Is Your Chicken Coop Ready For Winter? Don't Forget The Air!

When cold weather arrives, many poultry keepers instinctively close their coops tightly to keep their chickens warm. Unfortunately, that can trap moisture, ammonia, and stale air—creating conditions far more dangerous than the cold itself.

In this episode of PK360 LIVE, Rip Stalvey, Jeff Mattocks, Carey Blackmon, and Sue Dobson take a practical look at winter air quality and what poultry keepers can learn by observing their birds and the conditions inside their coops.

The team discusses:

• The difference between healthy ventilation and a harmful draft
• Why dry birds generally tolerate cold temperatures remarkably well
• How moisture and condensation accumulate inside winter housing
• Why ammonia can harm chickens before people can smell it
• How to calculate coop volume and choose an exhaust fan
• Timed and forced-air ventilation
• The connection between bedding, carbon, moisture, and ammonia
• What respiratory behavior and feather condition may reveal
• How stocking density and coop construction affect air quality
• Common winter ventilation mistakes
• The risks associated with supplemental heat

Good winter management is not about creating human comfort inside a chicken coop. It is about protecting birds from direct weather while maintaining clean, dry, healthy air.

Poultry Keepers 360 brings breeding, management, and nutrition together to help small-flock keepers understand their birds and make better-informed decisions.

If you enjoy thoughtful, experience-based poultry information like this, that’s what this channel is all about.

Our sincere thanks to The Fertrell Company for sponsoring PK360 LIVE and supporting practical poultry education.

TIMESTAMPS AND CHAPTERS

0:00 Why winter air quality matters
1:57 Cold temperatures versus moisture and wind
3:07 Ventilation versus drafts
4:35 Where an exhaust fan should be placed
7:17 Calculating coop volume and fan runtime
9:38 A mentor’s cold-weather ventilation system
14:30 Where winter moisture comes from
16:08 Ammonia can cause harm before you smell it
19:09 Bedding, carbon, and ammonia control
21:02 Biochar, activated charcoal, and peat moss
25:14 Should ventilation change with temperature?
26:05 What birds reveal about poor air quality
27:49 Feather condition, humidity, and dietary fat
34:39 What a properly managed coop should smell like
35:51 How chickens behave when they are truly cold
37:32 Ventilating open-sided coops and barns
40:35 A word from The Fertrell Company
42:10 Stocking density and air quality
43:19 Wooden coops versus metal construction
47:26 Common winter ventilation mistakes
48:52 Helping birds adjust to environmental changes
50:26 Balancing weather protection and ventilation
52:45 One change that can improve coop air quality
54:25 Choosing breeds suited to the climate
55:57 The risks of supplemental heat
58:49 Final winter air-quality lessons

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