When is it too cold for a chicken?

[chookchick]

Gone crazy,
I wondered about that for a long time too.....(the ventilation question) the answer seems to be to have plenty of vents high up, like under the roof line. Warm air, including moisture and ammonia fumes from the poo, rises, and if you can get any kind of cross draft (opposing vents) then it would carry that air out of the coop. High vents would hopefully not blow on the chickens, who should have a nice layer of warm air in between their bodies and feathers. Moist air would also condense and freeze their combs faster. Hope I have that right!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
When people say you want ventilation but not drafts, they mean you want air exchange but not with it actually blowin' a breeze at the chickens, neither when they're hanging out on the floor nor when they're up on the roost. So air exchange with slow air currents, or a bit more movement but aimed so it does not produce much breeze in places where chickens are, is what you're aiming for. (see my ventilation page, link below in my sig, for more on the subject)

If you have problems with breezes (or downright 'wind') coming in your pophole door, think about how you could create a baffle on the outside. Some haybales stacked as a wall or 'L' on the upwind side(s), etc. As long as there's somewhere in the coop (on the floor) not affected by breezes thru the door, it isn't the end of the world -- chickens usually seem to be smart enough to pick more comfortable areas to hang out in if they don't like one place. The roost really needs to be *draft free* though.

Good luck, HTH,

Pat

 

[LynneP]

Chuckling and adding

In summer we say

'It's not the heat, it's the humidity';

Add to that for winter

'It's not the cold it's the drafts'.

 

[wxdude99]

I live in alabama and our temp went down to 25 degrees this morning. I looked in on my chickens this morning and they were happy as can be. I don't plan on using a heat lamp unless the temp drops into the teens maybe. Maybe not. The seem so unfazed by the cold.

 

[crooked stripe]

One solution to the foil problem is covering the lower area with 1/4" floor underlayment. Under 10 bucks a sheet here. I tried the 1/4" OSB board but the chickens could see the compressed wood chips and pecked it apart. It is cheaper than the 1/4" underlayment.