How do you provide ventilation in your coops, especially in the winter time? If I don’t have a fan drawing the air out of the coop, the fumes are terrible. But in the winter time, it draws out the heat and draws in a cold draft which chickens are not supposed to have. So what do I do? How do I get the fumes out and still not create a cold draft and keep in what heat they have? I’d love to know how you all handle this problem… Thanks!!
I have a coop ventilation question.....
I get some venting from under the eves of my coop. I leave a small section open and the air circulates from the little chicken door opening up through there. I use deep litter and clean a couple of times a winter, more if I notice amonia smell. The nice thing with the deep litter is that I can clean just under the roosts if I need to between full cleanings.
What are you using for litter? I think with enough sawdust/shavings there would be no fumes.
Glenda I have to assume by fumes you mean amonia! Porkpal hit the nail on the head. If your using deeplitter (ie) shavings (pine) you get rid of the amonia by using another layer of shavings. About three inches generally does it. I have a coop that is sixteen feet high and I have three vents about fifteen feet high. Between and open door for the girls to go in and out and the vents, with the right amount of shavings you should never have any fumes. Fumes are a sign of not enough shavings. Even good venting will not get rid of the fumes! That is done by the shavings. Haystack
In my coop there are no shavings. My chickens live on an elevated floor made of 1/2" heavey wire screen. The dropping eventually fall through the floor as they walk on them and are stored under the elevated floor. The increase in odor/amonia smell, of course, has become an issue since I went from 3 hens to 13. .....I will take a picture asap of the coop area so that you can see what I'm talking about. :)
Would there be room under the screen to have the droppings fall into shavings that you could stir? That might work to absorb the ammonia.
"My chickens live on an elevated floor made of 1/2" heavey wire screen."
Yeah, that's gonna have an, um, aroma. I've tried wire floors with different critters, and the only time it's worked well is when there was a tray underneath to catch the droppings and remove them frequently. It also seemed to hurt their feet, but whether it was just the abrasiveness of the wire, or the droppings that stuck to them causing irritaion, I don't know, but I had to rinse that frequently, as well. I decided I'm much too lazy for that. I do have 1/4 inch hardware cloth (wire screen) an the bottom of the coop, but it's for predator protection :).
Hi Glenda! I understand what your doing now! The biggest fear for me would be the effect of the amonia on your chickens. At some point it will either make them very sick or even cause death. Amonia deplets the oxygen in the air and will eventually lead to respritory problems. Only you can be the judge of whether there is sufficient air supply or not. Remember the girls are on the floor even closer to the amonia than you are. Goodluck Hay.
Thanks Haystack! I just knew that those fumes couldn't be good for them! yuk!
Here’s a picture that will help….
I have had my chickens in this coop for 4 years now with no ammonia problems, and no problems with my chicken’s feet from the wire floor. The ammonia gas is a recent problem that started when I tried to make some changes, this year, with how I keep the coop warm through the winter. Since I’ve had chickens, through the winter,I have hung a double thickness blanket over the doors you see in the bottom right picture; and even with the blanket covering the doors, there has not been any ammonia problem. (The doors have ¼” screen insets.) Actually, because the wire floor allows the droppings to dry so quickly, my coop has had very little smell at all, which has been nice. ….Anyways, this year I bought and cut to size, a sheet of 1/2" thick ridged foam insulation to put inside the doors you see in the bottom right of the photo. Worked like a dream, the chickens could not get to it, and held in a lot more warmth than the blanket, but THAT is when I first had trouble with the ammonia smell. So, yesterday I cut the ridged foam insulation panels in half – only covering the top half of the doors, and will see if that allows enough ventilation to remove the ammonia. If it does, it will at least help hold in the heat in the top half of the coop - hopefully. If all else fails, I can remove the panels and go back to my blanket. It has worked for 4 years…….but it’s just a pain in the tail to take off and put back on every time I need to get into the coop during the winter. :-[
Check this out www.nortoncreekpress.com/fresh-air-poultry-houses2 I am doing this and what a difference. It will work in your area.