How cold to leave pop door open?

[NewYorkMama]

Assuming your run/coop is 100% predator safe, how low of temp at night would be ok with leaving the pop door open for one week away? It may go down to 20F lowest. Water is heated and someone can come check on the girls every couple days. Chickens are large adult Orpingtons.

Edited to add: Coop is roughly 4 x 5 x 4 high. Photos on a post further down the thread. Thanks!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Mine stays open until the wind and snow can blow in. Mine will remain open for a while yet. Your coop size and design can dictate whether it needs to be closed. On my big shed a east facing door stays open year round. My bantam coop wasn't situated properly and the pop door faces north so I do need to close it eventually. We use hay bales to make a chute which works as a wind break, and a bale inside that is a wind break as well.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This old photo is getting used a lot this time of they year. It was 4 degrees above zero when I took it. I leave the pop door open during the day and let then decide what they want to do.

Your question about breezes and at night is a little harder to answer. A gentle air movement is good, it gets the bad air out and lets good air in. What you want to avoid is a strong breeze blowing directly on them. If you leave that pop door open and have ventilation openings on the roost side of the roost a wind from certain directions could blast through them. If there is not an opening on the other side it may not hit them. One popular coop design even up into Canada is to have the front of the coop pretty open but the roosts are back in a cul de sac where a breeze will not blow on them. I don't know if you could open a hole right above the pop door so any breeze that goes in would not make it to the back of the coop. That will depend on coop shape and how deep it is.

An easy way to provide good ventilation in winter is to have different openings above their heads and nothing down low at night. If you are leaving it open at night while you are away that's maybe not a good idea.

Since I don't know what your coop looks like or anything like that I can't tell you what will or won't work. But the cold is not much of an enemy, a direct breeze might be.

Where you could have an issue is that if the air in there gets high in moisture from their breathing, their poop, or maybe a water dish, that can lead to frostbite. The ammonia from decaying poop is lighter than air and can build up at the top if there is not a vent up there, but the leading cause of frostbite is moist air when the air temperature is below freezing. So at least a small amount of ventilation up high is a good thing. If you do see frostbite the normal solution is more ventilation.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thank you for your response. The drafts vs ventilation part of all winter coop threads is a bit confusing to me as a new chicken keeper.

What's the difference, practically speaking? I mean, if a wind were to blow in from the South, down their run, it could go in the pop door... but would it then travel up to their roost? How would one test that? I feel like it would probably peter out by that point, unless it was a really cranking wind, kwim? But then again, I'm not sure.

Some mornings when I open the pop door, even if it's been in the 20s, their coop can have that kind of rank "multiple chickens pooping in one place" smell until it airs out. Which would make me believe leaving that small door open is probably a good idea - ventilation-wise. But, I definitely don't want my girls to get sick!

You don't want drafts blowing on them while on the roosts. Ventilation allows air to move through and be replaced. A draft will be a wind that doesn't stop. You can have slight drafts in your coop, but you should not feel any while you are standing where your roosts are.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

This old photo is getting used a lot this time of they year. It was 4 degrees above zero when I took it. I leave the pop door open during the day and let then decide what they want to do.

View attachment 1191687

Your question about breezes and at night is a little harder to answer. A gentle air movement is good, it gets the bad air out and lets good air in. What you want to avoid is a strong breeze blowing directly on them. If you leave that pop door open and have ventilation openings on the roost side of the roost a wind from certain directions could blast through them. If there is not an opening on the other side it may not hit them. One popular coop design even up into Canada is to have the front of the coop pretty open but the roosts are back in a cul de sac where a breeze will not blow on them. I don't know if you could open a hole right above the pop door so any breeze that goes in would not make it to the back of the coop. That will depend on coop shape and how deep it is.

An easy way to provide good ventilation in winter is to have different openings above their heads and nothing down low at night. If you are leaving it open at night while you are away that's maybe not a good idea.

Since I don't know what your coop looks like or anything like that I can't tell you what will or won't work. But the cold is not much of an enemy, a direct breeze might be.

Where you could have an issue is that if the air in there gets high in moisture from their breathing, their poop, or maybe a water dish, that can lead to frostbite. The ammonia from decaying poop is lighter than air and can build up at the top if there is not a vent up there, but the leading cause of frostbite is moist air when the air temperature is below freezing. So at least a small amount of ventilation up high is a good thing. If you do see frostbite the normal solution is more ventilation.

Around here 4 degrees in the middle of winter is a nice day. Mine will go out into the -teens, and if it's sunny and the winds are blocked will go out when it's colder as long as there's hay to stand on.

 

[Folly's place]

Small coops are more difficult to manage, sort of like small aquariums! Ideally, openings are mostly above the roosts, and in winter, closed to prevailing winds, and open on the leeward sides. Here in Michigan, that means covered on the north and west, and openings south and east. My birds go out in all temps, as long as they don't need to wade through snow. Then they complain and stay in their covered (cold) coop and run. The door to outside is opened every day anyway. Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

I like the idea of the blanket. If there is much wind though you may need to hang weights on the bottom so it doesn't get blown around. even if it is not waving around the chickens might not like that change. There is only one way to find out.

Other things people do is to make the pop door a tunnel that bends around to deflect wind. Or build a wall right in front of the pop door to provide wind protection. There are always different possible solutions.

 

[RonP]

Well my run is as secure as my coop.
Drafts will not reach the roosting area.
I do not have a door to close, only an opening 24/7.
The opening I consider as part of the coops proper ventilation.
My cold hardy flock could withstand ambient temperatures well below the -0 they might incur in my location.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Assuming your run/coop is 100% predator safe, how low of temp at night would be ok with leaving the pop door open for one week away? It may go down to 20F lowest. Water is heated and someone can come check on the girls every couple days. Chickens are large adult Orpingtons.

You can leave it wide open. Orps are very cold hardy and that isn't really that cold for a healthy cold hardy bird.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I like that little extension to the run, if you could add something like plexi-glass, wood or cardboard to it to enclose it, it might add some wind break to it, otherwise I think you are fine leaving the door open until it gets really cold.