized correctly, but air *does* go both in (the lower part of the opening) and out (the upper part of the opening) and it works just fine, and gives you the minimal-breeze situation.

Frankly IMO it's not a great strategy for SUMMERTIME either, inasmuch as you are much better off simply "connecting the two openings" as it were and having just a great big ol' mesh area taking up much or most of your wall.

Do you close your vents in order to keep it warm or do you leave them open? If you leave them open, doesn't the heat in the coop go up and out the vents??

See my "cold coop" and "ventilation" pages, link in .sig below, for discussion of this subject. Readers Digest version: yes but that is better than having vents closed and getting pathological humidity (which itself promotes frostbite, at much milder temps than in dry air).

Incidentally, I do not know about other peoples' Sussexes but MINE sure as heck do not lay well in the winter (they shut off in mid October and don't resume til mid January). Granted that is probably as much daylength as cold (esp. since my coop does not *get* all that cold) but still I would not in a million years rank them among reasonable winter layers. Chanteclers yes.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[Fred's Hens]

Because strains vary so much, it is tough to speak of good laying attributes of hard winter flocks. Up here, we also have the darkest of days as well. Our daylight hours get down to six hours on December 20th. I do not "push" my hens, but I do provide them with a mini florescent bulb (40 watts) on a timer, so they still have some sense of a day. 10 hours worth. This still means 14 hours of darkness. As I said, production drops, but does not shut off. The Rhode Island Red strains or those with that blood, I should say, such as sex links, do the best. They hardly missed a beat. The problem is (being hard feathered) they are not quite as cold hardy as the Barred Rocks or Rock crosses, such as the BSL.
My Spotted Sussex virtually quit for two months. Just my experience with the strain I had.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

In cold weather, chickens need areas to roost and to shelter during the day with no draft. To have ventilation, you need air moving through the coop. To not have them in a continual draft, that means that parts of your coop should have very little air flow, while other parts of your coop do have air flow. That way, they still get an exchange of air, but aren't in a draft that chills them further, in frigid weather.

Normally what you would do for winter is not have any ventilation openings that would cause a draft in the roost area or part of the daytime living area. You still have ventilation open, you're just careful about which ones you have open. Air can potentially flow between any two openings. You should have the roost area and at least part of the living area set up so those lines of air flow don't pass through them.

 

[welsummer4]

Quote:
It's reasonable to expect that Sussex will lay relatively well through Michigan and Wisconsin winters. Ontario winters, being harsher than the Midwest's, may be a different story, but Sussex are a fine choice for Michigan--very cold hardy and decent layers. Just about every breed will slow down during the winter without supplemental heat or light, but some will probably do better than others, Sussex being one.