Making my Birdiehood winter proof

[alaskachick]

We built our coop this summer. Being in Alaska we have to start gearing up for the cold weather. Our temps here will get down to zero thru -20 ( minus ) in Dec, Jan, Feb. Can anyone share with me how you have insulated your coops for similar weather.

 

[swordgeek]

It gets pretty cold here in New England, but not Alaska-cold.

Maybe gets to -5, and -10 on rare occasions. I lock up the door to their run on cold nights, and open it in the morning.

You'll have to excuse my less-than-professional descriptions, but I was just the sidekick builder.

The outside of our coop is made of wide wooden boards meant for siding, primed and then stained. Then we stuffed the inside walls with really thick pink insulation, and then nailed up wooden paneling to the supports. Lots of insulation around all the windows, too, including the kind you squeeze in with caulking. Then we nailed the 7-or-8 foot ceiling in place so the whole coop wasn't open to the much higher a-frame. The door to the shed area (front section of the coop building) is an old Andersen slider, double-paned and safe from the elements. We picked that up free on craigslist! We probably could have gotten decent windows for free there, too, but I wanted a certain size.

I've always heard that the most important issue isn't the cold, but the drafts. If I'm wrong, somebody needs to tell me!

 

[swordgeek]

Wow... I somehow double-posted, now can't delete the extra. Pardon the useless post here.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

Here is a page by a member here at BYC that is very familiar with coops in very cold climates. Hope it helps...


https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-winter-coop-temperatures

 

[wildorchid053]

we live in upstate ny. and we get high winds and lake effect snow.. we live on a hill top... this is the inside of our coop.. we insulated walls, roof, you name it.. and put in electricity for the sub zero temps.. we can turn on a heat lamp if necessary. we also put a removeable ply wood board over the roosting area to keep their body heat from rising to the roof top. it makes it about a 2 1/2 foot high box area to keep in their warmth.. the ventilation is all closable on those very windy nights.

everything is on a timer and our waterers are all electric to keep from freezing.. it works so well we are building a second coop, just alot bigger

 

[patandchickens]

Use 'search' to look for a couple of loooooooong threads from the past several winters, one on Alaska members and one on cold weather region coops in general. Evidently you are not in the cold part of Alaska though so you will also find much in common with BYCers in the northern tier of states and much of Canada.

You also might check out my 'cold coop' page, link in .sig below, for an overview of the subject and suggestions. I live about an hour north of Toronto, and due to being in a low spot our coldest winter nights are in the -20F range (yes, I'm giving you F numbers, not the local C <g>) and we have been down into the -30s F at times.

Choosing an appropriate breed is a big part of winter-hardiness. Also ensuring dry air in the coop, meaning good winter-appropriate ventilation.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat