Minnesota winters....PVC strips?

[Mayakovsky]

Has anyone considered installing (or actually installed) PVC strips across an open coop door to help keep the temps warm during a cold winter day, while still allowing chickens to enter and leave the coop at will?

I have heard that one's chickens could be trained to pass through the PVC strips quite easily.

This is what I found online as a possible source....

https://www.pvcstrip.com/replacement-strips/extra-low-temp/

Ideas? Reactions?

 

[aart]

I built a glass foyer, and an awning, for my pop door.
Pop door faces our wicked west winds,
it also protects the area of the run that's under the coop,
the only shelter in the run and has another window panel put on on the north side during the winter.

 

[Mayakovsky]

There is a previous thread that touches on this -

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/will-chickens-go-through-a-flap-like-a-dog-door.44987/

I will try to do it gradually - strip by strip - and see what happens....

 

[ChickenWaterer]

Folly and Alaskan make a good point. The reason you want ventilation of your coop is because your chicken's poop when they roost and the poop gives off lots of ammonia gas. This gas needs to be flushed from the coop so your chicken's don't experience difficulty breathing. You don't want cold wind blowing on your chickens when they are roosting, but you don't want the coop so tightly sealed that ammonia gas builds up. At very least, you should have a vent in your coop.

 

[Mayakovsky]

I agree completely....for me, vents are high in the coop where they ought to be....having PVC strips across the door is not an airtight seal - it mainly serves to keep a cold wind out of the coop. With adequate ventilation elsewhere, I think this is going to be okay...water for the chickens is NOT in the coop itself....and if it is indeed a problem, then I will simply remove the strips, or at least some of them, or perhaps space them a bit....

 

[Mayakovsky]

Cool, did you have to add them 2 at time from the outside... or...?

I had four strips....two on the outside at first, then one of the inner ones....and a final inner one....

 

[BYCforlife]

Seems interesting! As long as it's really light, I think the chickens could learn. I can also see it keeping the chickens "stuck" inside, it just depends on the flock.

 

[Mosey2003]

I can't imagine chickens really pushing their way out through strips, clear or not. And you know how chickens are once they get out of an enclosure, they never seem to find their way back in
You could cut a couple in order to make a hole the size of a pop door, that would probably work.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
I'd like it if it kept the house wrens out of the coop!
Be careful that you aren't blocking necessary ventilation, which is most important.
Mary

 

[aart]

There is a previous thread that touches on this -

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/will-chickens-go-through-a-flap-like-a-dog-door.44987/

I will try to do it gradually - strip by strip - and see what happens....

There you go! Have read several installs working well like this.

Please post some pics as you go.
Here are some guides to assist you:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/announcements-feedback-issues-guides.3/?prefix_id=3

Oh, and...Welcome to BYC! @Mayakovsky
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