Cold Weather Chickens

[RoosterRules]

My coop thermometer was reading -32 C/-25 F last night. Cold enough for my rabbits to stay in the earth. I think the best thing I did for the chickens was lowering their roosting bar to open up more vents. My coop is essentially just a sanctuary from predators and a wind break. Other than that, it is the same as outside. I get two (frozen) eggs a day from my five hens right now. One of the Brahmas has a paler comb in extreme cold than the others, she is also the smallest.

 

[Howard E]

One person asked to see some "how to" pictures of construction techniques. This is how I did the metal siding and insulation on the Victory House....



The red metal siding will get hot as blazes in the summer sun, and will radiate heat out of the building in winter. Very durable, rat proof siding and roofing, but horrible with heat management. The 1/2" of foil faced polyiso insulation board solves that problem. By leaving the 1 1/2" gap between outside of framing and inside of house, an air pocket is created that is what the insulation needs to work properly. The white roof does not have the heat issue problem. This house only has 1 1/2" of dead space in the walls that is protected from rodent entry by the metal siding. So hopefully not nearly as hospitable for them as a 3 1/2" wall filled with fiberglass batt insulation.

To keep the birds from pecking at the insulation, I lined the house with cheap 3/8" plywood.

Now as to the windows........would make a good experiment to try this house with NO windows. Make the front of the house wide open....about the same area as where the white metal vents cover. To make it draft free, make it a minimum of 1.5X or better yet, 2X deep as it is wide. With no vents in the back, that will kill the wind in the back to a whisper. So for a small flock of 4 to 6 birds, 4' x 8' elevated, mono slope coop. Make floor out of ground contact pressure treated wood. On the front part, right under the windows, I might leave a bit of a gap to let any rain or snow melt drain....but there won't be much if there is no ventilation in back. And of course regardless of how you do it, open side faces south. Always south into the winter sun.

For a larger coop, 6' wide x 10 to 12' deep, etc. But now we are into Woods House sizes and go with that instead.

 

[Howard E]

One thing that often gets overlooked with winter housing is the practical aspect of it. 100 years ago, folks didn't raise chickens for the fun of it. They were to make money. And as one guy put it, all the profit was in WINTER eggs, which were scarce if the birds shut down for the winter.......and worth a whole lot more than eggs later in the year when all the birds kicked in. A supply and demand situation.

So a lot of though went into those historical chicken house designs to see to it the birds kept going. That meant ideal housing and they did a whole lot of research into what it took to keep them going. Lucky for us, it was all put down on paper so we can do the same thing.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/historic-chicken-house-info.1142519/

If your birds are now struggling to survive, or you are just now thinking of housing for a future flock, this is where I would suggest you start.

 

[Molpet]

I currently have cattle panel hoop coops covered in 'clear' tarps.
3 are 8x8 and one is 8x 24. The big one was -10 this morning on the north end, south end is open. -23f outside wc -51 .. no air movement since the wind was out of the west.
the smaller ones have 1/3 of the south covered in plastic in the winter. felt a little colder in those, no thermometer in them
I am thinking about putting a 8x8 victory style on the north end of one of the small coops... most of the south side of the victory would be open, where it connects to the hoop.
I ran out of cattle panels and have 20 sheets of 5/8 siding LOL ... hopefully this old woman can still handle getting plywood up on a roof LOL

 

[brendave]

My 6×10 Woods was -5F, humidity 36% inside this am. Outside temp -22F with windchill -31F. Both of my BOs combs are frostbite hard. The tips were slightly bit a few days ago. I don't think they tuck their heads at night. There is absolutely no air movement at the back of the coop and it's pretty noticeable how much warmer it is inside with no drafts. I'm debating a heating pad on the wall near the roost though. That frostbite looks awful.