What is the difference between "ventilated" versus "drafty"?

[Vivienne]

Their exit door is around roost level (a bit below) so it seems that a cat door or a flap of some sort would be necessary for the winter to keep wind from blowing on them. There is an exhaust penetration with fan well above their roosting height. We've got it on a thermostat, believing that it is necessary to keep them cool in the hot months. It sounds like it might be necessary even in the winter to keep the air fresh.

 

[Beekissed]

My pop door stays open all winter long and provides a nice breeze of fresh air in the coop....I don't call that unnecessary drafting, as I consider it instrumental in moving fresh air in the bottom and stale air out the top. My roosts are 5-6 ft off the coop floor....any door would be below my roosts!

Actually, as I have many cracks in my old coop, it has plenty of ventilation that I'm sure many would call drafts. My flock stays warm and quite healthy with this level of "draftiness" and I haven't had a frostbit comb since starting deep litter years ago. Made all the difference!

 

[Mac in Wisco]

It's not necessarily to rid the coop of "foul air". The main reason for ventilation is to remove moisture. Each 20 birds in a coop will drink around one gallon of water each day, every day. For birds that are confined in the winter, every drop that they drink goes into the coop and must come out somehow. Heated water sources also add additional moisture to the air. Without adequate ventilation moisture will build up in the coop creating damp litter, condensation on the walls, and the moisture will settle on the birds increasing the risk of frostbite. Damp litter causes additional problems including production of ammonia.

As others have said you need ventilation without strong breezes on the birds. The best way to naturally ventilate a coop is to have some vents as high as possible in the coop, with other vents a little lower, e.g., in a coop with a gable roof, ridge vents or vents high on the gable ends will allow warm, moist air to rise out of the coop, while open eaves will allow fresh air to be drawn in. You can visualize the air current as air from the center of the coop rising to to ridge and going out the vents, while cooler, dryer air drawn in from open eaves will spill down the walls like a waterfall and flow across the floor, mixing with warmer, moister air in the coop along the way.

Caulking cracks is good. It avoids drafts where you don't want them, and forces the air to flow where you want it to. You can't completely seal up the coop though. Ventilation can be reduced in cold weather, but not eliminated. Conserving heat is not as important as reducing the moisture in the coop.

 

[Vivienne]

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My coop is much smaller so the birds roost just above the level of the pop door. Do you think this is a problem?

 

[Judy]

Here you go:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

 

[Beekissed]

Some folks would....if you feel uncomfortable with it, just make a flap that the birds can easily move through that will block most of the breezes.

I'm not one to baby a flock, so I'm probably not the best to ask....

I like the hardiest, rough and ready birds in my flock. Though I put plastic over my windows and provide deep litter, these are about the only concessions I make towards winter living. I do have cardboard over most of the larger cracks but intentionally left some open for fresh air.

I've never had any illness in my flocks all these years, so the fresh air theory must be okay for my husbandry methods.

 

[AK Michelle]

Quote:
My coop is an 8X8 storage shed with a man door and no chicken door. The new barn we're having built will have pop doors. Anyway, the shavings that fall out the door (or get kicked out by the chickens) gets wicked slippery when wet (think rain or melting snow) so I put a 2X4 on this edge across the door to hold most of the mess inside. My pop doors will be lifted 3 or 4" from the interior floor height.

If I keep the litter deep and loose it provides better insulation, and toes don't freeze. If I allow the litter to get matted down and packed then I would have issues with frostbite.

I also give my girls 2X4's for roosts, the 4" side means their toes stay safely under their breasts as additional protection against frost bite.

Good luck.

 

[catsew]

"but one of the members of my co-op thinks we should seal up the coop with caulk and insulation so we can keep them warm when they need it most "

This is what we were going through too. We ended up just cutting out the neighbors and doing it by ourselves. We gave them the $ back because the aggravation wasn't worth it. We will just sell them eggs when they're ready.

 

[Carrie Lynn]

I too have a small coop, 4x4x4. With a roost placed about 18" from the floor, I too am concerned about drafts from the pop door.
Is there anything else I can do other than place a flap? My ventilation is along the top of my coop, the 12"x12" pop door will be facing south this winter and will have to be placed about 2 ft. from the roost, 4" off the floor. The pop door will be open from pre-dawn to dusk.
Vivienne, I don't mean to hijack your thread, just hoping to get some good advice on the same topic.

Thanks in advance

 

[Vivienne]

Quote:
I got these posts from another thread I started. I found them to be very helpful -- Vivienne

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I live in the Pacific NW, and it gets cold here at times. We have had many times where it has been 5-9 degrees at night and 10 as a high daytime., and my girls are in an unheated coop and have done just fine. They are warm little critters!

I have their pop door open so they can go outside and play and do their chicken jobs during the day, but food and water are inside the coop. I have a water heater to keep the water from freezing, and that is about it. Temp drops below freezing and the heater kicks on so they have liquid water.

Never once had an issue with it. Make sure you have PLENTY of ventilation tho...I know my first year I had an issue with the birds. See, their breath is filled with moisture, and would freeze on the plastic part of the ceiling (we had a suntuff smoky plastic section of roof for light) at night. When the daylight came and they moved around and started heating up the coop with their own heat and the heat of the sun on the coop, it would melt the chicken breath ice and then drip on them That is a not good thing...

Once I got more ventilation for the coop, they were a lot happier and have not had an issue since. I would recommend tho that you have a lot of ventilation. The chickens will be fine with the cold, its the wet and cold they don't do well with. As long as they are dry...they don't need to have heat or insulation in the coop. Just non frozen water and food, and a dry non drafty coop and its all good and well.

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Hey there from Colorado Springs!
We give them the option of coming out most days, but on super cold ones, we just put the feeder in their coop, and the waterer, and shut the door..We have two small windows on the sides of the coop that allow for air. They dont want to come out when its super cold. We also do the deep litter method, straw piling up, so that helps keep them warm too. You would be amazed what they can handle. I am sure you get colder than we do, being in the foothills, and probably more snow..You might just have to be super diligent..One thing we did this last winter, and they loved it, was take the snow shovel and make trails around the yard for them to walk, so their feet did not get too cold. We would take it down to the dirt, and they were able to get out and walk around..Then, we would find them huddled together somewhere...Good luck hon!