The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Jewelwing]

Chaos, I forgot that you are the one with the sweet coop!

So your windows are glass? I'ld be tempted to leave them uncovered for the light in the coop, and to let whatever sunlight there is to come inside the coop. If they are screen, I would leave a couple open on the ends/sides that aren't in your normal wind direction.

My windows are at roost height, and I crack them open, it hasn't been too drafty for them. Drafts mystify me, you always read you need to keep them out of a draft, and yet there are these great open air coops with one of the three walls being just screen, and the chickens do fine!

You don't have to check them at night, but if your girls are flighty, it is a good time to pick them up and examine them - checking for general health, mites, etc. Not every night, but regularly. CHickens are usually pretty docile at night and its easy. If you have one of those headlamps people use for camping, it makes it pretty easy.

Is it possible to run a long extension cord to the coop for the water bowls? might make your life easier, although people do fine with breaking the ice out and replacing with water a couple of times a day. doesn't work with my schedule, I leave too early in the morning in the dark of night, and return late, so it would be too short of a time with water for the chickens. ALthough they do happily eat snow!

Thanks!

My windows are hardware cloth, so to "close" them, I cut some thin pieces of OSB into the right shape & size, screwed eye hooks into them, and hung them tight to the wall. Drafts are mystifying to me too! The coop is in a weird wind place where there is no prevailing wind - it just swirls around every which way. Impossible to fly a kite ever!! (We've tried a number of times!) It sits in a 5 acre meadow surrounded by tall trees. So I think no matter the direction above the treetops, the wind just sort of swirls down into the meadow.

My girls are flighty indeed, even though I've had them since day 2 and handled them a lot as babies. I stopped when it started to seem to really freak them out to be caught. Now they'll get really close to me, even climbing on my shoes to reach up to peck my jeans as high as they can, but they shy away when I try to touch them. The Australorps are the shyest, but the Faverolle screeches bloody murder and struggles like she's being eaten if you try to pick her up. So I should probably go check them over at night some times. I'm hoping they all get a little more holdable when they mature?

The extension cord idea has been nixed by DH, who both doesn't want to spend the money on electricity and doesn't want an extension cord(s) to go that far. It's over 100 ft to the coop (which is another reason why I haven't been checking them at night!). We don't always have snow on the ground, but I think switching out their water bowl every morning with warm water in a warm glass dish set on a piece of insulation should be fine. Plus, the ff (which I'm thinking means frozen food!) has water in it too.

I check mine at night because its me. I can also check for full crops, look for mites or lice & just get a general impression of them. Also when it gets colder I can stand there and see where the wind is coming in so I know what I need to block. I can also check them and their feet & make sure they are warm Its also when I do my head count for the night.

My theory is as long as the drafts are below their roost they are fine. Thats why the vents I put on the sides is below their roost but still high enough that it doesnt blow on them during the day. Or if its higher opposite them. That's why some ends are open & some are not. I am able to roll up parts of the canvas that are not getting drafts when its needed. During the winter I leave all the canvas down. But its not tight to the cattle panels so some ventilation still occurs.

Also with vents on the bottom it brings in fresh air that then goes out the roof vents I have on the coop. My hope is constantly fresh air will reduce the chance of moisture in the coop.

It looks like all your ventilation is at the the top. I would probably keep the side that's opposite of roost uncovered on both ends. They certainly wont get drafts when they are on the ground with the vents so high.

The best way to figure out if there are drafts on them as they roost is to go in there when its windy. Most people have ventilation on the non prevailing wind side. I do as well but I have ventilation on both side as well. Some I can block if needed.

My screen door window is not closed completely. Its open to the first click which is about 6 inches. Wind can blow in there but its not on them.


This is an open air coop. If I ever made another coop it would be this. That front end is open all year round. The top windows to I believe. Plus there are windows on the side. This is a coop a BYC member made following the old plans the old timers used to use. He never has a humidity problem. I tried to follow this plan but with my hoop coop. It really makes its simple. And proves cold wont harm the chickens. Their down feathers are great insulators and they tend to snuggle with each other so its like a giant chicken sleeping bag

I tend to rattle on so hopefully I didnt lose you. The best way to see if there are drafts os for you to stand in the coop. Just remember you are taller than them so what you feel blowing on your head probably wont blow on the chickens on a roost a couple feet lower than you.

ETA- my heated dog bowls are made for outside use so they are fine outside. I plug them into an extension cord that has a thermo cube on it. When temps are higher that 32 it shuts off. I would love to find a small timer that also would only have it on from dawn to dusk as that would be more time it was off. Still working on finding a timer that fits the need.

And like LALA my girls eat snow as well. I ran out of time to check their water this morning. I know its frozen since the temps were in the 20s last night. Hope fully it starts to melt with the sun. But my friend will be at the house around noon & will check for me. I refuse to hook up the heated bowls till winter is here for good !!!

I'm glad you rattle on - lots of good information & ideas! I've seen that coop before, but unfortunately not before I built my coop! It does look awesome, and I bet the chickens are warm tucked away in the back.

Hey, I have an idea for your water bowls. Could you use two timers? One regular one, pretty generic, that turns on at dawn & off at dusk, and plug the other thermo cube timer into the first one? That way at night nothing would get electricity because the first timer would shut off, but during the day the first timer would be back on sending electricity to the thermo cube timer so it would be able to do its thing.

I like your canvas setup. It seems very versatile. You're right that all my ventilation is at the top, but I could crack open the storm door window on the bottom like you've done. I think I'll also crack open the cover blocking the row of windows along the top of the wall opposite the roost. I'll post pictures when I'm done.

My chickens don't roost very near the ground. Their roost bar is about 3-1/2' off the ground (to be above the nest boxes, which are also raised off the coop floor). So their feet are only about 1-1/2' below the bottom of the ventilation windows, putting their heads not too far below the ventilation. But your reminding me that they have down feathers and snuggle so it's like a giant chicken sleeping bag makes a world of difference!! I feel like an idiot for forgetting that! Of course they're warm in their down sleeping bag. It's rated for temperatures well below 0.

I feel so much better about them handling the cold weather!

I'm going to go uncover some windows now...

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I'm very interested in the "open air" chicken coops. We have fairly mild weather here, and I I have to spend more time worrying about rain than cold. I cam across these resources when I was contemplating my chicken coops ... and though I didn't use the designs, they did make me a lot less worried about cold.

Full disclosure: My coop is converted from a greenhouse ... a link to my info about it here if you haven't seen it already ... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/700786/greenhouse-coop-conversion ... (the main coop is three full sections now, the middle section is devoted to roosts) ... you can see that both long sides of my coop is open-air hardware mesh. I drop the greenhouse plastic down when I want to keep out the rain or take advantage of the solar gain, but it stays up most of the time. The chickens love the view, and I think it helps things stay fresh and dry. These days I drop the part of side in the "dormitory" room at night to cut down the drafts in that room. But the roosts are at the height where the roof meets the sides, so somewhat "above" the drafts. My main goal with my coop is to have the roosts/brooders in an area of the coop that can be protected from wind.

I do wish there was some way to vent the peak of the roof ... and I have some great ideas for how ... if I ever get rich and feel super bored and handy ...

I do have one pallet coop that was built without proper ventilation ... and I need to resolve that issue.

Anyway ... here are some cool resources for coop ventilation in "all climates."

The classic book on open air chicken coops ... free, online:

http://books.google.com/books?id=o0...&resnum=2&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

And another link for people who can't make the first link work:

https://archive.org/details/openairpoultryho00wood

A cool YouTube review of that book:

And the link to a version of the book available on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Air-Pou...364477&sr=8-1&keywords=Open+Air+Poultry+Coops

A place to buy coops made like the ones in the open air book that might give a better look at the concept:

http://www.farmrevolutionusa.com/products.html

Here is an example of a slightly different design ... looks very doable! But I can imagine days here where wind would be driving rain into the coop ... Having the SouthEast side of a coop both high and open open is great for light, but sometimes the weather gets wonky. We can get a LOT of wind here. It would be doable to protect that side during storms.

http://speedkin.com/2010/12/08/the-new-fresh-air-chicken-coop-2/

Again, the point is to help people feel confident about having part of their coop open even during harsh cold weather ...

 

[CedarAcres]

I think you should just partially cover that window.

If the side window is open at all then you will have drafts. ...I used a candle on a windy day to check for drafts. .. sat it on their roost and opened and closed various things till the flame sat still. Don't burn down the coop! ;-)

I think I would leave it like it is and go inside to see if you feel any drafts. You can get at roost level to see what the air flow is at that level on the chickens. Then if you feel a draft you can figure out where you need to tighten up at without taking away all the ventilation.

Thanks guys! I'm going to play around with it a bit and see if anything needs adjustment. They don't seem the least bit cold. Last night they were all spread out on the two roosts, not huddling together or anything. It does seem a lot warmer in the coop than outside.. maybe from the deep litter? Or maybe just their body heat.

 

[Jewelwing]

Basically, the wind won't blow in there if there is no place for it to go (escape). It's physics....;-)

You took the words right out of my fingertips! Physics is phun!

I keep having a similar argument with my DH about the HVAC in our new house. We have 3 zones - basement, 1st, & 2nd floor. But of course the return air isn't "zoned" because it's just passive air flow back to the air handler. So I've been trying to convince him that if, say, the only zone that's working (pushing air) is on the 1st floor, the basement and the 2nd floor aren't going to get much air flow. He's convinced that the same amount of air from each floor will go back to the air handler no matter which zones are working, and thus air will circulate throughout our house in exactly the same manner whether 1, 2, or all 3 of the zones are active. I ask him where the replacement air is coming from - the unit isn't sucking air from any of the floors, so if no air is being pushed into a zone, very little will come from that zone back to the unit (I grant him that some will because of our open stairwells). The majority of the return air will be from the zones that are active at the time.

Well, anyway, same idea as the wind, and it's just physics.

We only use wood heat in the winter, so it's irrelevant now, but in our hot & humid summers, we worry about the cool moist basement air not being processed enough to remove the humidity.

I know, why even have that argument once, let alone more than once? I guess it's good that we don't have more important things to argue about. The last time we talked about HVAC air flow, we ended up agreeing to disagree, had a glass of wine, and decided it doesn't matter anyway....

 

[Jewelwing]

Thanks guys! I'm going to play around with it a bit and see if anything needs adjustment. They don't seem the least bit cold. Last night they were all spread out on the two roosts, not huddling together or anything. It does seem a lot warmer in the coop than outside.. maybe from the deep litter? Or maybe just their body heat.

Yeah, I have a thermometer inside the coop at roost level, but I need to get one to hang outside the coop for comparison!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
we have a dehumidifier in our basement since the AC does not run in that area.

 

[Scott H]

Maybe we should install HVAC systems in our coops and close them all up tight....no worries that way!

 

[delisha]

You can keep all south facing windows uncovered and open. The sun comes in and the air flow is milder with no other windows open.

I do not cover any of my windows. I close the lower ones but the south one stays open. I do have a lower east facing window that I leave open on sunny days like today.

All the water is frozen solid today but mom has the chicks out because of the sun. It is 28 degrees out and bitter feeling to me unless I am in full sun. I do need to close up the top window since i left it cracked open and it sure is drafty in the one coop today.

I let everyone free range today as one group..it was great to see everyone off together as one group and the males sounding calls to girls and chicks. They spent the hour I was outside running in and out of the coop with every call. It was reassuring. They are still out and I keep checking on them.

 

[CedarAcres]

Yeah, I have a thermometer inside the coop at roost level, but I need to get one to hang outside the coop for comparison!

I have one of those systems where you can put the thermometer where you want it and it transmits the temp to the screen into the house, and I love that! I'm currently only using one thermometer though, outside the coop. I was just about to set up one in the coop and in our greenhouse, but someone asked to borrow my extra thermometers. It's neat because the memory saves the high & low temp. of the day and tells you what time. It's really awesome to use in the greenhouse because then I don't have to walk all the way out there to check the temp to see if I need to open the vents! The only issue is our coops & greenhouse seem to be right on the edge of the range for it so it will go out every once in a while.

 

[armorfirelady]

Chias if your are going to set in on insulation make sure the chicken can't get to it. They will eat it!! When I made my insulated box I covered the foam since the little snots will always find the spot it wasn't covered :/