Coop with lots of windows

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dbonomo

dbonomo

Hatching
Nov 5, 2015
6
0
7
Northern Colorado
Hi there!

My birds are outgrowing their coop and I am in the process of replacing it with a larger one. A few years ago a mixup with a contractor landed us with 6 brand new double pane windows. I've been contemplating using them as a portion of the walls of the new coop, but I was wondering if it might be too much light for them. All told, it would be about 2/3rds of the walls, something like this was roughly my plan:

| - - - ===]
| B]
| - - - ===]

solid walls (=,])
glass walls (|,-)
nesting box (B)

There would be 2x4s supporting the glass and in between each pane, ventilation at the top, and a door at the opposite side of the nesting boxes.

What do you folks think? Can chickens get away with living in glass houses??

I was hoping that it might help with egg production in the winter since I don't plan on using a light, but is there a limit to how much light you let in? I don't want to spook the ladies or make them uncomfortable.

Thanks!
 
The windows were originally going to be fixed to ease the complexity of the construction, although it would be nice to have them open for cleaning now that you mention it!

At first I was thinking I would add some large vents at the top under the roof for the summer time, as it does seem like it could get pretty hot in there.
 

Found this on craigslist we completed it. The two openings I was told by the seller were for the nesting boxes. because we wanted to hurry up and get ready by winter we just put Plexiglas over the two windows I like be in able to see inside and see what the girls are doing it's a small coopl 4x4
 
I would think carefully about that plan. You don't want huge temperature swings such as the sun heating up the coop to a warm temp during the winter and then having it drop drastically at night, or summer sun making the coop unbearably hot. Of course it depends on your climate and also on how much sun hits the coop but be careful, a small space could heat up fast.

Most folks have windows covered with hardware cloth along with flaps if they need to close them.
 
Last edited:
Put them in, but make the operable.

I built my coop in a large shed that had left over double panes set in statically as 'lights'.
I added hinges to the tops of most of them, most open to the outside and act as awnings against rain, for ventilation with hardware cloth on the inside for predator protection.

The extra light is great for both birds and keeper, the heat gain might be intolerable....I cover a few of them in the summer to decrease heat gain from direct sun.
 

This is the west side of my coop. Lots of windows (11 total). I used smoked lexan as it lets light in but does not build as much heat inside the coop. You could possibly put window film on them to get a similar function. Just a thought there on keeping the heat down.

Below you can see one of the solid windows (hatches really). I tossed this pic in so you can see the hinge on the top for opening the window. This pic was during construction of the coop but shows good detail on the new window prior to paint. North side and south side have this kind while east and west got the lexan.



I agree put them in but make them operational. The more ventilation options you have the happier you and your chickens will be.
 
Thanks for all the responses! I'm going to go forward with the plan to put them in on hinges, so they can open in the summer and for cleaning.



Got the holes dug and the first post set today!
 

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