coop design for cold weather areas

[applesmith]

I live in Mass and am looking to design and build a chicken coop. If I have the nesting boxes stick out on the side of the coop, should I insulate the boxes in this cold winter area?

 

[AtholCoop]

I live in Mass and am looking to design and build a chicken coop. If I have the nesting boxes stick out on the side of the coop, should I insulate the boxes in this cold winter area?

I don't, yes if it gets wicked cold (-10f) you're going to occasionally have a frozen egg, but it's rare so long as you check for and pull eggs on a regular basis, and the girls don't do something stoopit like hide them where you can't see them.

 

[SunnyAlberta]

I don't have chickens or a coop yet, I'm just in research mode, but I have an idea that maybe someone experienced can comment on. What if we used small, hard-sided lunch coolers (with the lids removed) as the nesting boxes? The other thought is to line existing nesting boxes with a soft-sided, insulated, lunch bag. What do you think?

 

[AtholCoop]

I really wouldn't sweat it. As long as you pull eggs every evening you'll rarely have one freeze.

Also I just noticed your location. My mom's from the Crow's Nest Pass area.