Tempature

[Stuart77047]

I see a lot of people live in colder areas than I do. I am planning out the design of my chicken coop and run. I need to make it as ventilated as possible because most of time, I have to deal with hot and humid weather. At what temperatures do most people close off the vents? At what temperature do you heat your coop? What I would really like to know is at what temperature do chickens start to have problems in a dry ventilated coop? At what temperatures has anyone here lost part of their flock to the cold?

The record low ever on the side of Houston I live is +9F. The coldest it has been in the last five years was 23 I think. We only have around 8-10 days a year were it gets below freezing and maybe 2-3 days a year where it gets into the upper 20's. Would I ever need to heat the coop? Given I only introduce new chicks when it is warm, preferably spring.

Sorry for all the questions. Still in the planning stage.

 

[BetterHensandGardens]

Coop ventilation is very important, chickens can take dry and cold, but not wet and cold - and they give off a lot of moisture. Given your climate, it would be unlikely that you'd ever not ventilate the coop, and there should be no need for you to heat the coop. We're in Northern Ohio and we leave the vents (windows too) open all the time, don't heat the coop, and haven't had a problem. You're right that you should provide lots of ventilation in your climate - you shouldn't have problems in a dry ventilated coop, unless it becomes very hot. There are photo's of our coop and ventilation here: http://www.betterhensandgardens.com/2010/06/13/new-chicken-coop-with-surprise/ We're actually adding additional ventilation in each of the peaks - it's hard to ventilate chickens too much.

 

[Stuart77047]

Thanks for the info.

Looking at your coop. One way to add cheap easy ventilation would be to use a roof vent like the one in this link.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...alogId=10053&R=100090888&catEntryId=100090888

 

[BetterHensandGardens]

Quote:
Thanks for the link, it does look like good way to get some more ventilation.