cold winter coop help please

[Delphinium]

We live in Northern Arizona, and average 80 inches of snowfall each winter. We are trying to narrow down our coop design. We're very interested in an ark/A-frame design, but are wondering if this would be a good idea with cold winters.

Does anyone out there live in a colder climate and have this type of coop? Where do you put the food and water during the wintertime... down below in the run or up in the top portion of the coop?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[patandchickens]

A-frame designs are absolutely hands-down the hardest type to use in cold winter areas. They offer minimal (microscopic) amount of indoor floorspace for the chickens, and are *extremely* hard to ventilate adequately without drafts and excessive cold. Personally I would strongly advocate a different type of design.

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[jmagill]

We live in the snow.

Ours has a shed roof that sheds the snow away to the north. The east and south ends are where are access is. We have it about two feet above ground. We made it rectangular as opposed to square.
We have room inside for feed and water because they don't go ou much in the winter.

We get lots of snow and we need that roof to shed snow away or we would not get in in the winter.

 

[Montana-Hens]

I don't know about an A-frame, but I do know you want to pick a coop design you can imagine how you are going to insulate and ventilate it all.

 

[paulandashia]

I Live in Alaska.
Is that cold enough?
I have a Mini-House Coop for my guys, with a Vent-Flap that opens and closes on each side.
I open the one that is away from where the wind is blowing.

Water in winter. Well, I am using a Red-Heat-Lamp that hangs right above the water tub to keep it from freezing. Seems to work well.
Food is fairly simple. It's dry, and I keep away from water so that solves that problem.
Veggies, etc, I serve in a baking pan once a day after they soaked in hot water.
It's an "All you can eat in 15 minutes" buffet. After that it starts to freeze, so it goes back in the house.

I am going to end up with about 30 chickens myself, so my coop is fairly spacious, but you have to think how many birds you are going to have.
If you are only going with a few, you don't want to make the coop too big for however many birds you have.
I noticed birds tend to stick together in the cold combining their body-heat to stay warm.

I hope that made sense. I ramble a lot. LoL

 

[Bantimna]

A-frame designs are absolutely hands-down the hardest type to use in cold winter areas. They offer minimal (microscopic) amount of indoor floorspace for the chickens, and are *extremely* hard to ventilate adequately without drafts and excessive cold. Personally I would strongly advocate a different type of design.

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat

x2
Welcome to the BYC

 

[ksct]

i would also say that even if your birds like snow, they aren't going to want to spend all their time outside like they do when it's warm..... you need to make sure you have plenty of room becuase it you get wind chill or it gets piled up... they're going to be inside and they won't be happy or healthy if they're 'cooped' up (no pun intended) We've found that out here and we're in upstate NY.
Bigger is always better in a coop design. It's better than having to add on like we had to or having something happen to the birds becuase they're unahppy and cramped.

hope that helps.

 

[patman75]

I have an A-frame tractor, I only use it for spring summer and fall. The girls get the nice big coop for the winter.

 

[Delphinium]

Thank you for the replies and advice. We ruled out the ark/a-frame design... several of you confirmed that it is not a good coop design for cold winters. I appreciate the feedback!