I need advice from people of the north!

[LaSombra]

Just reading the responses, gleaning ideas

Oh, I just had an idea, though... I wonder if you could have the roosts themselves surrounded by walls so that it's like an inner bedroom for the chickens during the winter? Removable/temporary walls, of course...

 

[werecatrising]

This will be my first year with chickens, but I plan on doing the same thing I do with my rabbits. I put some heavy duty tarps around the enclosure. I make sure everything is draft free yet well insulated. I give everyone lots of extra bedding. I have to check the water several times a day, but that's about it.

 

[2468Chickensrgr8]

Quote:
Check out "PatandChickens" little ventalation page....alot of great information from the snowy North

 

[AkTomboy]

I agree with those who asked how far north you are talkin about.

I live in the interior Alaska and it is dry but gets super cold plus my town is super windy. -50/-60 is not uncommon for a few days or even weeks at a time here. Add 50-75mph winds and its just a tad nippy!

All of my coops are very well insulated, and draft free. I have heat lamps on a thermostat, along with a light on a timer. They get treats to keep them busy such as a coke bottle with holes in it filled with feed and such when on lockdown. I also have extra space per bird also for when on lockdown. The roosts are very wide and flat and there is always extra ones for the number birds I have. Over my pop door I have canvas so that they can go out to the run on nice days and the coop does not get cold. The door was also built on the side that is not hit by the wind. When it is very cold I have an inner insulated door that covers my pop door.

My run is also covered with a roof and I am able to hang tarps if the wind is real bad and still let them out even if its just for a few hrs. Hmm I think thats it. I am sure I will remember somthing else later

 

[wildorchid053]

we are upstate ny and we insulated ceiling and walls.. doing deep litter on the floor since the coop is raised 2' off the ground. we also have electricty incase it gets extremely cold so we can run a couple of heat lamps

 

[Akane]

My standards do fine down into the negatives. They were unconcerned when our temps hit -30F. My japanese bantams start to get too cold at around 0F and in the negatives they started to frostbite their combs. Anything above 0 is not considered real cold here.

30s-40s is warm weather. It will depend what breeds you have but even chickens like seramas can withstand below freezing and probably down to around 20F without issue. Pretty much every other breed will handle down to 0F without much trouble. They do not need heat. Adding unnecessary heat and especially heating an entire building that the animals are going in and out of can actually cause illness. Adjusting to differing temps leads to more stress on the body than just adjusting to one slightly more extreme temp. It's actually a big problem with people who have small pets like rabbits or guinea pigs and think they can just bring them in the house to warm up for a night or few hours when it's cold out. The animals end up with respiratory infections and appear to suffer more in the cold than if they are just left outside. Not that a guinea pig should be left outside when it gets much below 60F because they are not cold weather animals.

I would only heat a coop to about 5F above outdoor temps if they are going out and maybe 10F if they are mostly staying in. Otherwise a heat lamp over the roosts at night is the most I did last winter. If I have chickens that can't handle those temps like my japs when it hits -20F here then I just bring them inside permanently until the weather warms up. This year I'm going to put plastic up over the screens on the porch so I can put cages out there for my seramas and japs. Then when I can open the window between the porch and the house and heat the porch enough to keep them at least around 20F.

 

[All about the EGG]

Quote:
I am in Northern Illinois and we get the lake Michigan wind. I have five sex links in a 4x4 unheated coop. Its a My Little Playhouse from Lowes. It has ventilation.

The birds did well. We had a nite lite, and heated dog dish. I think the coldest it got was -11 in the coop. Mild comb frostbite, but nothing serious. Everyday the birds wanted to come out, but we did not let them. When it got to 0 degrees without the wind they came out.

As advised, face the coop and run south, and stock up on plenty of treats. Not once did our birds seem lethargic or unhappy. They were really P.O.ed we would not let them come out tho. I frimly believe the size of our coop is what did the trick. Plenty of birds=heat, and plenty of ventilation=no issues.

Good luck!

 

[vermontgal]

Last winter I had 4 chickens in an insulated, ventilated coop in Vermont. Our coldest night was -30F. While a flock of 25 will put out a good amount of heat, a flock of 4 is about as warm as a 60 watt lightbulb. So on really cold nights (below -15 to -20F), I add all the luxury of a 100 watt heat-emitter. My goal is to keep the inside of the coop (the top, as warm air rises) around +10F. Last year the coldest it got inside the coop was +6F. I do also put vaseline on combs on the coldest nights.

I love my max-min remote thermometer probe that lets me monitor my coop temperature from my living room!

 

[CityChook]

from MN!

I have an insulated 6x8 for 4 hens. I provided heat via a 250 watt ceramic heat emitter positioned over the roost, but it only managed to stay around 10-12F inside. The coldest it ever got was -5F. It was warmer directly under the emitter (it's radiant heat, meaning that it heats surfaces - like chickens - not air). When temps dipped to -25F and beyond, I hooked up a temporary second light. I found that the red heat lamp tended to make my hens a bit aggressive, so I used it only when it got REALLY cold. It does put out more heat than the ceramic bulb, though.

The more chickens you have, the less you need additional heat. But with only 4 birds, mine just couldn't produce enough body heat to make any difference. That's why I provided heat for them. Truthfully, more important than insulation and heat is to make sure your space is draft free and put the vents up high. Yes, you'll lose some heat, but you'll lose humidity along with it and that what will keep you out of trouble when it gets really cold.

Hope this helps.

 

[digitS']

I don't live in a terribly cold place, it was down to -18°F last winter but seldom do we have any colder than that. We do have 16 hours of darkness on December 21st, however.

Years ago, I used to leave a light on 24 hours a day so the birds could see to eat. I don't think that is best and have gone to only about 9 or 10 hours of nighttime darkness during the coldest months. Chickens have a high metabolism and as others are pointing out - they can keep themselves quite warm if they can eat well and often. I also make sure they have liquid water morning, noon, and night.

Their coop is essentially 2 rooms. One is open on 2 sides, covered only with wire. I call it their sunporch

.

The other room is fully insulated - roof, floor and walls. It holds the roost and nestbox. The popdoor to the sunporch is tiny and closed at night and on the coldest days. Other than the light, which is only 11 watts, the only heat that doesn't come from the hens themselves is when I show up with the hairdryer to melt the ice on the door

.

The feed bill goes up because they eat a lot but some of the heavier breeds I have kept don't seem much effected by the winter cold.

Steve

edited to say: my 4 hens have only about one-half the space as CityChook's in the insulated part of their coop: 3.5' by 7'. I don't know how much they heat the room but they seem quite warm inside their down jackets

.