So, I built my own chicken coop

[RichardR]

No problem man I am always up for talking about chickens.[\QUOTE]

You've just become my chicken guru!

Let me ask this, I did not include any floor venting as you've described. If i were to cut and screen some vents on the lower portion of the back wall, would that suffice?

Yea that should work, try to get them as low as possible though, what your basically wanting to do with the venting is create a slight "chimney effect" inside of the coop to circulate the air.

Kickbacked, most chicken breeds can handle cold weather better than they can hot weather, they'll snuggle/huddle together for warmth & their feathers are natural insulators, there is some vulnerability for frostbite especially on their combs if the temp drops really low, but them over-heating in the summer is what I worry about the most, so just like any other animal, plenty of shade + a readily available supply of water for them to drink is really important.

 

[M88A1]

cold weather chickens

That looks great, i have been considering raising some but i havent the first clue as to how to raise chickens. This might sound dumb, but will a chicken last outside during winter or do you make fried chicken out of them when it starts snowing?

Our learning curve also included a hen almost freezing to death, we picked a cold hardly breed able to live in below zero climated which wasnt the case for Bedford area. We used two heat lamps and two 100ft extention cords to keep them warm day and night when it was severely below zero, but it did keep up egg production higher than normal do to the constand light.

 

[longbow]

watch the floors, poop does wonderful things to wood over time.