Coop ventilation? And pictures of the new coop

[poultryman84]

Hey everyone,

I am currently building a new coop for the chickens. It is going to be 24'x12'. I live in west central Illinois. Summers here can get to 100° and humid on certain days. Winters have some days below 0°. My question is if I take the top 6” of my walld and put 1/2x1/2 hardware cloth all the way around will this create a problem. There will be a 12" over hang on all sides the keep rain from running in. I think it will be fine in the summer but winter has me a little worried. Will it be to drafty??

Thanks

 

[Judy]

That's pretty close to a description of my coop. It gives some good ventilation. Being in the south, however, I also have 1/4 of one wall hardware cloth, and the opposite wall is the people door, made of 1x4's and hardware cloth. Our winters are cooler than you'd thing, into the 20's for a few nights most years, and all I do is cover the people door in plastic for the cold months because the roost is in the opposite corner and the wind tends to blow in the people door end. I love it and I imagine you will, too. Although, like me, you may need a couple of holes lower down for summer ventilation. I love my coop design! Mine will actually go in the coop in the middle of the hottest summer days because they get a better breeze in there than under bushes outdoors, plus of course the floor is always shaded.

Summers are warm enough almost everywhere in the US to cause chickens problem unless they have good breee, shade, and a good water supply. 100F is about their upper limit, but 0F is well above their lower limit.

 

[Folly's place]

You can put plastic sheeting over the west and north side vents in cold weather to manage the cold winter winds. Plan on big hardware cloth covered windows on the south side at least, and on the east side also. Look at the Woods coop designs for ideas. Sounds great to be able to start new with such a nice big coop! Mary

 

[Judy]

The wall openings on mine are on the north and south. For some reason, where I live, the weather comes more from the north than the west. This also gives the best summer breeze.

I agree, the Woods coop is an excellent design, here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/445004/woods-style-house-in-the-winter

 

[poultryman84]

I'll post some pictures of mine as I go along. Right now it's just the framed up and I started the roof. Couple more weekends and I'll have it done. Doing everything with a hand saw takes a lot more time. the coop is to far away to get power to it.

 

[poultryman84]

 

[poultryman84]

The soffit and 6" down the wall will be hardware cloth

 

[poultryman84]

Finished the roof up tonight. Next will be hardware cloth on the top of the walls and soffit. Also hardware cloth around the bottem and buried one foot in the ground then walls windows and doors!

 

[Folly's place]

Nice work! Will it be sturdy enough for the snow load? (Not and engineer here!) Mary

 

[poultryman84]

Should be strong enough. Snow load here is usually light. this year the worst we had was a 8" snow and it melted off within a couple days.