Think it's too cold for your chickens? Think again...

[chestypuller]

Hey I'm up in fairbanks Alaska (60 below at the coldest) and I wanna say thank you for this thread.
People were lookin at me like I was crazy when I said I didn't think I needed a super insulated coop. Though i am only going to have 12 birds so I think some blue foam board is gonna be just fine.

i would put wood over blueboard, as the blueboard i had inside exposed they pecked the heck outa, non of them died from it tho.

 

[allsummedup]

i would put wood over blueboard, as the blueboard i had inside exposed they pecked the heck outa, non of them died from it tho.

oh for sure!

 

[laseterlass]

I see several people have posted about heated dog dishes and I wanted to contribute another option that has worked well for us.  We have a hanging metal waterer which I like because the chickens don't poo in it and it stays relatively bedding free.  My husband glued a battery heater to the bottom of it and it keeps the H20 ice free and warm even when we have stretches of -40.  Not sure about the cost to operate it; our electricity is so expensive anyway I resigned myself to astronomical bills.

small crock pot.

 

[Mrs MIA]

So... everyone's birds survive this very long winter??? With minimal heat, I hope!!

 

[Alaskan]

So, I have been reading through this thread (but I will admit that I didn't get through all of the pages) and it made me wonder....

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY SET-UP????

I am in Homer, and we don't get anywhere near as cold as the rest of you'll ( but I am way up on the hill 1,300 something feet).

I have tried the traditional metal waterers sitting on a heated base. The bottom doesn't freeze since it is on the heater, but two or three inches up it freezes solid so that you can't slide the top up. Then after much frustrated banging the seams are busted and it no longer holds water.

I tried the heated dog water dishes but then the power went out for just a wee bit and the water in the dish froze solid as well as the dog bowl freezing solid to the ground. We tried pouring boiling water all over it, but by the time the water reaches the coop, it isn't so hot anymore, and now there is a large puddle that quickly forms an ice rink. Also, all of that kicking at the dog bowl to get it off of the frozen ground busted out the bottom of one bowl and pulled the heating coil off the bottom of the other. And the ones I bought, though expensive, were not able to thaw themselves free of their icy prison.

I ended up settling on the flexible horse feed tubs with a submersible water trough heater in it.

That works, since the heater is powerful enough that it can thaw everything if the power goes out and we have a solid ice block.

BUT, since it is a bowl, it gets messy, and has to be dumped out, rinsed out, and refilled at least every few days. The flexible plastic is very difficult to carry without splashing all of that nasty water on yourself and if the bowl isn't full enough, even with the heater, it gets ice chunks. I keep the water in a shed that connects the coop to the greenhouse, and by the end of the winter that shed is full of unmelted ice chunks and nasty icy spots (the shed has no outside exit, so you have to walk through the greenhouse or coop to get outside, way too much work for kids taking ice chunks out of a waterer). The kids do try to chunk most of the dirty water out of the little pop doors.

I wonder if it is just my location or something? I have a great big horse trough that freezes solid if the power is out for a few days. The horse trough is in a barn that has only one big door open, no drafts.

How do these other people manage with one light bulb? How does one light bulb keep the water liquid?

When we have had no electric in the coop the morning water is pretty frozen by noon. I can't imagine going out there and giving them water three or four times a day, bringing all of the bowls back in, then repeat on a regular basis.

 

[Alaskan]

I was reading through my post, wondering if I am just remembering the bad parts.....

But, the way we know that the horses have to be moved from the pasture up to the winter paddock, is when my son can no longer chop through the ice on the horse water trough. And that is always before Christmas, and it is a large black (supposed to be absorbing sunlight and heat, right?) thick plastic horse trough.

I don't know *shrug*

 

[Alaskan]

looks liek my chickens are doing good, looked int he coop and had 12 eggs! threw them out cause most were frozen or cracked, thats what i get for not checking the nesting box for a week! had 6 in the box and 6 in a corner of the coop....

They are just fine even after they are frozen. We get lots of frozen eggs *sigh*. The problem with frozen eggs, is that if you put them in the fridge, they start to thaw and then leak. So, it is best to use them right away. It it fun to fry them. They start out as an ice cube, but then finally melt down onto the pan and cook just great.

 

[Twister-n-Dos]

How do these other people manage

Our water heater worked great this winter (in Fairbanks).

Two cinder blocks on the floor of the coop, a 50 watt transmission pan heater and a 100 watt oil pan heater on top of those (next to each other and spaced a bit), and then two paver bricks on top of those. Chipped a little channel in the cinder blocks for the power cords to lay in. Metal fount sitting on top of that. The 50 watt would keep it thawed down to around 0, then I would switch to the 100. When it got really cold I would plug them both in. Started out with a thermo-cube, but removed that (never got warm enough for it cycle

) Frozen water was never a problem all winter.

Your avatar is great. Seen enough of that white stuff for awhile.

 

[Alaskan]

Twister, so both heaters are separated from the metal waterer by the pavers?

My brain boggles at the concept.

Can you post a picture of what it looks like under the waterer?

And how big of a waterer? that one looks like the smaller version, so it lasts how long for how many hens, and you only have the one waterer?

And your coop wall looks very well insulated, how cold does it get inside your coop?

Thank you so much for any help! I really want a better setup before next winter, so I am redoing lots of stuff.

And thanks for the avatar comment. I spent all today trying to keep my driveway from becoming a pond. All sorts of snow melt, but the ground is still rock solid, so digging trenches is very difficult, and the driveway ditches are still packed full of snow.

The kids did find two of my summer tires though, so the snow is melting. I think most of the snow pack is down to only one foot deep!

 

[Twister-n-Dos]

Twister, so both heaters are separated from the metal waterer by the pavers?

My brain boggles at the concept.

Can you post a picture of what it looks like under the waterer?

And how big of a waterer? that one looks like the smaller version, so it lasts how long for how many hens, and you only have the one waterer?

And your coop wall looks very well insulated, how cold does it get inside your coop?

Thank you so much for any help! I really want a better setup before next winter, so I am redoing lots of stuff.

And thanks for the avatar comment. I spent all today trying to keep my driveway from becoming a pond. All sorts of snow melt, but the ground is still rock solid, so digging trenches is very difficult, and the driveway ditches are still packed full of snow.

The kids did find two of my summer tires though, so the snow is melting. I think most of the snow pack is down to only one foot deep!

Here is what it looks like under the waterer.


And under the pavers:



Think heated slab. It is a thermal mass that radiates heat.

It is a two gallon fount. We had four birds in there this winter. Had to fill water once or twice a week.

The coop is well insulated. 2x6 construction, vapor barrier, good ventilation. Typical Alaskan construction. Temperature stayed between 0 and 15 above.

This is what worked for us. There are many different solutions that work for other people. Not trying to sell you on this idea, just sharing what we did.