We built a new coop and run this year. We have 8 large birds (4 Black Australorps, 2 RIR's and 2 Buff's) with room to add 8 more in the Spring (at least). I get confused with regards to how much air movement is too much versus keeping a coop warm. I'm NOT heating my coop and it is a decent size walk in. Along the north wall, at the top, I have vents that can be opened and closed. On the East and West end of the coop are louvered vents at the top that are like what you see in small sheds. The roosting bars (2x4's on their side) are just above the pop door and are all on the same level.
The pop door was kept open all summer. A couple of weeks ago, we actually put up plywood on the north wall of the run, that is directly beside the pop door. My goal was to attempt to keep the wind out from blowing directly in the pop door without having to worry with opening and closing it all the time since our run is pretty secure.
Question is, it got down to 12 degrees F in the coop last night and I had the North wall vents closed. I also closed the pop door and opened it this morning. Is the air movement from the louvers enough to keep the moisture down? My coop is actually very dry and I use the deep litter method. The waterers are outside in the covered half of the run, sitting on heated bases. Their pellet food is in the run on the wall in a big feed dispenser and stays off the floor, surprisingly.
Lots of questions and I'm probably not making any sense. I know the birds themselves put off heat but I also know their coop is very large and they can't keep it warm. My main concern is preventing any frostbite or having too much or not enough air movement.
While I do not heat the coop, I do have rope lights on a timer above their roosting bars that come on around 2:30am.
Thanks for any help or guidance you can give! This site has been a Godsend.
Jen
This nipple waterer is no longer in here. They didn't like it. But you can see the nesting boxes on the north side and the "vents" that I can open and close along the roof line. Above the roosting bars is one of the louvered vents that is open (with a matching one on the opposite wall). Right outside the pop door (under the closed window) is the covered half of the run and right now you would see plywood on that wall of the run. Run is 8x20 (half covered with roof, half covered with hardware cloth) and the coop is 6x10 or 6x12 and is 6'high on the South sloping to 4' high on the North.

Before painting the coop and attached shed in Barn Red. This is the side that has the plywood covering it. We also now have a solar electric fence system around the top, middle, and bottom (we have a lot of predators in my area - Central Pennsylvania).


The pop door was kept open all summer. A couple of weeks ago, we actually put up plywood on the north wall of the run, that is directly beside the pop door. My goal was to attempt to keep the wind out from blowing directly in the pop door without having to worry with opening and closing it all the time since our run is pretty secure.
Question is, it got down to 12 degrees F in the coop last night and I had the North wall vents closed. I also closed the pop door and opened it this morning. Is the air movement from the louvers enough to keep the moisture down? My coop is actually very dry and I use the deep litter method. The waterers are outside in the covered half of the run, sitting on heated bases. Their pellet food is in the run on the wall in a big feed dispenser and stays off the floor, surprisingly.
Lots of questions and I'm probably not making any sense. I know the birds themselves put off heat but I also know their coop is very large and they can't keep it warm. My main concern is preventing any frostbite or having too much or not enough air movement.
While I do not heat the coop, I do have rope lights on a timer above their roosting bars that come on around 2:30am.
Thanks for any help or guidance you can give! This site has been a Godsend.
Jen
This nipple waterer is no longer in here. They didn't like it. But you can see the nesting boxes on the north side and the "vents" that I can open and close along the roof line. Above the roosting bars is one of the louvered vents that is open (with a matching one on the opposite wall). Right outside the pop door (under the closed window) is the covered half of the run and right now you would see plywood on that wall of the run. Run is 8x20 (half covered with roof, half covered with hardware cloth) and the coop is 6x10 or 6x12 and is 6'high on the South sloping to 4' high on the North.
Before painting the coop and attached shed in Barn Red. This is the side that has the plywood covering it. We also now have a solar electric fence system around the top, middle, and bottom (we have a lot of predators in my area - Central Pennsylvania).