Will coop made out of 1/2" plywood be good enough in winter?

[cmom]

As long as their water doesn't freeze they should be ok. You can buy a heater base for the metal waterers. These is some of my brother's flock. He lives in northern Michigan. He doesn't have a coop. The birds have hay in the barn.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

cmom thank you. I have a large coop, but I have too many birds. I need to seperate some to keep everyone happy. I made a 4x6 coop and it is so heavy you can't budge it.
These will still be mostly fixed but at least they can be moved a bit easier if needed. I figure 4-5 of them over the winter as a project.

Thank you for helping everyone. I love your ideas. I think I will use some of everyones. Like the hay or straw bales and I had never thought of making warm oatmeal or scratch for them.

Heated waterers and 2x4 roosts are definetly going in too! The chickens in the snow makes me smile.

 

[McGoo]

I think the hay bales would insulate great from the outside. I would close up any vents too!
I live in NY and I have a fully insulated coop which is really helpful in single digits.

I do know many farmers in VT who don't insulate and their chickens are fine.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Thanks, I am feeling better about the plans. I am going to build a few, try the helpful suggestions and put the chickens with peacombs in there first.
Then I will monitor and keep fingers crossed.

 

[numamahen]

I'm in Minnesota - need I say more about temperature challenges. Last winter I had four banties. Our coop has only insulation in the roof, we did deep bedding (6-8 in) last winter & also a heated pet bowl for water. the birds did well - we did have frost bite on the roo's combs, I learned about vaseline on combs & waddles. I now have 23 golden laced wyandottes with rose combs, supposed to be cold resistant. The word I have heard is to keep them out of the wind, cold isn't as big of a concern. Of course, good ventilation, fresh water and we do give them warm mash made with their feed, apple sauce, lettuce, grapes, yogurt & of course some warm water. They pick the grapes & purple lettuce first & then the rest. So far, they have continued to lay - 12 eggs today. Last winter, we did have trouble with bantie eggs freezing because the hens wouldn't lay on eggs. These are different tho - however, my broodie doesn't seem to be broody any more. so we will see if we can keep the eggs from freezing. I don't want to "heat" however, we did use a red heat lamp when it was zero or below last year. Much to learn!! but I love my girls!

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Ohhh Minnesota is cold!!! Good to know that yours did fine other than the frostbite. One thing I am wondering about though is if I put a heat bulb in on cold nights will the light bother them and keep them from a good sleep?

 

[LynneP]

I'm a fan of insulation and not keen on a heating lamp because of fire hazard...another option is to baffle the wind with a roof and snow boards on your run, which I assume would be small? Or even to put styrofoam panels on the outside of the coop (depends on your layout), provided the chickens can't get at it.Some folks use 6 ml vinyl or even vapor seal for the walls. Some thoughts in the winter link below-

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Thank you Lynne I will check them out

 

[patandchickens]

The USDA plant hardiness zone maps indicate that even the warmest parts of Idaho (sorry, too lazy to google where Star, ID is exactly

) can be expected to get down to 0 F or colder in a typical winter; about half the state is more comparable to the temps we get up here (down to -20 F or colder in a typical year).

I am concerned that those airport temps may be *daily averages*, i.e. averaging the high and low temperatures. FOr instance if it gets up to 35 during the day and down to 5 at night, the average temperature for that day would be 20 F, but what you need to PLAN FOR as far as your coop goes is 5 F.

I dunno, I drove through Idaho once for a few hours but that's it

, just saying it's something to check into before committing to a situation where the temps better *not* get below 20 F (even at night) very often!

BTW, DO NOT CLOSE UP VENTS FOR THE WINTER!!! (suggested in one post above), that is how to give your birds frostbite at really quite mild temperatures! I am not saying there might not come some night when there is a horrible very cold blizzard howling when you do close things up most or all of the way, but in general you NEED THOSE VENTS OPEN (somewhat, the downwind-side ones anyhow) to prevent humidity buildup that will cause frostbite without serious cold temps.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Georgiapea]

I'm a big fan of 'straw houses'. I've made a totally straw enclosure putting a sheet of plywood on top of the bales and then placing more bales over that. The straw bales can be used to make an entry that is protected from wind too.

Georgia in Alabama