It was 30 degrees outside today but it was 109.7 degrees inside.

Houses should be build like this....well, kinda.  Free heat, lots of it.  Yet in summer it will be as cool as under the shade of a tree (Reflective insulated covering).  Inside, the coop will be even cooler with free "air conditioning".               (30F = -1C,... 109.7F = 43C)

This is the first winter for my new aviary addition. The Chickens and Pigeons love it. It's safe, dry and warm. They love to take dirt baths and they lounge around laying in the warm sun like tourists on a beach. They're free to go outside, but prefer inside.

Whenever the aviary is over 50 degrees a thermostat turns on a fan to draw surplus heat inside to the insulated coop to warm it so the coop will remain warm all night long (free). The pigeon nests near the top are the warmest...the sand floor (about 85F degrees, 30C ) acts a bit like a heat sync during the day so at night the aviary is always about 10-15 degrees warmer than ambient, the inside coop remains well above freezing. It's all free heat. Even on cloudy days it's about 15-20 degrees above ambient.  On those minus 40 degree nights a tiny elec heater (40w hair curler) keeps the coop above freezing. The elec bill for all winter is less than $5. 

  
For more information click on Coop Design (temporarily disabled)

Bert’s coop works so well. It’s –20F outside tonight with a wind chill of –40F but...

Bert’s coop works so well. It’s –20F outside tonight with a wind chill of –40F but the coop is 35F and the nests are 45F, with NO external heat supply. Just heat from the Chickens. with a tiny exhaust fan to keep the humidity down to 50%. By morning it would be a bit colder so just for overnight Ace put in a 80watt hair curler to supplement heat just for tonight. Today it was –5F, but the solar powered aviary was 65F and 100+ in the sun, which warms up the coop too... All for free. In Summer the coop stays 4 degrees cooler than the outside temp. These are some lucky Chickens.