Warm enough???

[EmeraldAcres]

Building the coop for my laying hens. It is very warm here now, but will this be adequate for COLD Iowa winters? Or should I make it warmer, somehow? BTW.. I know it looks crooked, but our boards are level.. it's the ground and pre-existing building that are extremely crooked

 

[mobius]

See the third thread down in my sig! If you are building your coop, this is a GOOD time to ask. The key is ventilation In my coop, the chickens raised the temp and kept each other warm through the winter!

 

[orrpeople]

Agreed with the ventilation comment above. The one thing I would add is that as winter approaches, perhaps there will be places you can either cover or board up - much the way you might get a house ready for winter -without sacrificing some ventilation. Chickens are awfully good at staying warm in winter - but even here in California,I have a couple coops I throw some extra boards on to keep out the wind and blowing precipitation.

 

[mobius]

Right right. Ventilation is more or less passive air movement (where the air is DRAWN up and out) and is good. Drafts are windy and very active air movement blowing on chickens and is not good. Do block the drafts as mentioned above!

Vents you can open and close are ideal: think of like your floor register vents with forced air heat in your house...that kind of thing....