Building a new coop, have ventilation questions

Rsvhvn

In the Brooder
Apr 30, 2017
6
0
17
Huber Heights (Dayton) Ohio
Hi, we are new to chickens. We just got 6 Isa Brown from Royal King. They are 3 weeks old. We are building a chicken coop inside of a lean-to area. Right now all we have done is the flooring. It is 1 foot off the ground (hardware cloth to go all around the bottom and out 8-10"), 2x12 sides with 2x6 floor joists, 3/4" plywood. We were planning to build the walls up just below the rafters (about 9 ft roof height) leaving about 2 foot open at top on three sides, screwing in 1/2" hardware cloth over these openings, 2 windows on opposite sides, 1 people/clean out door and 1 chicken door. The total coop space is 8 ft x 9 ft. The fourth side will be a 3 ft x 9 ft storage area.

So questions are:

Is that enough ventilation or should the walls vents be more like 3 ft? I want there to be enough ventilation that they can stay in the coop when it's really bad out in the winter, but not have the vents so large that they end up freezing. The approximate length of two sides is 9 ft and one side is 8 ft.

In the garage, we found some old, but in really good shape, crank windows. Would one on each of the 8 ft sides be enough during the summer (late July and through August is the humid time with temps in the 90s). The garage is on one side (about 3-4 ft away) and the other side has the back wall of the lean to. The area between the coop and the back wall is about 16 with no side wall.

We will be including a run that is 8 ft wide by 25 ft long. In addition, there is 1/4 of acre fenced in next to the coop/run area they can free range, plus another 2 1/2 to 3 acres behind that I can take them to in a chicken tractor.

Thanks for reading and any help you can provide.

Robin
 
Welcome! It's great to have an existing building to start your coop. What is your climate, and post pictures!!! You can have large south facing windows, hardware cloth covered, and add some plastic sheeting for wind protection in winter. Chickens handle cold much better than heat, and do need lots of ventilation. Everything sounds good so far, and your birds will be ready to go there any time. Mary
 
Welcome to BYC,,

Before any of us can give and advice we need to know where you live and your climate.

I would suggest you find your state thread and chat with the people in your area, they will know what works best in your area.

Good Luck.
 
Your coop size and set up sounds a lot like ours. We live near Cincinnati, so same climate.
We have 6 chickens, the coop is 8' x 18' (8' x 9' for chickens, other half for storage), 2 crank/awning windows, vent opening near roof, popdoor to run & people door. The run is covered, so it stays pretty dry and allows the hens to be out year round. During the cold months we have plastic on the first 8' of the run on the north side. It keeps the harsh wind and snow from blowing in. Even in winter the south window stays cracked open along with the popdoor and vent.
 
Sounds like you will have enough ventilation and windows to be able to tweak. Check my signature for a thread on this...a remote hygrometer will help you through the winter (and the summer) to tweak your coop ventilation. Unless the very coldest of weather, the pop door left open will help the "draw" to move moisture out...remember chickens add their own heat which is all good in very cold weather.

IMHO, the more you are able to vary the ventilation, the better...that was my finding.
 
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