Cobwebs in the chicken coop...

[TeamChaos]

Every time I clean out my coops, I sweep big heavy cobwebs down from the roof and I think about the advice I read early on in my chicken keeping- "if there are cobwebs in your coop, you don't have enough ventilation". I haven't had a problem in my coops and I'm vigilant that the bedding stays fresh but I can't help but wonder if that's still a good rule of thumb or maybe an old wives' tale. Any insight is appreciated.

 

[fried green eggs]

I think its a old wives tale. I set up two temp chicken pens in two horse stalls in our lean-to. Very airy and I have never had many cobwebs in this area before. Now that I put 1"netting across the top of the stalls - the space between the roof and the netting is filled with cobwebs like, tons of them. There are NO cobwebs in the stalls where chickens are.

 

[mandelyn]

I've never heard that!

Tell it to my crazy big wolf spiders that inhabit the coop. Their "cob webs" are made with super glue it seems like, and I doubt hurricane winds could knock them down. I won't knock them down, knowing that down that tunnel is a quarter sized or bigger spider. But they help out, so I leave them.

 

[yinepu]

Not enough ventilation?... uhm... I have hoop coops AND have cobwebs in them.. the only way my chickens could have more ventilation would be for them to be roosting out under the trees... and even then I think the little ol tarp i have covering the back and top of the hoop coop is pretty much the same as a nice canopy of trees... lol

so yeah.. that's an old wives tale.. even back when my mother had a traditional coop she STILL had cobwebs out in the chicken run.. and that was just poultry netting with no cover at all...

 

[debid]

Storey's, right? There are a few bits of nonsense in that one. I mean, spiders make webs in any slightly protected space outside that they can find and you can't get more ventilated that being outdoors.

You could kill the spiders with something toxic or you can just sweep the webs away sometimes. I vote for occasional sweeping.

 

[CooperHillPoultry]

I have 1 wolf spider hanging out below the window of my coop, and several unidentified spiders wreaking havoc on the inside of the coop. I use a shop vac to suck out the webs from inside, and I've just about given up on trying to scare away Fred the wolf spider. Every time I get close enough to "dispose" of him, he darts inside his webby tunnel and scoots behind the siding on the coop. I've finally just decided to yell at him whenever he builds his web across the gate to the chicken run and otherwise leave him be. Fly numbers are down with him there, so as long as he doesn't jump on me when I'm going through the gate, we'll be just fine. I'm hoping he takes care of the assassin bugs this year, too. Those buggers hurt when they bite.