One of the biggest challenges living off grid is keeping things from freezing. Eggs are a staple for us, so how do we keep the eggs from freezing when winter temperatures can get well below -40C?
It is surprising to learn that chickens give off a lot of heat. Get enough bodies into a building and they can easily keep the temperature within the building well above freezing temperatures. Of course there is a balance as you don't want to over crowd them otherwise you stress your chickens and they then start to eat eggs, peck at each other or even resort to cannibalism. As with everything out here, finding the balance is the key!
We started by building a coop / barn that could retain the heat well for the animals. We poured a cement pad so that the building had access to the thermal mass of the earth. That helps cool them in the summer and keep them warm in winter.
15x15 coop with 4x6 timber walls. 4 feet in the back, 7 feet in the front
Then we milled 4x6 timbers using spruce trees from the land and built a cabin style structure with a low sloping roof. The back of the coop is only about 4 feet tall and the front is about 7. With the low roof there is less space to heat, making it easier for the birds to keep the space warm. The warm, moist air then flows up the ceiling to the front of the coop so that it can be vented outside. It gets very wet in the coop during winter, so we need to vent that moisture outside to help keep the chickens healthy.
We put two doors so that we can split the coop into two if necessary.
The doors can be sealed up in the winter or open during the summer. If there is a nice warm winter day, we will let them out to get some sunshine. But around here, it is cold, so most days they stay inside. We have a light in the barn to give them 16 hours of light. Anything less and egg production will diminish. Because we only get about 7 hours during the winter, it is important that we augment their light and a timer helps us do that very well.
The older chickens should be finished their molt by now, so egg production increases and we are set for a long winter of content chickens.
Barred rock chickens with Muscovy ducks. Picture is cloudy due to humidity hitting cold air when I opened the door.
Chickens don't actually need nice accommodations like this to 'survive'. They can survive in extreme cold weather. However, don't expect any eggs, expect higher feed consumption and they may freeze their combs. Not a good combination for the birds. Keeping them in a building is much more humane and you will have much happier chickens. But if it freezes in the coop, that is okay. They can handle cold temperatures. If the eggs freeze then they can be thawed to eat. That is not a big deal. Just hard to sell to your neighbour if you want to make a little cash on the side.
My doors have cracks to vent out the warm moist air. The moisture then condenses on the roof when it is really cold.
On a solar system, running a small light bulb is something that we can do. Anything more would be out of our capability. So we let the chickens do all the work and they don't mind at all. We keep about 60 - 80 birds in this coop. Any more and I think it would be too crowded. We empty the manure a few times during the winter to help remove humidity. If the coop starts to stink, we add carbon (hay/straw/leaves) and that helps keep the ammonia smells under control. Rule of thumb: If manure stinks, you don't have enough carbon! Sames goes with the humanure toilet in the house!
