insulatated boxes, will this work?

Seattle does not even GET cold (by chicken standards), does it? What's your lowest low, like maybe teens or single digits F?

No, there is zero point in insulating your nestboxes (even if you lived in a colder climate actually).

If you are concerned that they have somewhere warm to snuggle if they feel cold (although, see first sentence ), just make sure there is lots of fluffy bedding on the ground, also as much as you can put into the nestboxes while still leaving room for a chicken too <g> They will be FINE.

Your real concern will not be overall chicken warmth, it will be the possibility of frostbit combs due to prolonged near-100% humidity combined with hovering-just-below-freezing temps. (Humid *weather* I mean, not poor-ventilation type humidity. There is a limit to how much you can override Mother Nature). Depending on your breeds, and your weather, it is not entirely out of the realm of possibility you might find yourself wanting to run a small lightbulb (not heatlamp, just a safely-rigged 60w or 100w bulb) in there for them to sit under in the aforementioned difficult weather.

So, in summary: lotsa bedding; lightbulb if really necessary on occasion (although it probably won't be); and don't worry about insulating your nestboxes cuz it wouldn't do anything useful

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

Seattle...

Patand... is perfectly correct. I'm in Renton and we do not need to worry about the cold here, unless you get some breed that is totally not cold tolerant, and I've not heard of any that can't take temps down to the single digits. Just make sure that they are dry and draft free.

Imp

 

Imp Is entirely correct in saying that dry and draft free are the key...

I'm near Kingston, and tend to get a bit cooler than seattle, and we havn't had any issues. I did give them a heat lamp for the two weeks that we had 12 degree weather last winter. But they were just fine, no frost bite, no loss of birds... You'll do just fine so long as they stay dry.

 

My son has lived in Sammamish and now Redmond, and thinks he is freezing in 40-50 degree temps. I guess it's what you are acclimated to. He was born and spent all but the past 3 years in the Chicago area. You would think after that he would be immune to cold. I don't think Seattle has the dramatic HIGHS, and LOWS that the Midwest has, so I would think your chickens could handle the weather with just a well ventilated coop. If you put tarps or plastic etc. around the nest boxes they will probably eat it.