Coop ventilation

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madmantrapper

madmantrapper

Songster
10 Years
Apr 15, 2009
157
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119
Maryland
I was looking through the coop design pages. Most of them do not have what I would consider an abudance of ventilation. I am thinking I have over done it on my new coop. So of the coops shown don't have ventilation at all. I have about 4 sq ft at both ends of the shed type roof, the entire entrance door (12.5 sq ft) and 7 sq ft window on the oppsite end of the door. The footprint of the coop is 6 x 8 and the volume is 288 cu ft. Have I over done it?

Paul
 
many people on here have more knowledge about this than I do, but I think it depends a lot on location.

Down south, we are more concerned about ventaliation because of the heat. I believe up north they are more worried about keeping the chickens warm during the winters. I have two windows and a door for ventalation. my dad has a 12" high opening at the bottom. the coops are 200 yards apart.

His chickens have enough sense to stay in the run on hot days and only go to the coop well after dark. Mine have enough sense to huddle together during the winter under the heat lamp. I would watch the chickens. They'll let you know one way or the other.
 
I was looking through the coop design pages. Most of them do not have what I would consider an abudance of ventilation.

I would have to agree with you. (But, remember a LOT of BYCers have ventilation via the soffits, which are not visible on many pictures...)

However if you look at how many threads there are in summer about 'my coop is too hot' and in winter about 'my chickens got frostbite and it's not even that cold' or 'why do I have so much stink and/or condensation and frost?', it sort of proves that underventilated coops really DO have consequences.

I have about 4 sq ft at both ends of the shed type roof, the entire entrance door (12.5 sq ft) and 7 sq ft window on the oppsite end of the door. The footprint of the coop is 6 x 8 and the volume is 288 cu ft. Have I over done it?

There is no such thing as too much ventilation, assuming you can shut it down as sometimes desired. It is a GOOD THING to build in way plenty ventilation, and both you and your chickens will be happier, honest
smile.png


I would say you have "a good plenty" of ventilation (depending on what climate you live in and how many chickens will be in there)... I'm not going to suggest you build more
smile.png
but you know what, there will be days that you will really benefit from what you've got. The coop *will not* build up daytime heat that it can't shed easily in the evening, and you will have the capacity to really keep the air good 'n' fresh. For winter, you just don't *use* all of it. Thus you will be spared the fun of going out there to hack another opening in the wall during a January cold snap, how tragic for you <g>

Applauding your design,

Pat​
 
First I want to say sorry for the hijack. But we are building our coop right now. It is 8' x 12'. The 12' is the front and back, 8' walls on the front 6' walls at the back. My husband seems the think that there willl be enough ventilation thru the soffits. What do you guys think. I was thinking we should also put some louvered vents in the top front.
 
It depends on the size of the soffit vents (which depends on the slope of the roof and some carpentry details). You can go measure it yourself and add it up -- but make sure you are measuring the right dimensions. The correct dimension is not necessarily the area of the vent itself, but the area the air will have to go THROUGH. So, like, if you have a shallowly-sloped roof, you could have 2' wide soffits, all just screened, but to get into the coop that air might have to go through an opening just 8" high above the top plate of the wall -- that 8" dimension, times the length of the vents, is what counts. So, do all the multiplying and adding, and come up with yer total square footage of vents.

It is really hard to prescribe exactly what number will be adequate, because it depends so much on climate, coop details, # chickens, how much they're in/out, weather, management style, etc.... but it is probably smart to aim for something like *at a bare minimum* 1 sq ft per 10 sq ft of coop floor space, and really 1 sq ft per chicken is a better number because there are many situations where you'll need/want that much. Of course more than that is good, too, especially if you get hot weather.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat
 
Briana, I have soffet/ridgecap vents in my (MN) coop. It is 6x8 for 4 chickens. The ridgecap vent is 8 ft. long. I also have 12x12 vents in the gables that are closeable. When it's really windy, snowing or super cold, I shut those gable vents until the harsh temps pass. It will get stinky in there, even with the soffet/ridgecap ventilation. Just thought you'd want to know.
 
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I live in Maryland where we can have some very humid summers and dry winters. The coop is housing 11 birds. Just added this because I don't know how to add it in the profile.
 
I visited a friend of mine up the road a piece last night. He raises chickens also. The ventilation in his coops is almost nil. He has a litle screen about 8x10 in the lower corner and some soffit vent along one top edge. His coops are about 4 x 4 x 8. This seems like very little vent area. He said its been thisd way for years. It is not a tenth of the square footage of mine. His coops do seem dry and has says he changes the bedding straw in the bottom once per week. He also has them out from mornig til night. I guess it works for him.
 
It's easier to plug a vent hole than it is make a new one when the pressure is on. I'm with Pat. I say go long on ventilation right from the get go. Good Luck Woody
 

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