I need some thoughts on what I should do...

[PAchickenlover]

Hello, this is the first time I have posted on this thread. I currently have two "Coop's". Well the one is an old metal shed that we have partially converted in to a coop, ok maybe mostly, but any how I need to know how I should go about insulating this old shed for PA winters. I have some SS Roo's and they have big combs. I am worried about it getting too cold in there for them if I don't insulate. So what should i use or should we abandon it and go tear down the old farm building and make one from scratch?
My other coop was an old wooden play house for kids (ok it was my husbands when he lived here growing up 30+ years ago) They used oak boards when they constructed it and it is still really strong. I don't have any insulation in that one either. I know I should be doing more for my beloved chickens and I want to do more I just am not sure where to start or what to use. So any suggestions would be great!
Thanks,
Mollie

 

[KDK1]

It really depends on how much money you can afford to put into them and how you plan to heat them, if at all.

 

[PAchickenlover]

I know it's hot now I just am trying to plan ahead so that i'm not trying to do it when my birds and I are getting cold.

 

[PAchickenlover]

Well I had a heat lamp in the coops over this past winter till one of them got knocked down and started a small fire in my coop. I rushed in not even thinking of myself or what I could be walking in to. Pulled the power cord and started beating on the fire with what ever I could find till I got it down enough that I could go back outside and get some more water. Well I got the fire out with the help of my hubby but I ended up with 2nd degree burns on my one hand saving my chickens. Now that I have gotten off subject a little. I plan on maybe using a mounted heater in there this winter. I have had enough of heat lamps! I want something that the birds can't knock down or tip over. But I know that a heater alone will not be sufficient or cost effective.

 

[JackE]

I have the same winter climate as you. You do not need to run a heater in you coop. You really don't need insulation for the coop. It's far worse for the chickens to be closed up in a poorly ventilated coop with a heater, especially when the heater sets the coop on fire. I have BRs with long combs, and I had absolutly ZERO problems with frostbite in my open-air coop. The whole end of my coop is open to the weather, YEAR round. Don't worry about insulating the coop, and forget about adding a heater. Just make sure the chickens have good ventilation, without the wind blowing on them when they roost.
Jack

 

[stubbornhill]

Quote:
I would agree. If you really, really feel as if you need some added warmth, maybe you can have a regular light wired in and put it on a timer. That would give you the benefit of a little added heat and some extra "light" in the shorter days of the year to help with egg production. If it is wired in, there would be no cords for them to pull. Much safer. Good to think of these things now instead of when the snow is flying and the wind is whipping!

 

[PAchickenlover]

Thank you JackE, for sharing your post of your coop with me that is great. It wasn't however a "heater" that started the fire but a heat lamp. I was using it to keep my early spring chicks warm. Learned my lesson though. BTW none of the chicks were hurt at all, I got there in time.
Thanks,
Mollie

 

[PAchickenlover]

Wow I look at all of the Coops that are posted here and mine seems really inferier. Well maybe I will start on taking that old building apart and constructing a new on that all of my chickens can live in, and that will look nicer to the "outsiders". You know, the neighbors....

 

[JackE]

Quote:
Heater/Heatlamp, Same thing to me when it is used in a chicken coop. I do run electric out to the coop in the winter to power up the water fount warmer. Can't do without that, Unless I want to be changing out frozen waterers all day.
Jack

 

[PAchickenlover]

Yeah, I have to get some of those soon. I just bought a metal waterer a couple of months ago. I have to get another one though.