Alaska cold proof coop?

[Aoide]

Hi all, I'm looking into possibly raising quail for eggs and am having trouble finding alaska specific info so I made an account to ask here.

I see lots of posts saying it's not necessary to heat coops normally due to fire risk, but I'm in interior AK where the winters routinely get to be -30F to-40F for long stretches of time and I feel like just insulation won't cut it. Does anyone know good coop designs that can be adapted for extreme weather in colder months? How hardy are quail anyways?

I'm researching different coop layouts and am interested what a good setup is, I know there's folks around town with chickens and quail so someone must have figured it out. Still early in the information gathering stage so any related beginner tips are welcome.

 

[FeatheredFriends&Horses2]

Hi all, I'm looking into possibly raising quail for eggs and am having trouble finding alaska specific info so I made an account to ask here.

I see lots of posts saying it's not necessary to heat coops normally due to fire risk, but I'm in interior AK where the winters routinely get to be -30F to-40F for long stretches of time and I feel like just insulation won't cut it. Does anyone know good coop designs that can be adapted for extreme weather in colder months? How hardy are quail anyways?

I'm researching different coop layouts and am interested what a good setup is, I know there's folks around town with chickens and quail so someone must have figured it out. Still early in the information gathering stage so any related beginner tips are welcome.

Welcome to BYC! First I'd like to say that I don't own quail and I live in Nebraska, so I'm by no means an expert. One thing I do know is with chickens, if it's going to get COLD, you want to put as much straw or shavings in their sleeping area as possible. This makes less air they have to heat with they're little bodies. Make the sleeping area as small as you safely can without running into pecking and bullying issues and insulate like crazy. Sorry, I know that probably isn't super helpful, but hopefully someone who has quail and more experience with very cold climates will chime in!

 

[aart]

I know there's folks around town with....... quail so someone must have figured it out.

Can you ask them?
That would be your best bet.

You might ask in your state chat thread, tho it looks like it's not so active:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/north-to-alaska.84141/page-100

 

[Uicungaq]

I see lots of posts saying it's not necessary to heat coops normally due to fire risk, but I'm in interior AK where the winters routinely get to be -30F to-40F for long stretches of time and I feel like just insulation won't cut it. Does anyone know good coop designs that can be adapted for extreme weather in colder months? How hardy are quail anyways?

So I'm in the Valley and just got through my first winter with my 1roo and 4 hen quail. I mainly put a lot of straw in the bottom of the hutch, along with the walls being insulated but it was a third hand hutch I got and was kinda falling apart with all the moving around so not the best R-value. But I did run a light out to them and left it turned on all the time. I believe it was just a 75 watt bulb. keeping the water from freezing I found to be the bigger challenge. i think next winter I'm going to get a heated bowl. I don't know the fire hazards though so I'll have to look into that. But I think the heated bowl might help with keeping them warm as well.

 

[Rapptors]

Where are you planning to get your starter quail from? We’re in Valdez - if you need to split an order definitely reach out to me.

I’m mostly interested in quail for their eggs ... We’ve raised meat chickens in the past so we’ve never wintered over birds ourselves. Hatching seems a little daunting to me!

I have lupus. Apparently quail eggs don’t cause the immune response that chicken & Duck eggs do but they are cost prohibitive to buy here. That’s my motivation.