Heat in Winter

[Alaskan]

What do you do for ventilation? We live in Wyo and have never had a problem with frostbite or comb problems nor losing a hen to the cold -however we are building a new coop and my husband is going back and forth about insulation. In our old coop I believe he had used cardboard for insulation and they had straw and shavings in their coop. He is now considering fiberglass insulation between the plywood wall and yucca board "paneling". We are now considering sand for bedding but don't know how well this will work in Wyo as well!

Insulation can be a good thing (but not necessary) if you have lots of wind... from the very short times I have been in Wyoming... there was lots of wind.

If you do put insulation in, be very careful about setting it up since ridents love to make huge homes in insulation.

The only coop I put insulation into has a layer of hardware cloth sandwiched in between the frame and outside cladding on the bottom and up 2 feet. It has been successful in keeping out rodents.

Anyway... with lots of wind, it is nice if all winter ventilation is on only one side of the coop, like in an open air Woods style coop.

 

[wamtazlady]

What do you do for ventilation? We live in Wyo and have never had a problem with frostbite or comb problems nor losing a hen to the cold -however we are building a new coop and my husband is going back and forth about insulation. In our old coop I believe he had used cardboard for insulation and they had straw and shavings in their coop. He is now considering fiberglass insulation between the plywood wall and yucca board "paneling". We are now considering sand for bedding but don't know how well this will work in Wyo as well!

Under my eaves I have vents covered in hardware cloth. There is no way to close those areas off. Because of the overhanging eaves no rain or snow can blow into the coop.

I do not use insulation for one major reason. If I had insulation I might try to close the coop up to "hold in the heat." That would be the worst thing for the chickens. They have a lovely down coat that keeps them warm if they are provided a safe draft free place to live. Holding in the heat would only hold in the moisture they make while breathing and pooping.

Think about those little birds that flit around all winter. Do they look miserable? They are using the down they were given to fluff up and trap heat next to their bodies. If that down did not work they would look miserable and die during the winters. Instead they jump around looking for good things to eat and find a place out of the wind to sleep at night.

So many people worry about winter and chickens. I think that chickens can be more miserable in the summer. Try to imagine yourself wearing a down jacket outside in the sun when the temperatures are 80+ degrees. That has got to be way uncomfortable.

 

[Wyoming chick]

Under my eaves I have vents covered in hardware cloth. There is no way to close those areas off. Because of the overhanging eaves no rain or snow can blow into the coop.

I do not use insulation for one major reason. If I had insulation I might try to close the coop up to "hold in the heat." That would be the worst thing for the chickens. They have a lovely down coat that keeps them warm if they are provided a safe draft free place to live. Holding in the heat would only hold in the moisture they make while breathing and pooping.

Think about those little birds that flit around all winter. Do they look miserable? They are using the down they were given to fluff up and trap heat next to their bodies. If that down did not work they would look miserable and die during the winters. Instead they jump around looking for good things to eat and find a place out of the wind to sleep at night.

So many people worry about winter and chickens. I think that chickens can be more miserable in the summer. Try to imagine yourself wearing a down jacket outside in the sun when the temperatures are 80+ degrees. That has got to be way uncomfortable.

Thank you for your feedback! It makes sense to me!

 

[Wyoming chick]

Insulation can be a good thing (but not necessary) if you have lots of wind... from the very short times I have been in Wyoming... there was lots of wind.

If you do put insulation in, be very careful about setting it up since ridents love to make huge homes in insulation.

The only coop I put insulation into has a layer of hardware cloth sandwiched in between the frame and outside cladding on the bottom and up 2 feet. It has been successful in keeping out rodents.

Anyway... with lots of wind, it is nice if all winter ventilation is on only one side of the coop, like in an open air Woods style coop.

Yes we have LOTS of wind in WY, especially in my town! Often 60 mile an hour and it will blow snow all around so keeping them dry is one of the biggest concerns. Thank you for your info!

 

[Alaskan]

With crazy amounts of wind, it would be ideal to go way overboard with ventilation, but have ways to close everything up.

NOT because you want to close up everything at once... ventilation is very important... but you might not know, until you are in the middle of a storm, exactly how the snow will blow and swirl around in all of that wind. If you have oodles of options you can stand there and close up everything on one wall... but open lots of ventilation on a different wall... etc.

As an example, lots of people say eve ventilation is ideal... but in my coop shed, no idea why, but snowy wind swirls through my eves and dumps snow in my coop, but the vent a foot lower down on the wall does not.

So yes, I plugged up the eve vents, left the lower wall vents open.

Another option is to put air-condition vent filters over vents, or grow cloth, or some other fabric that will not block, but will slow air exchange.

 

[Ted Brown]

Oh, thank you! I have heard that before, but I guess It was incorrect?.... Glad I could get correct info!

This is often discussed, again very recently; someone (sorry I forget who, will try to find post) listed the actual negative possibilities (one was dirt build up).

Here is the link:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...water-at-night-in-cold-weather.1425299/page-2

Here are the reasons:

"#1 it clogs pores, traps dirt, debris, poop and moisture.
#2 its hard to clean off, once you put it on.
#3 chickens regulate their body temperature via the comb and wattles.
#4 if dirt does get trapped, then you get a pecking problem from the other chickens, trying to clean each other off. Then blood happens, and it turns into a disaster after that in some cases." [sic @ValerieLovesChickens]

 

[KMurphyVT]

That’s my 12 year old Lab/Chow. Her name is Zooey and she loves the chickens!

 

[KMurphyVT]

Hi,
That's my 12 year old girl. She's a lab/chow mix. She loves the chickens.

 

[M Brennen]

That is a beautiful coop. I want to reiterate what someone mentioned earlier. Make sure you have a 2’ hardware cloth apron around the whole base. I also live in Vermont and have been working all summer on this myself. I have learned from past experience.