Winter roost hood? Or other ideas?

[leighks]

We converted an existing 16 foot x 18 foot outbuilding into our chicken coop (it’s about 10 ft high, maybe 12 ft at the peak of roof). It’s great for our 6 chickens to have so much indoor room, but now that their 1st winter is approaching, I’m concerned that the large size of the coop won’t retain any warmth or keep their body heat close to them.

I have read about ventilation and eliminating drafts, which we have done, and I plan on putting a tarp around the north and west sides of the run where the wind is harshest. I have seen 1 picture of a winter roost hood online, but I can’t seem to find any directions on materials and constructing one. I’m thinking that would be good to install over their night roosting area to help keep the warmth they generate near them and not dissapate so quickly. Has anyone made a roosting hood, and if so, can you provide directions? Or if anyone has additional recommendations on how to keep chickens warm over the winter (without electricity) I would love to hear them. We live near Buffalo, NY so yeah we get cold and snow!

 

[JackE]

Unless you have some kind of thinly feathered, exotic breed, don't worry about the chickens getting cold. They are built to handle the cold. Between their feathers, and high body temp, they can more than handle. It's much better, by far, to have a bigger coop, than some of the shoeboxes, that are sold out there. Do not shut off the coop's ventilation/fresh air flow, in a misguided attempt, to "KeepThemWarm". Forget about building some kind of roost hood. All you are going to end up doing, is possibly trapping moisture on the birds, and get them frostbit. They generate mass humidity, just from breathing. They don't need to have that trapped and contained, where they sleep. Again, don't worry about them getting cold. Don't add any heat (Outside of keeping their water supply unfrozen), they will be fine.

 

[GinaNew York]

Jack do you keep water in the coop all winter 24/7 or do you take it out at night and bring it back in in the a.m.?

 

[JackE]

Jack do you keep water in the coop all winter 24/7 or do you take it out at night and bring it back in in the a.m.?

Yes, The water stays in the coop year round, 24/7. I have a cookie tin heater to keep it un-frozen, in the winter.

 

[leighks]

Unless you have some kind of thinly feathered, exotic breed, don't worry about the chickens getting cold. They are built to handle the cold. Between their feathers, and high body temp, they can more than handle. It's much better, by far, to have a bigger coop, than some of the shoeboxes, that are sold out there. Do not shut off the coop's ventilation/fresh air flow, in a misguided attempt, to "KeepThemWarm". Forget about building some kind of roost hood. All you are going to end up doing, is possibly trapping moisture on the birds, and get them frostbit. They generate mass humidity, just from breathing. They don't need to have that trapped and contained, where they sleep. Again, don't worry about them getting cold. Don't add any heat (Outside of keeping their water supply unfrozen), they will be fine.

Ok That makes sense, anything that would trap heat would trap moisture too. Will definitely leave the vents open, we put some up on all 4 sides as high as possible, I don’t want anyone getting frostbite.

I guess I have to remember what feels cold to me isn’t necessarily cold to them.

 

[aart]

We converted an existing 16 foot x 18 foot outbuilding into our chicken coop (it’s about 10 ft high, maybe 12 ft at the peak of roof).

I would love to see pics of this inside and out.
Your 'coop' link is not working.
Check out mine, coop is in 16x16 building.

Don't think you'd need a heated hood....but I throw a large pieces of cardboard on the 7' mesh ceiling of coop over the roosts to keep any drafts from the close by eave vents from blowing on them,

 

[NotSoChickenLove]

When my chickens were facing their first winter, I had the same concerns, but everyone here told me that a happy chicken was a dry chicken. They're far more susceptible to damp than cold. I did go and check on several cold nights, and when you put your fingers down in their feathers, they're very warm at the skin. Focus more on the coop being draft free and dry.

 

[leighks]

Here is the inside of the coop. They prefer to roost near the window. The roof of the coop is no where near the roost, so I’m concerned they are in too open of a space to keep their body heat around them well.

I believe we have sealed up any cracks that could cause drafts, and the vents are up as high as possible (they always stay open) at least 5 ft high for the lowest ones and 12 ft for the higher ones. I do plan on putting plastic over the windows before the snow flies.

I haven’t looked into the cost of insulation yet, but may consider insulating the roof. Last night it got down to an unseasonable low temp of 38, and the low temp recorded inside of the coop was also 38.

 

[leighks]

Here’s a pic of the outside too- cinderblock and concrete slab foundation, all wood exterior with metal roof, 3 windows, 6 vents- the big ones 16”x 16”and the smaller ones 12”x14”, with vents on all sides of coop.

 

[JackE]

You have an awesome coop, that a lot of people here can only dream of having. Do not waste any time and money, on insulation. The birds already come perfectly insulated, and they really don't need any help from us. Don't worry about them generating enough heat, to heat the building. They will totally generate enough heat for themselves, easily. Take a look at my coop, in the avatar. The whole front wall is wide open. Covered only with hardware cloth. We've had winters with temps down to -10 or so (Not including any windchill) and my birds have not had any problems with it at all. Coops like that, back in the day, were in use all the way up into Canada, in -40 temps.

If you install insulation in the coop, you will have to install interior walls. And then, you will have given mice. rats, various insect pests, and really, who knows what else, a perfect out of view place to set up house for themselves. You do not want that in a coop. You want to be able to see every inch of the interior of the coop. So if anything is creeping around in there that don't belong, you can do something about it.

If you get more birds in the future, you will probably have to increase the fresh air flow/ventilation for the coop. But for now, you really don't have to do anything, they will be fine.