I think our coop is too big. Ideas?

[christwodog]

My dog. If it’s very cold I tuck her under the covers and when I’m ready...kick her out!! Lol

A rottweiler in your bed is a great thing on a cold night!

 

[Cryss]

But every one says animals don't generate heat?

Not that they don't generate heat, rather that they generate enough to heat themselves without the need for an outside source, be it from an electric heater or another chicken. Put a bunch together in a small space and you've got moisture. Put a bunch together in a large space you have no moisture. In either situation each chicken is still generating all the heat they need for themselves. Huddled together they make heat and moisture. Trap all that moisture in a small area and you have wet birds. Open that area around them they stay dry. More area, more dry. Dry is more important than heat because they make all the heat they need but they cannot make "dry", cannot stop making moisture.

 

[WindingRoad]

Not that they don't generate heat, rather that they generate enough to heat themselves without the need for an outside source, be it from an electric heater or another chicken. Put a bunch together in a small space and you've got moisture. Put a bunch together in a large space you have no moisture. In either situation each chicken is still generating all the heat they need for themselves. Huddled together they make heat and moisture. Trap all that moisture in a small area and you have wet birds. Open that area around them they stay dry. More area, more dry. Dry is more important than heat because they make all the heat they need but they cannot make "dry", cannot stop making moisture.

Not if you have proper ventilation. Moot point at that juncture. "because they make all the heat they need". what does that mean. Either they make heat or they don't. When they are up in coop during the day their water doesn't freeze until it gets below 20F. If they are not up there all other things considered the water will freeze. Can you explain that?

 

[WindingRoad]

A rottweiler in your bed is a great thing on a cold night!

My mother preferred my dad's hunting beagles. Small dogs but they sure kept the bed warm. And with no down or under coat.

 

[BirdsInParadise]

When we bought this house it had a coop inside an old barn (concrete floor, real walls, a ventilation window covered with hardware cloth, and two doors) I thought this was great but now looking at coop pictures on BYC I think it's too big and there is no way our chickens can keep themselves at all warm.
The interior is about 12 X 12 (maybe more) and the ceiling is about 6.5 feet. (about 900 cubic feet). That's a lot of space for 10 chickens, and when I see those smaller coops, I realize those chickens are probably much warmer at night than mine. I worry most about my two oldest girls.....The most recent repost on not spoiling our chickens just reinforces my belief. That coop is small enough for those chickens to warm the space at night.
Would it be better for our chickens to make some kind of enclosure around the roosting poles, even if it was just curtains we could close at night?

Remember...
Chickens have been getting by without manmade coops and human "help" for eons They will instinctually huddle together for warmth if need be. If there IS a draft, they will undoubtedly find the least drafty area to reside in.
They are really quite resilient animals.

I wouldn't really worry about your coop being "too big" as long as it's secure.

Good Luck!!!

 

[WindingRoad]

Remember...
Chickens have been getting by without manmade coops and human "help" for eons They will instinctually huddle together for warmth if need be. If there IS a draft, they will undoubtedly find the least drafty area to reside in.
They are really quite resilient animals.

I wouldn't really worry about your coop being "too big" as long as it's secure.

Good Luck!!!

But but no warmth can get passed their feathers so how does that work? TIC.

 

[Cryss]

Not if you have proper ventilation. Moot point at that juncture. "because they make all the heat they need". what does that mean. Either they make heat or they don't. When they are up in coop during the day their water doesn't freeze until it gets below 20F. If they are not up there all other things considered the water will freeze. Can you explain that?

When I said they make all the heat they need I was referring back to saying how they each individually generate enough heat to keep themselves warm. And, yes, proper ventilation takes care of all the moisture. And I think that answers the question. There is no doubt they produce heat. In a tiny room you need more ventilation to remove excess heat than you do in a large room with the same number of chickens. I can imagine 2 chickens kept in a draft free building the size of a warehouse at freezing temperatures wouldn't need any ventilation at all. As long as they are dry they will keep themselves warm. It's not "do they produce heat", it's "what do they need to do with that heat". They need that excess heat escaping off their bodies not to heat a room but to leave that room carrying the moisture with it.
WILL chickens heat a room? Yes.
SHOULD chickens heat a room? No.

 

[WindingRoad]

When I said they make all the heat they need I was referring back to saying how they each individually generate enough heat to keep themselves warm. And, yes, proper ventilation takes care of all the moisture. And I think that answers the question. There is no doubt they produce heat. In a tiny room you need more ventilation to remove excess heat than you do in a large room with the same number of chickens. I can imagine 2 chickens kept in a draft free building the size of a warehouse at freezing temperatures wouldn't need any ventilation at all. As long as they are dry they will keep themselves warm. It's not "do they produce heat", it's "what do they need to do with that heat". They need that excess heat escaping off their bodies not to heat a room but to leave that room carrying the moisture with it.
WILL chickens heat a room? Yes.
SHOULD chickens heat a room? No.

Again I never said they SHOULD. I said they do. Today is a prime example. No wind -2F same as yesterday morning. Same 4 chickens, same size coop BUT I must have been talking to them and forgot to shut the coop door. They were cold this morning. It's one thing to have them in a rather small coop with the door shut and quite another to have them up in the coop with the door open to the run down below. 4 chickens can keep the closed coop warm. They can't keep both the coop and the run warm. Too big an area.

 

[aart]

With adequate ventilation, a coop 'holding heat' is pretty much fallacy.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

More space is always good. They will huddle together for warmth. They wear down jacket all the time, anyway. Is the coop draft free where they roost? If so, they are warm.

Assume there is an additional run/area for them during the day?

Generally, 4sqft per bird in coop, and minimum 10 sqft in a run area is how many look at it. So, if this coop is only where they sleep, you could have 30 chickens!!! Not that you indicated you are looking to expand.

Good luck!

Acre4Me: Thank you for not assuming that everyone wants 100 chickens running around. We all have our own expectations/purpose/ and energy levels that determine how many chickens you want or need. So thank you. And I agree, the chickens will huddle together on the roost if they need the warmth.