Insulate or Heat coop - an answer

[The Lazy L]

I got home yesterday a little after 5 PM and went out to the coop to collect eggs.

Temperature is 10 F with a little sun trying to peek thru the clouds.

And where are the 8 + 1 Buff Orpingtons? Huddled in the coop looking at warm Caribbean Cruise brochures?

Nope. Scratching around in their run.




Their coop is not insulated and no heat is provided. Chicken door to the run is open 24 x 7. Coop windows lean in at the top 4" to provide ventilation. The only artificial light in th coop is 1/2 hour at dawn and another 1/2 hour at dusk.

 

[CatUT]

I don't heat my coop and my buffs, EE and Barred Rocks seem to be doing just fine. We've had temperatures in the negatives for awhile too. I'm not sure that it's gotten over 30 deg in the last two weeks. However, my coop is insulated. I'm not really sure that it makes that much of a difference to the chickens but it made me feel better. My neighbor who also has chickens doesn't have an insulated coop and hers are doing just fine. I do try to feed them a bit of extra protein right now just to give them enough to keep warm. I also have a light source in the coop to make them think the day is longer than it actually is. They come out into the run most every day and do their chicken thing and complain to me that there's all this white cold stuff on the groung and could I do somthing about it.

BTW I like your coop. It's very nice.

 

[res]

I don't heat my coop, but I did insulate the walls and roof with R-13 insulation. So far, it is keeping the interior of the coop warm enough that I do not have to use a heated waterer, which was my goal. Last night was the first real test - I think the temps outside got to the low teens, and there was no ice on the waterer inside, while the outside waterer was frozen solid.