Sand or Hay for bedding small wooden coop?

In winter it reaches (-10). The coop is small and only the upper part one side of the coop is open (about 10 cm). Do I have to unwrap one side of the coop?
I would remove all the plastic wrap. Chickens need fresh air, not warmth.

I assume that is -10 C. It is going to be that temperature here this week and has gotten down to -30C yet my coop windows are big and wide open year round. It can get to 45C in the summer - that is where the problem is. I've lost chickens to heat but never to cold - and I have no condensation inside.

I don't know where the recommendation heard so often about ventilation without a draft originated but I assume it is from people that don't like it cold.
I take the complete opposite position than almost everyone else on this site. I don't believe a draft in a building is a problem. On the contrary, I believe it should be preferred. Every time I build a building, my windows and other ventilation get bigger. Originally I made the windows as big as possible on the east wall to take advantage of morning light. My last two buildings have huge openings about 1/4-1/3 of the entire wall on both east and west sides. The cold winter wind has been blowing right through at roost height for about 6 years. I've never had an ill bird in winter.
My building with the smallest window (and a ridge vent) has a box fan on the sill blowing right at the roost year round.
I've occasionally had chickens living in trees (till taken by a predator) through the winter even through rain and snow. I don't know how one is supposed to keep a draft out of a deciduous tree in winter.

In the early 1900s (the infancy of large scale poultry production), it was common to lose half or more of the winter chicken population. Someone decided it was time to try something new in housing. Rather than have an entirely closed up coop for warmth, they took out one entire wall of each building. By some mornings, drifts of snow had blown into the buildings - but ventilation was excellent. They didn't lose a bird the rest of the winter. That was the start of open sided poultry housing.
 
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I just don't buy it. The feathers in the breeder houses have been ruffling for a long time.
What bad outcome is supposed to have been happening to those birds that have been sleeping through a cold breeze every night other than putting fresh air into their tiny respiratory systems?

If that were the case, birds living in trees wouldn't be in danger of predation because they would already have been taken by the wind.
 
They can scootch around the tree trunk out of the wind?
And the birds on the breezy roost could roost on a lower one that isn't in the wind but they sit on the window roost as close to the open window as they can.
It also doesn't explain why the prime roost in the coop with the fan all vie for the spot in front of the fan.
They just don't care about the cold.

Chickens in a tree top don't scootch as easily as wrens and finches.
 
I went to close the coop for my birds the other night - temperature of 12 degrees F and a 30 mph wind blowing right into the coop and onto the roost area. They were all sitting on the floor in the shavings. Once I closed the pop door, they jumped up onto the roost. The pop door of my coop is where the window in the concrete wall used to be, so about 3 feet off the ground. They have ramps and porches on the inside and outside to get in or out.

To the OP - I would remove the plastic wrap and see it if helps with the moisture problem. that is an easy fix. If it doesn't help, put the plastic back on.
 
You run a fan all winter?
Yes, regardless of outside temperature.

In spite of being the consummate nutrition Nazi that you know I am, I consider big fresh air more important than food and water.
That belief is buttressed by a lifetime of never having a respiratory illness in a bird.
Nor have I lost any to an issue related to cold.
During a summer when we had a week with highs near or in excess of 110 F, I lost a Welsummer to the heat. That was before I mechanically forced air into buildings with less than optimal ventilation.
I usually keep between 30 and 100 birds.
Other than losing way too many birds to predation, I lost 2 roosters to heart attacks, a hen to cancer and a hen to fatty liver syndrome.
I'm sure they aren't happy when the temperature suddenly drops from 70 to 20 or 40 to below 0, but they don't get sick.
:old
 
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