Building our own coop

[FBMcrazy8]

Has anyone used or have one of the solar chickens doors that open when the sun comes out? If so would you recommend it. And when will it shut?

 

[Aunt Angus]

By open, I meant not a solid wall. Heres a pic I snagged off the interwebs of one way a coop wall can be open:

I have an auto coop door, but it runs on battery. It opens just after sun up and closes just after dark, but the sensor is adjustable.

And I'm glad you are using transom vents. I had ones that were 6 ft long and 6 in high on my last coop, which was only a 4x8. I have an 8x8, too. I cut 6 windows just under my eaves that equal about 18 sq ft of vent. I have a security gate on my coop, so that helps.

And I understand about predators. I have pretty much every predator out: skunks, snakes, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, possum, bears, owls, hawks, eagles, mountain lion, and even the occasional wolf. And roaming dogs. Ugh. I highly recommend electric fencing if you have coyote.

 

[3KillerBs]

It is the same thing you would put on the outside of your home for attics. Just not as big as the octagon ones. We also bought a boot to put a vent in the roof. We just aren’t sure if we will need that or not yet.

Think about how hot an attic gets on a sunny summer day.

This is my brooder. It's 4'x8' with 16 square feet of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation under the little awnings, not including the 10 square feet extra I get when I open the flaps on the door and the vent wall: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/run-to-outdoor-brooder-conversion.76634/

It's completely draft-free at chick level with the flaps down even though the vents under the awnings are never closed.

 

[3KillerBs]

I highly recommend electric fencing if you have coyote.

Oh yes!

I have heard coyotes behind my house though I've never seen them and we have roaming dogs tear into the trash from time to time. I'm so glad we went with the electric poultry netting!

 

[Quadzilla32]

Would adding a vent opening in the coop that cant be closed be a bad idea for winter time? I know ventilation is important in all seasons but I'm narrowing down how many vent openings i am goin to add and was thinking of adding a long thinner vent to the top of the coop that would just be backed by hardware cloth and always be open. This vent would be on the inside of the run so covered from the elements

 

[3KillerBs]

Would adding a vent opening in the coop that cant be closed be a bad idea for winter time? I know ventilation is important in all seasons but I'm narrowing down how many vent openings i am goin to add and was thinking of adding a long thinner vent to the top of the coop that would just be backed by hardware cloth and always be open. This vent would be on the inside of the run so covered from the elements

Having generous amounts of protected venting that is never closed is exactly what's needed.

 

[FBMcrazy8]

By open, I meant not a solid wall. Heres a pic I snagged off the interwebs of one way a coop wall can be open:
View attachment 3139663

I have an auto coop door, but it runs on battery. It opens just after sun up and closes just after dark, but the sensor is adjustable.

And I'm glad you are using transom vents. I had ones that were 6 ft long and 6 in high on my last coop, which was only a 4x8. I have an 8x8, too. I cut 6 windows just under my eaves that equal about 18 sq ft of vent. I have a security gate on my coop, so that helps.

And I understand about predators. I have pretty much every predator out: skunks, snakes, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, possum, bears, owls, hawks, eagles, mountain lion, and even the occasional wolf. And roaming dogs. Ugh. I highly recommend electric fencing if you have coyote.

Yep, you for sure have more predictors going on. We have a raccoon that has been hanging around the house. Wish I still had my coon hounds…but we do have hawks, owls, eagles, foxes, opossum, and though we haven’t seen any snakes I know there is at least corn snakes /garden snakes. We did think about an electrical fence, and we have everything for it. I will just have to talk to my husband about putting it up. We weren’t 100% sure we would need to but after the rabbits, we really don’t want to risk anything. The other thing we have to be mindful of is bats. Though we haven’t seen any in the house, there isn’t to say they aren’t in the attic. We have see them flying around at night but there are old barns near us that they could be hanging around in. In town though we had a couple get in our house.

I figured with those vents they would be open all the time and there is screens to keep anything from crawling inside. I have a window I have considered but with our post light outside light would be in their coop all night. I don’t really know how to fix that problem without restricting air flow.

 

[Quadzilla32]

Having generous amounts of protected venting that is never closed is exactly what's needed.

I plan to have larger "windows" that can be opened and closed with HC on the inside but would lock those when it gets cold/night. The vents near the top would always be open but didn't want to make a mistake having them always open and freeze the chickens.

 

[FBMcrazy8]

Would adding a vent opening in the coop that cant be closed be a bad idea for winter time? I know ventilation is important in all seasons but I'm narrowing down how many vent openings i am goin to add and was thinking of adding a long thinner vent to the top of the coop that would just be backed by hardware cloth and always be open. This vent would be on the inside of the run so covered from the elements

The one vent I have on the north side is open. But if it gets below a certain temp (haven’t figured that temp out yet) we may cover that one vent temporarily. Or make some kind of box opening where the bottom of said box would be open but the other sides closed. That way it would still be open but the north wind won’t blow directly in it. I don’t know how else to describe it…

 

[3KillerBs]

I plan to have larger "windows" that can be opened and closed with HC on the inside but would lock those when it gets cold/night. The vents near the top would always be open but didn't want to make a mistake having them always open and freeze the chickens.

Night is when chickens need ventilation the most because they're inside with the ammonia from their poop and the moisture from their poop and their breath.

You don't want the wind blowing across their roosts, but as long as they are dry and out of the wind chickens readily tolerate cold down to at least 0F when acclimated to it.