Anyone use heating registers for coop ventilation?

[MelindaK]

My husband is thinking of using heater registers for coop ventilation. Anyone using these? Just wondering how it worked out.

 

[Doopy]

As long as you put several down low and several up high they should work just fine. You could close some as the weather turns cold. I don't think that I would ever close the top ones though as coops need lots of ventilation in the winter too. You might think about putting some screen on each one to slow down the bug population - but chickens love to eat the bugs. It's the super-tiny ones that cause problems. Let's see some pics.

 

[patandchickens]

The problem is they are really too darn small to be of much use in anything but the tiniest coop. Also they will eventually rust (i.e. weaken).

You would be much better off making LARGER openings, with a flap or slider to cover it as much as conditions required.

With a generously large opening(s) high on the wall(s), and other openings for summertime use (I do not personally recommend low-on-the-wall vents, as they cause a whirlwind of bedding in windy conditions and do not actually perform any better than window or half-open-wall type arrangements), you should be in good shape. Remember it is better to have the opening too large and keep it part-closed in winter, than to have it turn out to be inadequately small and yo have to saw more holes in your coop

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[mdbokc]

Yep, I would stay away from the vents down low as well. The grill work in the register vents dramatically lower the capacity of the vent to move air. In other words, a 4 x 10 inch opening is really not a 4 x 10 inch opening for ventilation purposes. Have fun and good luck.

 

[MelindaK]

Thanks. He hasn't put them in. He may just cut out from top and put hard wire on top. Hubby is carpenter, he firgued the heating registers would look better

We can still take them back.

Right now coop is brooder/coop. So for ventilation during day is the laying box with the lid down and chicken wire over it. (I'm worried too cold at night since all my chickens have not feathered all out).

 

[CityChook]

How big is your coop?
Below is a shot of a small coop, 4x4 that we built last fall. We used a stainless steel heat register on one side, with 4" holes on the opposite side. It has worked fine with only 3 hens.

I used air intake vents on my large coop. They are 10x10 and I put two of them in the gable. They work great and look good too (cuz I'm a ding dong that way - I care about how it looks). I got them at Home Depot in white. If you have an active critter population, you might want to consider putting hardware wire on the inside of the vent - I don't know how strong the metal is and a large vent could potentially be bent to allow access for a predator. And keep it up high over your chickens heads if you can to reduce draft, especially if it's cold where you live.

 

[Tecalli]

I have one of those Shaker style 4x4 coops for my three hens. I love the coop but when the weather turned cold we realized we needed to add more ventilation. We cut out two openings one two side at the top of the coop, near the roof peaks, and used heating registers to cover the holes. They worked great over the winter. I was able to always keep them open but rain and snow didn't get into the coop.

 

[MelindaK]

Quote:
Actually our coop looks like yours and is your size. Hummmmm