Chicken warmth

[rosemarythyme]

It’s a small coop 12x8 (?) the entry door is open (no cover)

Definitely could use a few more vents. I'd consider putting a gable vent front and back under the peaks of the roof, to start.

 

[aart]

12x8 (?)

I'd guess more like 4x6, get your tape measure out.
Take some pics of the inside of coop.

 

[3KillerBs]

What part of NC?

I'm in the Sandhills and can be quite confident that my chickens can cope with anything winter could possibly throw at us as long as I keep them dry, well-ventilated, and out of the wind.

This is my coop. Notice the generous ventilation, 5 square feet of 24/7/365 vents that are never closed plus another 1+ square feet through the pop door during the daytime.

The blue overhead is a picnic fly that I put in place to provide shade this summer but which also serves to keep the rain off an area of the pen (we only get enough snow to endanger a picnic fly about once in 5 years).

My intent for the larger, permanent coop that will be built this winter is to use the "open air" concept -- essentially a large, hardened run with one end sheltered but not closed in. This is because for NC outside of the mountains the season of danger for our chickens is not winter but summer with it's brutal heat and humidity.

This is my winterizing thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/winterizing-coop-and-pen-nc-sandhills-version.1431885/

Basically, plenty of fresh, dry bedding and straw bales arranged so that they can get out of the wind.

 

[jreardon1918]

We are a bit north of you. Maybe 800 miles give or take. Just outside of Boston. No heat used to heat the coop. We do use a stock tank heater to keep the water liquid. The girls were outside this morning in 25F weather. A bit of snow in the air.