Coops in Canada Winter?

ChickenGirl 19

In the Brooder
7 Years
Jul 27, 2012
90
4
48
BC, Canada
I live in the south-west part of BC. Earlier this year, (early summer) we got a flock of mix breed chickens. So far this year at night, temperatures have been as low as 2 Celcius, and with wind chill, -2. One year, it went down to -21. We have quite a large coop for them, Tall enough for a 5' 3" person to stand easily in it, wide enough for 3 horse feeding buckets (nesting boxes, about 2 feet long) and a chicken door, as well as deep enough fora person too walk a few steps... if not for the roosts, so about 8.5 by 6 feet or so. We use white softwood bedding, only one or two inches as we were getting low, but we will be putting in more soon. We have 5 laying hens, and a rooster, all under a year old, and a few Muscovies we may or may not be keeping. We might be sectioning off a small bit of the coop for our two rabbits in the non-winter months.

We have no idea the breed of our chickens... We have a large white-ish yellow-ish rooster with a small crest on his head, two white hens, a white hen with a slight white crest, a white hen flecked with browns and black, and a black hen with red on her chest and a mid-sized black crest. They all have single combs. Is there anything we can do to the coop to make it warmer for the winter? I'd rather not use electricty, in case of a power outage, but we have it in our horses barn, so if push came to shove, we have it.
 
I live in the south-west part of BC. Earlier this year, (early summer) we got a flock of mix breed chickens. So far this year at night, temperatures have been as low as 2 Celcius, and with wind chill, -2. One year, it went down to -21. We have quite a large coop for them, Tall enough for a 5' 3" person to stand easily in it, wide enough for 3 horse feeding buckets (nesting boxes, about 2 feet long) and a chicken door, as well as deep enough fora person too walk a few steps... if not for the roosts, so about 8.5 by 6 feet or so. We use white softwood bedding, only one or two inches as we were getting low, but we will be putting in more soon. We have 5 laying hens, and a rooster, all under a year old, and a few Muscovies we may or may not be keeping. We might be sectioning off a small bit of the coop for our two rabbits in the non-winter months.

We have no idea the breed of our chickens... We have a large white-ish yellow-ish rooster with a small crest on his head, two white hens, a white hen with a slight white crest, a white hen flecked with browns and black, and a black hen with red on her chest and a mid-sized black crest. They all have single combs. Is there anything we can do to the coop to make it warmer for the winter? I'd rather not use electricty, in case of a power outage, but we have it in our horses barn, so if push came to shove, we have it.
Hi, just a suggestion, do some searches, there's tons of cold weather advice. I would say being in BC, you will not get brutal cold like here in Manitoba.
Having the coop dry, good venting, lots of bedding feed, and ice free water , should do the trick.
You may have to rig something, or buy an electric waterer.
You could use a light on a timer to simulate longer daylight hours, for more egg production.
Post some pics of your set-up and birds, easier for others to make suggestions for you.
Chickens once they have their winter feathers, can handle a lot of cold, but it's the drafts and humidity, that will make them uncomfortable and give them possible frostbite. I would provide roosts, made with 2X4 lumber, with the wide side up, to allow birds to roost and cover there feet with their bodies to keep warm......good luck
 
you're in southern BC so you should be just fine. I'm on the east coast and usually I don't do much for extra heat except that when it gets to -10 in the coop I will throw on the heat lamp for a day to warm things up for a bit. I also use the deep litter method and my girls made out just fine.
 
Hi, just a suggestion, do some searches, there's tons of cold weather advice. I would say being in BC, you will not get brutal cold like here in Manitoba.
Having the coop dry, good venting, lots of bedding feed, and ice free water , should do the trick.
You may have to rig something, or buy an electric waterer.
You could use a light on a timer to simulate longer daylight hours, for more egg production.
Post some pics of your set-up and birds, easier for others to make suggestions for you.
Chickens once they have their winter feathers, can handle a lot of cold, but it's the drafts and humidity, that will make them uncomfortable and give them possible frostbite. I would provide roosts, made with 2X4 lumber, with the wide side up, to allow birds to roost and cover there feet with their bodies to keep warm......good luck

Here are some pictures of my chickens and coop, as well as the ducks. Sorry for bad quality, My camera was running low on battery so I had to use my other one, which also started to run out of battery at the end, so I had to rush. And my chickens are so camera shy... Ignore the purple, orange and blue/green on some of the chickens backs. It's just ther to tell them apart.































































































 
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Hello from Prince George BC (about 900km north of Vancouver), nice lookin birds, but as per your question I'm more interested in your eves and ventilation. But really just pay close attention to how the birds behave. Do they still go outside, move around, etc.

Scott
 
I have a roost that is wide for my chickens so they can huddle down and cover their feet that was a tip i picked up from the book building chicken coops for dummies... we have been -10C overnight and everyone was just fine, i deeply bed with shavings.

I also keep Muscovy ducks but they are housed separately, i bed well and they have a good solid wood building that said i did run a heat lamp last year because i had the odd duck shivering, i don't know why and hope to skip this idea this year...

I really go by the theory of watch my birds.. if they act cold i will supplement but i prefer to avoid it as it's likely better that they don't... i have more ducks this winter so it will provide more warmth than last.
 
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