Heating/ Cooling Ideas?

[whitlockj85]

My wife and I are about to begin construction on our coop and I was curious to see if anyone has any ideas on how to keep the coop warm in winter and cool in summer. The "cool" part is the most important as we live in the DFW metroplex and it can get pretty warm here. I want to run power to it for lights and other conveniences that may be added later, but temperature control is a primary concern. Any advice helps!

 

[rebeccakeesee]

Hello, I live in Irving. I have an open air coop. I have also used a box fan for my girls as well as freeze two ltr bottles of H2o to toss out there on crazy hot afternoons. Some breeds are more heat tolerant. I have never had an issue with overheating tho. And our winters are fairly mild.
Hope this helps! Ignore the fat cat on top. lol

 

[whitlockj85]

Nice! I like your nesting boxes. Thanks for the info! Do you have a problem with critters in the coop?

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

As a rule I use 3 solid walls with no vents an one with them all. Some use wire for that whole wall but I don't think I am far enough south for that. I just put vents high on the wall an more vents low on the wall. That gives hot air a place to escape at the top an in turn sucks cooler air in at the bottom. At the same time, having the other walls solid stops cross wind drafts so the air exchange is steady. My current coop project is metal with one vent at the top an several in the floor pulling cold air off the ground.

 

[rebeccakeesee]

Once a chihuahua dug under but thats it in four yrs. Its not huge but it works great for our little flock. If we have a rough winter I just get out a staple gun and add some tarp top and side. Got some polish bantams in the incubator. SOOO EXCITED.

 

[TheGnomesMom]

Seriously, I just saw Polish for the first time today. LOVE! They're so stinking cute. I guess that's probably not what I should be looking for in a chicken - but hey, ours are our pets too.

 

[bj taylor]

i too live in the metroplex. i live in joshua, south of fort worth. my coop is built inside a hoop house. it is half solid & half hardware cloth. i have just put a good sized fan in there. i directed the fan to the wall rather than directly toward the roost. i just thought the air flow might be hard on them even though it's hot.

this is my first summer with chickens. they have a lot of shade during the day. i'll just have to see how it goes. good luck with yours.

 

[TheGnomesMom]

Hey BJ - I'm WhitlockJ85's wife - you must be our neighbor - we're in Burleson!

 

[bj taylor]

we are close neighbors. that's great. i'm pretty new to chickens. i started in feb. i have four big girls. a barred rock, a buff orpington, a silver laced wyandotte, and a black australorp. my dog was kind enough to leave me one of each of the breeds i had. i have five chicks. two are rhode island reds (they were supposed to be buff orpington - but that is another story), two are black australorp, and one is a delaware.

sure hope this storm doesn't bring hail. i have tomatoes like i've never seen before. with 6 plants, i probably have 100 plus tomatoes & more setting every day. it's crazy. please no hail.

 

[TheGnomesMom]

That is a LOT of tomatoes. The storm the other night completely flooded mine and they're still recovering. I have to get everything out of pots (we thought we were moving to Granbury this month but ended up staying, long story) and into the garden beds. That's on the agenda for tomorrow. I think the storm is past us now though and no hail, so yay!