Notherners, do you insulate your coops?

[Resolution]

Quote:
Hi Rebel Rousing at Night,

Green Mountain Copper Scotch are fine layers. They lay a large, round, beige or pinkish beige egg. They are sold by Plymouth Colony Farm in Plymouth MA.
Other than farms in Westchester NY and New England I know of no other flocks. There is another founder flock of them somewhere in upstate NY but I have no idea where or anything about the farm that stole them. Please be wary of anyone claiming to have Copper Scotch. The only person I would personally purchase stock from would be Yashar and Tamiym at the Plymouth Colony Farm Cottage Hatchery. They are not a professional hatchery and will only sell a few dozen chicks per year. You may be better off buying hatching eggs from them. Yashar is a BYCF member so you can contact him personally here.

 

[Chickenaddict]

We insulated our coop which is 10 by 12, all walls were insulated with R-13 and the ceiling I believe was R-22? something can't remember as I didn't do the work. We also have good ventillation and heat ythe coop as it only houses 23 bantams at the moment. This is our first winter with this coop so it will be a learning experience for us. I am hoping to get by with just 1 250 watt heat lamp. Temps here are pretty cold with windchills -40 and below for sometimes a few weeks straight. If I had standard sized birds who were more hardy then I would opt for just a light and maybe a heated water bowl, however some of these birds fit in the palm of your hand so heating is necessary for us. We also use DLM with a mixture of straw and pine shavings about 6-8 inches deep. I stir the bedding everyday and add more pine shavings, straw and DE every week or so as needed.

 

[wildeflowers]

Quote:
Thank you for writing back and providing an opportunity for this dialogue.
I am certain that they do share many common genes ( all crested breeds sharing a common ancestor) and they do outwardly resemble one another! I actually think your rooster is better looking ! I'm being a stickler because next year the Copper Scotch will be sold for the first time outside of Vermont by a small cottage hatchery in MA(that and a chicken thief has a founder flock of them somewhere in NY). Please forgive me for my writing that rusty missive. I wrote that for the small percentage of people that don't possess your savvy or subtlety. I hope it didn't read as being too salty.

Regardless, your note made it possible for me to extrapolate on the importance of selecting an appropriate breed for your local environment so I thank you.

Not at all!

I just wanted to clarify, if necessary.

It is extremely coincidental that his markings are nearly identical to the Green Mountain Scotch, which is lovely. I do very much like his coloring, and it's nice to see of a bird that has that color pattern "on purpose," so to speak.

Also, coincidentally, I live only a few hours from Vermont. I assumed he was a hatchery bird, since I got him from a local, private feed store, so it is quite possible that he came from a local source instead. Perhaps your chicken thief gets around.

I am very interested in seeing pics of the hens.

 

[daddysgirlz]

We have no insulation and I'm not thinking I will do much insulating except I may tack some foil wrapped bubble wrap on the ceiling?? or would 2" think pink foam be better?? As you can see in the pic, I have a green planted roof that has 5" of soil that should provide some insulation factor. I will use corrigated polycarbonate to cover the run and protect it from blowing and drifting snow. That way the run will stay dry and the silkies will have a place to play during the day...it will also act as a green house to warm things up a little. I will be able to easily take out certain panels to provide air flow during sunny warmer days as well. The coop is attached to the garage with a window between the two. I could effectivley close up the run and still have good air flow through the garage which is vented really well...no drafts. The silkies should be able to weather any blizzard that comes through and stay dry and warm!

 

[rolffamily]

Mine is insulated with 2 inch pink styro and I just checked the temp. It is 32 both outside and inside.

 

[patandchickens]

A reminder: this time of year, no, you will NOT see much if any difference indoors vs outdoors with a well-ventilated insulated coop.

It is in the COLD part of winter that a difference develops. (Size of difference depending on things like how much solar input you have and how much thermal mass the coop incorporates)

Pat

 

[latebloomer]

hi.

another vermonter here.

i have ten bbs orpingtons in my incubator
and am pondering coop design and insulation

right now i'm planning to make the coop out of
homeade sips panels, one side would be a solid core door
then one or two inches of pink rigid, then luan on
the inside.

my goal is to have the chicks outside all winter
without a heat source.
my plan was to have a minimum number of birds
and a well insulated coop

i read (somewhere) that if i had at least six birds
in an insulated coop the body heat coming off
the birds would be sufficient to keep them warm
and happy all winter.

it was ten below last night.

am i way off base?

 

[awesomefowl]

No insulation here and I haven't seen hardly any frostbite, even on my Leghorn. Part of my coop is open also. I built up a layer of wood shavings from when the girls first moved in last spring; it is about 8" in some places. I stir up their bedding often. As soon as we get some warmer weather here I am going to put it on the compost pile and start again with a thin layer of clean shavings.

 

[latebloomer]

Quote:
where are you?

 

[weekend farmer]

Look into open front chicken coops. I have great sucess and get more eggs when I leave the door open on my coop. I am building a new coop and am going with a open front or Fresh air coop design.....closed confined coops with poor ventalation are more harmful than protecting against cold. They are little furnaces, plenty of food and water and they make heat, it their combs get cold they will tuck their head under a wing.