Cold weather coops

[ella]

Here's my coop. It was built for my comfort as much as theirs.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=167-Minnesota_Coop

You certainly don't need anything fancy. Chickens can survive extreme cold with a good sturdy shelter.

The biggest problem in the middle of winter is water. That's the main reason I have heat in the coop. I hate filling buckets and using hoses in winter. keeping the coop just above freezing eliminates ice and makes me very happy!

 

[Beekissed]

I insulated my henhouse with thick cardboard boxes tacked all on the interior and plastic over the windows. I use heat tape around my continuous waterer. It got to 5 degrees here this winter for several days. The henhouse was snug as a bug! No frostbit combs or wattles.

I read in Countryside about a fellow who lives in Alaska or Canada maybe who has never used heat in his coop and has never lost a chicken to the cold.

 

[LynneP]

Mine is loaded with pics including how to insulate (click below)...good thread, thanks!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693-Coop_Insulation

 

[s6bee]

I live in Upstate NY near Lake Ontario and we get cold, snowy, windy winters. Probably a lot like yours. We have a small coop that we insulated with insulation board, but put thin sheets of plywood over it so they wouldn't peck at it. That helped with the drafts. We don't put a heat lamp in but with the daylight hours in winter reduced, many put in supplemental light to continue egg production through the winter, ( they need 14 hrs. of daylight to lay ) In the small coop, this light alone has helped with adding some heat even though it's just a 60 watt bulb. So you may find that you need electric to the coop anyway if you want eggs all year.
Our coop has only 20 sq. ft. inside. It's a tractor. If you get much larger than that, the 60 watt bulb probably won't help with heat.
Just get cold weather birds and you should be fine.

 

[fos]

I live in western PA where it gets cold but probably not as cold as where you are. I too keep just a few chickens and they live quite comfortably in a large Rubbermaid storage container. When it gets really cold (in the teens) I just bring my girls inside to the basement. They will often spend nights there and go back outside in the morning. I've been doing this for about 7 years and have never had a chicken with a weather related problem.

 

[Anny]

I wish I had a basement for them to go in in the winter nights.

Lucky

 

[Winter]

I think heating a coop is a bad idea. What if the cord comes out or the power goes out? People have lost whole flocks because the birds were used to the heat and something went wrong. If they acclimatise to the cold from the beginning, I think it is much better.
I live in Western Canada where termperatures can be -40 at night and sometimes even during the day! We never heated our coops. The key is to having an absolutely draft free coop out of the wind. I plan on using a heated water dish to keep the water un iced, rather than a heated coop. Also, for winter a smaller coop is better, more birds in less space keep warmer.
It makes me laugh when people talk about freezing as a cold day, that's downright balmy here!

 

[Beekissed]

I would have to agree with Winter on that point! Animals were designed to live outdoors in all weathers. A lady in our local paper had an outside dog (had a house and a fenced in yard) and the Humane Society had the police give her a fine for not taking her dog indoors when the temp went to the teens! He was a Golden Retriever....plenty of fur and already acclimated to the cold! I think its kind of cruel to keep a dog indoors in the winter and expect him to go outside to use the bathroom.....how would YOU like to go outside to go potty when you just left a toasty warm house!? Indoors animals don't develop the thick winter coat they need to stay warm in the cold weather.

Chickens have down comforters already installed on their bodies. They tuck their heads under their wings and the feet get draped with feathers when they roost. What more could you ask for?

 

[amysue2012]

Im in Ohio, no heat, doggie door into a fenced in area they come and go as they please. I kept plenty of straw in the coop. They all did great, waddles and combs all looking good.

There is a florecent light on a timer, just for laying perposes. The water froze a few times but I just brought it in, ran it under the hot water, then brought it back out. I generally only gave them what they would consume in a day.

 

[Princessferf]

I don't insulate our coop (we live in Wisconsin and just finished up with a real nasty, cold winter), but I do try to keep it as draft-free as possible. I threw several extra bales of straw around the edges of the coop to help provide a little extra protection and we had a single heat lamp bulb.

We use a heating base for their water so it doesn't freeze. For most of the winter, the coop was around 20 degrees inside. I felt their skin (under their feathers) and they were toasty warm. The only thing I kept an eye on was their combs to make sure they didn't get frostbite.

The chickens fared well, considering they were stuck inside the whole time (the generally free range).

I would agree against keeping the coop warm inside, our chickens didn't seem to mind the cold at all.