How do you Keep Your Coop Warm in the Winter, and Cool in the Summer?

I live in Utah, I am in the process of building a coop at the moment. For those of you who don't know, Utah can get REALLY cold in winter usually getting in the high twenties and 1-3 of snow, SOMETIMES (sometimes) reaching temperatures below zero. Also, it gets REALLY REALLY hot in summer, almost always reaching the high 90s (or higher!) it feels like the sun is going to kill you the whole time.

The chickens I am going to get are going to be more heat resilient, because it's more hot then cold. But they are all going to be standard size and they're still gonna have feathers. I have heard that heat is worse for chickens then cold. I know to add ventilation, but are they're any other ways to keep them cool in summer and warm in winter? And will ventilation make it colder in winter.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, good day!

Ventilation will keep your chickens warm in winter. Just don't have any breeze blowing directly on the birds. Most of my ventilation is just under the eaves of the coop while my roosts are just 22 inches off the floor. Think of it this way. A dry chicken is a warm chicken. Chickens make a lot of humidity with breathing and pooing. So you need to get that moisture out or the chickens may get frostbite. I also have my run covered with a tarp and the sides covered with clear shower curtains except on one side that gets no wind. This gives the girls a nice, wind free place to go out into during the day. Food and water is kept outside in the run. I'm in northern Montana and my girls do just fine, even when the temperature is below 0. This year I am also getting some straw. It will be spread outside the run on top of the snow so that they'll get out of the run sometimes.

People do lots of things to help keep chickens cool in summer. I have shallow pans I fill with water. The girls like to stand in the water to cool off. You can also freeze pieces of watermelon to feed them. In Arizona some of the chicken owners use misters that come on for a few minutes at a time during the day.

KatyushaB said:

I live in Utah,, Utah can get REALLY cold in winter usually getting in the high twenties and 1-3 of snow, SOMETIMES (sometimes) reaching temperatures below zero. Also, it gets REALLY REALLY hot in summer, almost always reaching the high 90s (or higher!) it feels like the sun is going to kill you the whole time.

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I am subject to -40º weather l live in Canada think North Pole. I have been keeping chickens and birds for decades.

Your best practice I find is to not be too concerned about winterizing or heating your coop to help your birds combat the cold.

Predator proofing "ABSOLUTELY".

Your efforts should be spent in winterizing your birds and letting them acclimatize to their surroundings.
This is done by feeding them whole corn as an added supplement in a separate feeder.

The extra nourishment is more then adequate to bring them through the

"COLDEST" winter.

Do keep an eye open for birds that maybe not be adapting well to the new menu and may be at the lower end of the pecking order they can sometimes run into problems and may need extra TLC.

That being said in a perfect world the flock will flourish and do just fine .

I do not add any extra heat or lighting.
Egg production does slack off but I have more than enough eggs for the table all winter long (24 hens).

Some people may disagree with my method but it has worked well for me and I am not about to change.

I look at it in the same light as winterizing your car.

You really do

"NOT"


have to winterize your car if you can keep it in a controlled environment at all times otherwise you are in for

"MAJOR" problems.

When it comes to lighting if you find you are short on eggs it does apparently help. I personally do not bother in my operation eggs are sold only to neighbours when they are available (if the sign is out I have eggs). Eggs in my operation have a tendency to crack and freeze during the winter months (we do not discard them and are fine but use them in house not for sale) the more eggs you produce during these months the more eggs will fall into this category.

I have roughly 24 Golden Comet hens the longest I ever been out of eggs can be measured in hours >12<24. You will find that the egg supply in any hen is a finite resource the quicker you milk the eggs out of a hen the faster it will be spent and end up in your stew pot.

On average one hen produces somewhere between 600 to 700 eggs in its life time. Lighting only effect the speed of delivery of the eggs which at the end of the day would amount to less than a year in the hens life is my guess

If you do decide extra lighting is necessary have your light on a timer to lengthen the day "MAKE SURE IT IS SECURED BY 2 MEANS OF SUPPORT" one being a "SAFETY CHAIN" in case one fails especially if it is an incandescent bulb or heat lamp.

I personally raise hens as a hobby; and for their manure to enrich my vegetable garden any thing else the hens provide is merely a bonus.

Here is one BONUS NOW not many people can enjoy seeing in their back yard on a regular basis.



Nest boxes
In my nest boxes I fold a feed bag to fit (nest boxes are 1 ft³). When a bag gets soiled; fold a new one; pop out the soiled; pop in the new. Feed bags are a nylon mesh bag.
Frozen poop just peels off in below freezing temperatures and just flakes off in summer when left out in the sun to bake and dry.

I have 65 trips around the sun it is the best method I have stumbled upon.

Make sure the twine is removed from the open end of the bag it can get tangled around your birds.