Chickens in the greenhouse?

[luvbugz]

We live in Kansas and are new to the world of chickens. We have a large greenhouse we would like to house our chickens in but are concerned about both hot and cold weather. Can anyone offer suggestions as to the merits of this idea? Thanks

 

[Celtic Chick]

Bad idea! Before I had gotten chickens, I too thought a greenhouse might be a good coop. But after buying one & having it for a very short time, I realized the error. Luckily I didn't have any chickens yet.
Greenhouses get too gosh-awful hot in the sun! And they have absolutely no insulation at all. The birds might as well be outside in the winter.
Look at the coop designs on this site for lots of great ideas, and good luck!

 

[flocksalot]

Well over the summer you would want to have some very good shade cloth

or heavy tarp and have it heavily vented. Chickens, at least mine, will eat the plastic, so you should run chicken wire on the inside. Usually up just a couple of feet, and no thats not how you get plastic easter eggs. I heat mine over the winter with a wood stove so the girls can bask in the heat. Ding dongs still run out in 0 degrees to see if that horse turd is willing to give up a bit of grain.

Most of mine don't live in the greenhouse. I do have 2 small coops set up within, and I keep any young ones in there. They all have access through a chick door to run in and out. Most of the time they prefer out. I find that chickens can handle some pretty cold temps up here in WI, so where you are at should be a breeze. You could check out Farmtek and see what they have for set ups or just check out the Salingers. They have a pretty big operation and use greenhouse hoop houses for coops. That's pretty much what I did (checked em out and applied my own ideas). The only things that are really inportant is making sure you provide plenty of fresh air and not to over heat them. The other thing you could do is use part of the green house as a coop and part of it as a run if you don't want them running hear and there. You just build a simple coop, add some nest boxes, water, food, gravel, oyster shell, and cover the run area with wire. Seen it done up pretty nice. I think they kept quail or pheasants in there.

 

[chickencoop13]

i have a friedn who has a greenhouse for his goats and he sectioned off 4 feet wide and roughly 40 feet long withs roosts feeders waterers and nst boxes and he houses 2-4 dozen barred rock layers in their they dont have a run and they have been fine for 2 years laying for his small egg buisness

 

[mmaddie's mom]

I know my chickens love to scratch around in my greenhouse.

 

[flocksalot]

Quote:
I think I got the name wrong.

I think it's Salantine or some version of that. I woke up and realized I gave the wrong name. Musta been bed time.

 

[patandchickens]

You are thinking of Joel Salatin.

The thing is it isn't exactly a greenhouse he uses, and it is still IMO not the best situation for the chickens.

Chickens are very susceptible to heat (they have a lot of trouble over 90-95 F especially when humid) and in winter a humid atmosphere tends to cause frostbite at not-very-cold temperatures (whereas well chosen breeds are quite cold hardy in DRY air). Also huge daily temperature swings in winter are not great for them either.

If this is like a hoophouse thing that you can have one or both entire ends open, you *might* be able to get it to work acceptably well, with sufficient extra summer shade; but it is not the ideal or easiest setup.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat