Build A Chicken House

When you build a chicken house do not underestimate how much air they need.

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Seriously, chickens need fresh air and lots of it.

So what makes chickens so special?

Chickens produce three things;

Moisture – from their breath and their poo (chickens don’t wee as a rule). This excessive moisture can easily lead to respiratory illness.

Heat – Hang with all those feathers you’d cook easily too! Hens work best when their body temperature is under 75 degrees F. Any more than 90 and they begin to suffer from heat stress.

Ammonia – yes the gas. Ammonia damages the lungs and because chickens expel all their waste through their poop the gas gets to hang around for longer.

By planning to have plenty of ventilation when you build a chicken house the air will be drier, cooler and healthier.

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What type of ventilation?

There are three types;

  1. Natural – a window, a vent or a slot.
  2. Wind Turbine – basically a fan installed in the side of the coop. When the wind blows, the fan works to extract stale. Unfortunately the turbine doesn’t work when there is no wind.
  3. Active ventilation – this is fancy talk for a big fan. Whether powered by electricity or the sun your it is an option that is usually incredibly impractical for the hobby hen farmer. If you do go with this option when you build a chicken house, ensure that you get a heavy duty commercial one and clean it out regularly to avoid the risk of fire.

How much air do they need?

As much as possible.

Now this doesn’t mean that if you have managed to build your chicken house without much thought to ventilation that a couple of 2inch holes drilled in the side of the coop will cut it. Uh Uh. If you are going to do that, make sure that you drill about 50 of them! The best idea is to have long narrow slots at the top of the coop and maybe a couple of 6 inch x 4 inch ones along the walls. Make even more if you live in warmer climates.
In warmer climates it is really advisable to have one or two walls that have removable walls – leaving the chickens behind a screen during warm or humid weather.

Something that is really important to remember when you build a chicken house is that the vents are for fresh air, but they should not create a draft on the chickens.

Any vents that you make should also have wind, water, draft and peck proof doors or flaps.

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