- Nov 29, 2011
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I love that "A" frame! Great plan for a tractor to tote around the yard for rotational grazing...I am in total agreement on lots of ventilation (very different then drafts). I swore that I wouldn't heat my silkie's coop this winter since I'm all about keeping the critters as acclimated as possible to the weather - better for their overall health. Soooooo.......I caved and bought a sweeter heater to hang in the Banty Shanty. I plan on putting some late hatching chicks out there with their moms and I got a bit panicky about keeping them warm. Now I have told myself that the heater will be on only if it gets below 20*...we'll see if I can stick to that!I agree with what JoshU said. You cannot have too much ventilation. My Buckeyes and Barred rocks are roosting in an A-frame that is covered with a tarp and they have been doing fine. I have Silver spangled Hamburgs in a coop built on a pallet that is open on the bottom and has a screen front. They roost in that and have shown no ill effects. Here are some pics of what I have:
This is what the A-frame has for shelter. The birds roost under the tarp and huddle up pretty close, so they stay toasty warm all night even though it's fairly open. There is a wooden roof under the tarp which provides insulation and helps break the wind. The tarp acts as a vapor barrier and keeps rain and snow off. Even though the covered area is 7' long, they actually compete to sleep clear out on the open end instead of in under the shelter.
This is the inside of my pallet coop showing the (lack of) floor and the nesting boxes. This will make sense with the picture below.
This is the view through the back end of the A-frame. The nesting area is accessible through a hinged door. You can see the roosts up front.
This is some of the girls settling in. As you can see, they prefer to be up front rather than in the back. This was before I had the tarp on in the summer and you can see open sky through the peak. Hence the need for the tarp.
This is the pallet coop when it was under construction. I have about two times as much nest box headroom as I need. If I build another one, it will have smaller nest boxes. Note that the front has hardware cloth for the screened window. There are two perches running side to side about a foot off the floor. The birds prefer this to roosting on the pallet itself. I've found that chickens prefer tight headspace to wide-open headspace at night. Makes them feel safer. For my next one, I would probably leave the sides the same, but raise the pallet up instead of using it for a floor. I keep my bottoms open because all my coops are movable (I rotate pens and pasture a lot) and I use the droppings and litter for gardening.
