Snow or no snow on roof

[JHH3]

I have what is perhaps a silly question for those of you that live in very cold winter climates but it's my first year having chickens during winter.

My metal coop roof is covered in about 4-5 inches of snow, it only gets sun about half the day. Should I leave the snow on the roof as a bit of insulation for when it's cold at night to keep the inside from getting too cold or scrape it off so the sun can heat it up and perhaps transfer some of that warmth to the inside of the coop? Or would it be such a little difference that it wouldn't matter?

It's -8F outside right now, coop isn't heated so I want to leverage the sun as much as I can.

 

[Ted Brown]

Unless your coop is insulated and heated snow on the roof or not will make little or no difference to inside heat of the coop. Even if you do I doubt the snow will make any appreciable difference.

You probably know about ventilation and eliminating drafts so I will not repeat. I have a Woods KD style coop with an open front, HC covering, facing south east and tin roof; I do not clear it. My flock love to gather at the front or on roosts when the sun is shining. If you can provide something similar that is probabaly the best use of any winter sun that you could provide.

 

[JHH3]

Unless your coop is insulated and heated snow on the roof or not will make little or no difference to inside heat of the coop. Even if you do I doubt the snow will make any appreciable difference.

You probably know about ventilation and eliminating drafts so I will not repeat. I have a Woods KD style coop with an open front, HC covering, facing south east and tin roof; I do not clear it. My flock love to gather at the front or on roosts when the sun is shining. If you can provide something similar that is probabaly the best use of any winter sun that you could provide.

That's kinda what I was figuring, my thought was that the sun on the metal roof might gain them some warmth. Coop only has 3 small double pane windows facing southwest and is in the shadow of the barn half the day so I don't know if they're getting much out if it.

How does the KD style of coop do with winter winds? It's a style I've seen and thought about switching to (or modifying my current coop to be like) but we have anywhere from 5 to 20 mile per hour winds coming from all directions during the winter so I'd be concerned about drafts with that sort of thing.

 

[Ted Brown]

...
How does the KD style of coop do with winter winds? It's a style I've seen and thought about switching to (or modifying my current coop to be like) but we have anywhere from 5 to 20 mile per hour winds coming from all directions during the winter so I'd be concerned about drafts with that sort of thing.

Properly built and oriented there are no drafts.

The design principal is the creation of an "air cushion" in the back coop section. In the winter one closes the two side windows and the upper monitor windows. Wind/air movement enters the front along the bottom and then it is forced back out the top as there is no where else to go. Roosts are built along the back wall and therefore out of any drafts.

It is important that the design ratio of width to depth and front vs back sections be observed in order to create the cushion (I can send a link to the Prince Woods book if you are interested, good skim or read).

If I get winds during a snow storm I can get snow deposited along the front for 1-2 feet back but no more, demonstrates that the circular flow of air is working. Also that snow will be gone within 24 hours again because of the flow of air through the coop.

Brilliant design!

 

[JHH3]

Properly built and oriented there are no drafts.

The design principal is the creation of an "air cushion" in the back coop section. In the winter one closes the two side windows and the upper monitor windows. Wind/air movement enters the front along the bottom and then it is forced back out the top as there is no where else to go. Roosts are built along the back wall and therefore out of any drafts.

It is important that the design ratio of width to depth and front vs back sections be observed in order to create the cushion (I can send a link to the Prince Woods book if you are interested, good skim or read).

If I get winds during a snow storm I can get snow deposited along the front for 1-2 feet back but no more, demonstrates that the circular flow of air is working. Also that snow will be gone within 24 hours again because of the flow of air through the coop.

Brilliant design!

I'd like to take a look at that book, sounds interesting.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I don’t clean the snow off my metal roof in the winter.

 

[Ted Brown]

I'd like to take a look at that book, sounds interesting.

Here you go The Modern Fresh Air Poultry House by Prince T. Woods.

Thanks due to @jthornton who provided it to me.

 

[Stephanie8806]

I find snow on the roof of my coop not to be of any significant help... but, like you said, if it’s bare the warmth from the sun WILL pass through thin metal quicker. I also have two panels that are doubled up clear plastic, so that they have “skylights”.

One thing I will say, is that even with closely spaced rafters and nice thick OSB under the roof panels, we still had issues with weight of snow load this winter. That didn’t happen until we had around 18 inches of accumulated snow that had melted a bit so it was compacted and HEAVY(meaning it was quite a bit more than 18”). Even with a sloped roof, it had trouble sliding off. We opted to get the ladder and push it off with a broom

 

[duluthralphie]

No need to clean the snow off, it will fall off the first warm day.

 

[drumstick diva]

not quite ralphie, on the first warm day, huge, icicles form - very sharp at point and very hard- waiting for fall on anyone passing beneath them.