coop design advice

[mommahippo]

Hi All,
I live in Alaska and am looking into getting chickens for the first time. All the lovely coops I've seen on here so far seem to be from much warmer climates.

Is there anyone from Alaska or other very cold area? I would love some ideas for diy coops. We are hoping for 6-10 chickens this summer. Thank you all so much.

 

[PapaChaz]

there are a lot of members here in cold climate states, michigan, minnesota, new york........those might not be as cold as alaska, but you'd probably get a lot of good tips from them!

oh yeah, welcome aboard!

 

[bdjh]

Manitoba here. -30 to -40 for most of December, January, and February.

We've survived 2 winters with our coop.

You need to make sure you've got power to your coop for a heated waterer. Many here will say that chickens don't need heat, but frankly, my chickens are more pet than livestock, and it's a quality-of-life thing.....so I heat the coop to just around freezing. First year, I used an old interior car warmer.....it worked great, but the dust build-up inside the heater was too much of a fire hazard, so this past year I went with two ceramic heat emitters, and they seemed to work great. They look like a black light bulb, but don't emit light....just heat. They're made for reptiles, but worked perfectly for us. I hooked a thermostat up inside the coop to control the temp.

We had frozen eggs all the time, due to the fact that the nesting boxes were at floor level and had an exterior lid with plenty of air leakage.....but there's not much we can do about that. As long as they don't crack, they're fine.

We did not insulate the coop, but if I were to do it again, I might. Trouble is, you need the ventilation, so insulation is only marginally beneficial.

Any questions - please feel free to ask.