Help, my eggs are freezing,

[Yukonchick]

Does anyone know how I can keep my eggs from freezin in the hen house? its not insulated and i do have a brooding lamp in there already. Maybe so kind of layering under the hay in the nests?? Startin to get cold up here in the Yukon

I do have curtains in front of the nesting boxes but don't seem to be helping and i try to collect the eggs early

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

The only way to stop them freezing will be to keep the nest boxes above freezing.
Putting a light or two directly beneath them may do it.
Insulating the tops, backs and sides of the boxes may help also

You may even need to enclose an area beneath the boxes so all the heat will be confined to just that space

 

[Rooster Rules]

Up there you should insulate the coop, and supply some heat source to keep the coop above freezing, or close to it. Manitoba is super cold too, and coops need insulating here too.
If the coop is below 0c, it's going to freeze the eggs, the colder the quicker. Gathering eggs all day long would else, but how practical is it....

 

[countrygoddess]

Up there you should insulate the coop, and supply some heat source to keep the coop above freezing, or close to it. Manitoba is super cold too, and coops need insulating here too.

Not true. I live in Vermont and our winters routinely see temps below freezing. Sometimes WAY below freezing, for long periods of time. I have never insulated my chicken house and, in fact, the floor in my old house was elevated by 3 feet and was nothing but hardware cloth over which I put a layer of straw. I opened the door every day and threw straw down on the snow for my girls to walk on and they've always been happy as clams and super-healthy. I've also never had a frostbitten comb.

This year they're in a hoop coop. Tarp over the top, 4 ml plastic stapled over one whole end and partially over the other to keep wind out. I'm doing deep litter. Happy, healthy chickens. Frozen eggs? From time to time. We do our best to get out there early.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/ask-our-experts/chickens-and-cold-weather-zb0z10zblon.aspx

 

[Rooster Rules]

Not true. I live in Vermont and our winters routinely see temps below freezing. Sometimes WAY below freezing, for long periods of time. I have never insulated my chicken house and, in fact, the floor in my old house was elevated by 3 feet and was nothing but hardware cloth over which I put a layer of straw. I opened the door every day and threw straw down on the snow for my girls to walk on and they've always been happy as clams and super-healthy. I've also never had a frostbitten comb.

This year they're in a hoop coop. Tarp over the top, 4 ml plastic stapled over one whole end and partially over the other to keep wind out. I'm doing deep litter. Happy, healthy chickens. Frozen eggs? From time to time. We do our best to get out there early.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/ask-our-experts/chickens-and-cold-weather-zb0z10zblon.aspx

True, my grandparents never had insulated coops or heat, but thems were many years back. i am staying with insulation and some heat to keep things just from freezing, cause I can......

 

[Yukonchick]

Ya, i'm not worried about the chickens getting cold. They're a hardy breed, but them eggs, i have to collect them quick in mornings but any laid late in the afternoon have often been frozen with a crack in them. Mind you the eggs are still good once they thaw out. i just let them thaw in a plastic bowl and they look fine when i crack them open in the frying pan,LOL!

 

[CluckyCharms]

The only thing I might suggest is to move the nesting boxes to the side of the chicken coop that has direct sunlight if they're not already. Or - an easier method would be to move your entire coop so that the side with the nesting boxes is the side the sun directly hits. If they already are on that side of the coop then I would probably insulate just the nesting boxes (not the entire coop) - for the sake of egg preservation.

 

[Yukonchick]

Umm, I think it would be a bit tough moving this chicken house. I built mine all by myself on a house deck. Don't think its going anywhere.. Not all my eggs freeze, just a couple that i find on the floor and i try to collect them early enough in mornings. When it gets to minus 30 though its probably gonna be a problem.

 

[CluckyCharms]

beautiful coop and you're right - it's not going anywhere! lol I'd still insulate the nest boxes for the eggs but that's just me.

 

[Yukonchick]

Heres a video i did today of our yukon winter. I got a baby monitor to help me know when they're laying and a ghetto blaster i found at the dump. I can listen to the radio from there while i'm drinking my coffee in mornings, lol. I dunno why i have to put it on utube to get it to go into this site. Kinda dumb.