Northern California Coops

[Bridgette1221]

Howdy All! I'm getting my first set of chickens on Thursday and my hubby and I are working on their new home. My question is, do I need to add insulation considering the area. It never gets to horribly cold here but it does get hot. I've never owned chickens myself before and I'm nervous about doing everything right. My family has but I was very little and didn't really contribute to their care. Anyone from the area have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

 

[bigmike&nan]

I'm formerly from the San Francisco area and as Mark Twain once said:

"The coldest Winter I ever spent was a Summer I lived in San Francisco"

Depends on where you are - do you get a lot of fog and wind ?? That's cold in ways Easterners don't realize.

But to answer your question: build the coop so it is draft free. When my next door neighbor helped us build our coop here in rural New Jersey last year he used GLUE and SCREWS to hold it together. The glue really seals things nicely. If you have a photo or a drawing of the basic coop you will be building post it.

Best of luck and

 

[briteday]

I live in northern NV and my coop is not insulated. This past winter we got down a bit below 0 and my chickens were fine...6 Rhode Island reds. During the coldest nights I heated a large river rock on the hearth, wrapped it in an old towel, and put it in the coop.

As for heat, as long as they have plenty of water and shade I think you'll be fine.

There are lots of CA folks on here so I'm sure someone can be more specific to your location.

 

[NancyDz]

yea we need more specifics as to where in CA...... its a huge state with a lot of variance in weather depending on where you are. I would say not to worry about insulation if you arent in a location you get snow. I dont have any but only get down to freezing a few times a year. I worry more about the heat where I am.

Nancy

 

[Torch404]

If it helps I live near Eureka right on the coast. I've only had chickens for a little over month but I seriously doubt I'd need an insulated coop. The one night there was a sudden cold front my ladies just stayed off their perch and huddled comfortably together in the straw. The next day they were back on the perch. I had also just moved the perch to a slight more draft part of the chicken house.

Inland not so far where they get plenty of snow in the winter. You might consider it but the winters are really not as bad as any of the northern states I've lived in.

 

[mmtillman]

:yiipchick

 

[Bridgette1221]

Ah sorry about that, Sacramento area to be exact, well a suburb of Sacramento.

 

[Omran]

First of all

In my openion,if the temprature gets over 100 degrees or over 95 all summer long with no cool breez then I will insulate thier coop to make sure that they are not overheated, chickens will tolerate cold weather more than hot weater, if you have some kind of shaded tree area I will build my coop right there if I can.

best of luck and please show us your chickens coop pictures.

Omran

 

[Bridgette1221]

It can get quite hot here. I have picked out a nice shaded place for their coop. The most shaded in the yard. I keep looking at all the pictures of the other coops people have posted on this site, some are really amazing, and am trying to get ideas of what to do. How large of a coop would 10 chickens need all together? Anyone have any suggestions on that?

 

[Omran]

Each bird chickens need 4 sq feet, but always make your coop way bigger, because you are going to get more chickens next year if not sooner trust me ( I started with 10 then 20 and now I have 26 little chicks + 10 big hens

Omran