Easy and almost free chicken coop!

[Trellinius]

Ventilation is a must, no matter what the temperature. I am at 44.5 latitude, many sub zero nights here, and ventilation is extremely important, even in such temp. extremes. If you don't have the ventilation to remove the moisture released by the bird's respiration and their poop, you are going to have a lot of moist air which will result in frost bite. Windows can be picked up for free, at least in my area. Ventilation can be provided without creating draft. Also, you run the risk of predator loss with the "summer version" of your coop. A weasel can squeeze through any opening you could push a quarter through. It's your coop, your flock and your decision.

Oh I am aware of the weasels! When I was a kid and had 50-60 chickens we were awakened in the middle of the night with such a raucus! My dad and I ran out to the chicken house, shotgun in hand, to find over 20 dead hens . . . and shortly thereafter one dead weasel. I will say say though, if that weasel had survived the "sudden and acute case of lead poisoning" he would have had a bit bigger hole to escape through! : )

I have not seen or heard of weasels in this area, but I plan to do something for the summer - had two black snakes (both over 5ft long) last summer. I am considering 1/4 hardware cloth or something similar for summer. *** I know it was two different snakes, not the same one twice, because they also each caught a bad case of sudden and acute lead poisoning...

 

[Mosey2003]

It's more likely that your rooster got some frostbite *because* your coop was so tight. They need that ventilation up high to draw the humid air out. Their breathing and pooping throughout the night create a surprising amount of humidity in the air, and humid air leads to frostbite.

Nice job on the coop though, very resourceful

Editing to add: I'm sorry, I don't know how this got bumped up for me to see it and read it, but I didn't mean to make a zombie thread, oops!

 

[flyin-lowe]

Curious now that some time has passed if you noticed a decrease in ticks. I know guineas are supposed to be great for ticks, I didn't know if chickens ate many ticks or not...

 

[paintedChix]

Yes, I realize that, but thank you. At the time I was just wanting something cheap and quick. I am always coming across material cheap or free. I have recently come upon a complete sheet of 3/8" plywood for next to nothing. So when the OSB is read to give way I will replace the floor with the plywood.
I am actually thinking about replacing some of he flooring with 1/4" square wire mesh. This would make cleaning a whole lot easier . . . though it would also make it cold in the winter. So still thinking on it...

1/4" mesh isn't large enough to let manure drop through. You can do 1" mesh on the floor, especially since you have the roosts up off of the floor. 1" mesh may be a special order, I'm not sure... Also, 1" mesh won't keep snakes out if they are an issue/problem. A racoon's arm may be able to fit threw as well - not sure about that. Also the "mesh" will need to be good HC, not just regular welded wire or chicken wire.

Love that you are doing this from almost totally recycled products! Thanks for sharing. I love seeing pallet builds almost as much as everything you can do with CP.

 

[paintedChix]

I appreciate your input, and if this were an actual chicken house where they were expected to spend much time, I would certainly include some ventilation. But a) they go in at dark and come out each morning (free range) so ventilation is not quite as important; and b) when winter nights get into single digits or lower and wind chills well below zero a lot of fresh air is not what anybody wants. In fact, my RIR Rooster got a bit of frost-bite on his comb even with the coop as tight as it is already. In the summer, I will be taking that siding off again and they will have plenty of ventilation through the pallet slats.

The "tightness" of your coop caused the frost bite. His own breath vapors couldn't escape through enough ventilation - causing it to "coalesce" around his comb thus causing frost bite. Open it up a bit for ventilation and you won't see the frost bite at all. If still worried about frost bite, you can put a jelly (some use pretroleum, some use an oil) on it to protect it.

The chickens can handle the cold much better than heat if protected from stray drafts. The lack of ventilation cause their breathing and vapors/steam from their "night plops" to give them frost bite. You can use the wire mesh on the floor and if worried about too much cold, can put a few hay or straw bales around the base or even underneath the coop to provide warmth as long as still have plenty of ventilation at the top of the coop (preferably all the way around) to let air go up and out.

As an example, we have "open air" hoop coops and last winter we had days of freezing rain/ice and sustained temps in the negatives. The birds in the hooped coops (cattle panel/tarps - not even all the way to ground) fared better than the ones in more enclosed coops (though plenty of ventilation). Our temps may not stay sustained that way as long as other parts of the country, but it still showed us a great comparison. I don't ever want to have an enclosed coop again, nor a solid floor if I have a raised coop that I can't walk in.

I have used card board on the inside of coops that didn't have tarps all the way down. This allowed a little more protection in the areas I strapped it up and when it disintegrated it dropped into the litter on the floor and became part of our DLM compost. The chickens did a great job of shredding it the rest of the way.

 

[paintedChix]

Currently our hoop coops are made with chicken wire. We are replacing the lower chicken wire with 1/2" hardware cloth where I have chicks and 1" hardware cloth where we have mature chickens.

I was in shock to find that the chickens can tear thru chicken wire, but so can our ponies whom have all suddenly found serious delight in tearing off portions of the chicken wire while trying to reach hanging feeders (chicken crumble is sooo much better than hay/pasture when the pony feed is gone - don't ya' know - ).

We will also have to completely fence off the chicken coops from the ponies. I guess they've finally gotten bored w/ no jobs here on this new property. Darn ponies...

 

[Trellinius]

Curious now that some time has passed if you noticed a decrease in ticks. I know guineas are supposed to be great for ticks, I didn't know if chickens ate many ticks or not...

Well,...before we had chickens I would go out in the evening and pick blackberries and come in with 45-50 ticks. But last summer I when I would go out to pick blackberries I would come in with 1 or 2 ticks, and on a few occasions no ticks at all! So yes, they are doing their job.
They earn their keep well enough just taking care of the ticks, but then they give the eggs as bonus too! A valuable asset to any homestead.

 

[Acre4Me]

The "tightness" of your coop caused the frost bite.

Mostly true, but not completely.

Ventilation IS key. Make sure that the moisture level is not higher inside than outside. And without ventilation the moisture from breathing, pooping, and any water can create the situation for frostbite.

However, more than one BYCer has a frostbitten chicken due to the nasty winter, the polar vortexes, the extreme windchills (if chickens ventured out), and the extremely low temps this year. In my area of OH, we had -36F windchills, high winds over a long sustained period, straight temps to -12F at least. We have a draft free coop that is well ventilated, but the single comb rooster will loose 4 tips to frostbite. A couple of chickens with smaller single combs have a touch of frostbite too. So, frostbite can occur even in a well ventilated and draft free coop.

 

[aart]

Well,...before we had chickens I would go out in the evening and pick blackberries and come in with 45-50 ticks. But last summer I when I would go out to pick blackberries I would come in with 1 or 2 ticks, and on a few occasions no ticks at all! So yes, they are doing their job.

UHG!! That's a lot of ticks.
Curious @Trellinius , where are you located and how is that coop working out?

So, frostbite can occur even in a well ventilated and draft free coop.

Yes, indeed it can!