Mold on the Inside Walls of my Coup

[cheri222]

I live north of you and no heat, also no mold. The chickens are fine. Vents are open and everyone is ok. Our high today was about 14 and I checked them 4 times because I was worried but everyone out and in the run. They did get a snack of collards and oatmeal.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Quote:
Agree, open the windows, they'll be fine. I'm in Maine, it's gunna be negative something tonight and my windows are still open. No one is dying. I even have a broody out there with three 2 week old chicks and last Saturday it was -10 when I opened up the coop to let everyone out.

 

[Lund Poultry]

superchemicalgir! right on, keep the coop nice and ventilated. not sure what direction your windows face, but if you have one that faces south I would leave that one open at the top all of the time unless it is raining in. I actually have a fan hanging in one of our south facing windows that I turn on every day to blow air out the window to make sure all of the damp air is taken out. This works great.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I was getting fuzzy mold under my waterers in the coops until I took them out. The waterer will add a significant amount of moisture to the air as someone said earlier.

But if you aren't a crack of dawn kind of person, they do need water in the coop.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Quote:
Yup I've got 2 windows that face east and one that faces south. The south one is always open, and the 2 east ones are always at least cracked. Plus I have 2 vents at the top of the coop facing north and south that are always open (but do have the ability to close). When the pop door is open (and they can go out) everything is great. But when we're having a blizzard they can't go out. I can tell when they've spent the whole day in the coop cause it does get dank quickly. So I can see how the OP got some mold. Those girls give off some vapors!

What I do is when I snowblow and shovel the chicken run after a storm: I take shovel fulls of dank shavings from the coop floor and throw them out over what I've cleared. The girls love it. Then I throw fresh shavings in the coop. Helps cut down on the dankness of the coop. It would also help if I didn't spill water every day with that stupid waterer...

 

[True Grit]

I keep my waterer and feeder in the run and last night and today were the first times I've had them in the coop. It was -20 last night and didn't get much above 0 all day so I kept the girls in their coop all day. I put the waterer back in the run tonight because tomorrow will be marginally warmer and I can monitor them as it's the weekend. I keep the waterer thawed out by using heat tape around it and a birdbath heater pad underneath it.
You can buy a hygrometer and keep checking the moisture level in your coop and soon you will know how much ventilation you need according to the weather.