Screened door pop door? Having to leave it open all the time?

[gritsar]

We have completed our second coop. It is a 12 x 16 (I think that's right) wooden storage building that we converted.

We have yet to add a pop door and the screened doors on the front. We had decided to outfit the front with two screened doors, one that can be opened, one stationary. This will give the coop maximum airflow during our hot summers. The screen in the doors will be replaced with hardware cloth. The two solid doors on the front can be closed during really bad weather.

For some reason DH is very reluctant to cut a pop door in the sidewall of the coop. Instead he wants to make a pop door in the bottom half of one of the screened doors (the stationary one). We've already figured out how to do that. If we go with his idea, it would require that the solid door on that side be kept open all day long, to allow access to the pop door for hens going into the coop to lay. Of course it can be closed at night.

I'm concerned about all the cold air that's going to get in the coop during the day by that door being left open. Once it's closed up in the evenings the coop will be pretty tight, with only the ventilation holes near the roofline.

My birds free range all day so except for egglaying only make use of their coop at night. Our winter lows can get in the teens, rarely lower.

Do you see the solid door being left open during the day to be a problem?

 

[lleighmay]

I generally just leave my people door into the run open all the time during the day unless it's REALLY cold or windy. Could you cut a pop door in your solid door that matches the dimensions and location of the one in the screen door? That way you could leave the big door closed and just open the pop if the weather was bad.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Again, it would mean cutting into the structure of the building itself and DH doesn't want to do that. Guess we'll try it his way to start and then if it proves too cold, we'll try it my way.

 

[patandchickens]

Not sure whether the previous poster was correctly understood -- the suggestion was to cut a matching popdoor in the solid DOOR, so the location matches with the screen-door pophole. No holes in *building* structure. Obviously you could have a solid cover for the solid-door popdoor to be closed at night if you need/wish.

(That would be my suggestion too)

Pat

 

[silkiechicken]

I don't think having a door open all day will be bad for the chickens... we don't get cold cold winters either, other than maybe a week or two of teens on a cold winter, and most birds still sleep out in the run and hang out outside all day.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
No I understood, just didn't express myself well. Perhaps a better way of putting it is to say that he doesn't want any cuts made into the original structure, original doors included.

 

[patandchickens]

Oh ok, sorry

This may sound stupid, but, if you get to finding it too cold/drafty in there during the winter with just the screen door, could you not staplegun (or screw-thru-battens) some 6mil translucent plastic over some or all of the screen portion of that door. Unless I guess it's an aluminum screen door and even then it seems likely to me you could find SOME mechanism of screwing or bolting on some battens to hold plastic.

And that would be easy enough to do that you could just wait and SEE if you wanna do it or not.

Pat

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Excellent idea Pat. Thanks

 

[Causin Chaos]

I have a east facing screened door and I leave it open all the time. I did last winter too and no problems.

 

[eggcatcher]

CAT DOOR: Ok I'm new to this wintering for chickens. Just got my 3 leghorns last march. I have a coop in the back of the barn (shed) where I have my rabbits. Last year I had the door closed to cut the draft and keep it warmer. It gets cold here last year below zero at night several months. My girls still want to go out and scratch right now but it is getting a lilttle too cold to leave the door open for the rabbits so right now I'm just cracking it big enough for the chickens to get in and out. I was thinking about buying a cat pet door. I was thinking it would be large enough for my chickens to go in and out of. MY QUESTION IS will a chicken go in and out of a door with a plastic flap like dog doors????? If they will I think this is my solution for the day and put the slider in for the night. I don't want to buy a pet door if they won't use it. I could come up with something on my own but can't afford one of the auto ones and that wouldn't control the cold coming in either and I'd rather not build one if I can buy one for not too much. I have arthritis hands don't work too good.