Check my plan for inside the coop.....

[JoeP]

Thanks for your response! Our roosts are only going to be in front of the windows..at least to start, so hopefully they will take to it being there. I plan to do water inside the coop and in the run during the months that it won't freeze out there. I'm plumbing an auto-fill for the water buckets for the warmer months also. That style PVC feeders seemed to be the best option of all the ones that I found. Time will tell on all accounts I suppose.

Great looking coop!! One idea- if you have laying hens you might want to consider finding a way
of covering the windows if your going to have your roost by the window. Chickens need rest to lay good.
I don't know your surroundings but if there is constant movement going by the window, pets or night time predators, then hens
will be on constant alert which causes stress. It will most likely effect egg production. Something simple like a shade
would help. Just a idea.

 

[TerryH]

Great looking coop!! One idea- if you have laying hens you might want to consider finding a way
of covering the windows if your going to have your roost by the window. Chickens need rest to lay good.
I don't know your surroundings but if there is constant movement going by the window, pets or night time predators, then hens
will be on constant alert which causes stress. It will most likely effect egg production. Something simple like a shade
would help. Just a idea.

Thanks for the response! There should not be any movement going by but there will not be total darkness. No outside pets. We're near some commercial properties that have 24/7 parking lot lights.

Behind the tree line in the very back of this photo and to the right side are where those properties are. We fought hard to get them to keep the light on their property which they do a very good job of doing but it won't be totally dark in the coop.

 

[aart]

Not sure if the light will bother the birds, I have no experience with outdoor lights where I live....they may get used to it, they are pretty adaptive.
They do need a dark cycle. I use lighting for winter laying, it needs to be fairly bright over the roost and feed/water stations.

How bright is it really, maybe they will turn their backs to the window and it won't bother them at all?

 

[TerryH]

Not sure if the light will bother the birds, I have no experience with outdoor lights where I live....they may get used to it, they are pretty adaptive.
They do need a dark cycle. I use lighting for winter laying, it needs to be fairly bright over the roost and feed/water stations.

How bright is it really, maybe they will turn their backs to the window and it won't bother them at all?

It is not bright by any means but you can see enough to move around. Light is coming through the windows and shining on the east wall. I think I'll need to do something to block the windows, I would hate to take them out but if that's the thing that needs to be done then I need to do it now before the coop is finished.

 

[daisygirlfp]

Curtains! They will add class to an already great coop!

 

[TerryH]

Curtains! They will add class to an already great coop!

Thanks. I don't know about the curtains.

My goal here is to have the windows open when the weather is hot. Perhaps some 2" faux wood blinds. We have them in the house. I could angle them to block most of the light and still allow air flow.

 

[aart]

Blinds/curtains would work but they would get filthy....the dust can become unbelievable in a coop.
But some people like to clean...I do not.
I actually used to the shop vac in my shed to get rid of 2 years worth of dust last summer,
but that was in parts of the shed outside of the coop enclosure, it piles up where no activity is happening....might not fit your situation.

Also consider safety...I can see a bird possibly getting tangled up in blinds.
Any curtains would need to be fully bound so no dangling threads.
Worst case scenarios, I know, but still.
Curtains/blinds blowing around in breezes might alarm birds.

I wonder if an awning outside would work...light might be coming in too low for that to be functional.
Large industrial louvers mounted outside...might also be beneficial to block heat gain in summer.

Wondering...
....what are the cardinal directions, NSEW, in relation to coop
.....relocation of windows to run side of coop, would that block the lights?
.....where is prevailing wind in relation to which coop walls?

Just a bunch of thoughts<shrugs>

 

[TerryH]

Blinds/curtains would work but they would get filthy....the dust can become unbelievable in a coop.
But some people like to clean...I do not.
I actually used to the shop vac in my shed to get rid of 2 years worth of dust last summer,
but that was in parts of the shed outside of the coop enclosure, it piles up where no activity is happening....might not fit your situation.

Also consider safety...I can see a bird possibly getting tangled up in blinds.
Any curtains would need to be fully bound so no dangling threads.
Worst case scenarios, I know, but still.
Curtains/blinds blowing around in breezes might alarm birds.

I wonder if an awning outside would work...light might be coming in too low for that to be functional.
Large industrial louvers mounted outside...might also be beneficial to block heat gain in summer.

Wondering...
....what are the cardinal directions, NSEW, in relation to coop
.....relocation of windows to run side of coop, would that block the lights?
.....where is prevailing wind in relation to which coop walls?

Just a bunch of thoughts<shrugs>

Like to clean....well yes I suppose we do...you saw my shop pictures right? lol...

We have those type of blinds in the house already. They have provisions to attach them at the bottom of the opening. I used that feature on the doors that have windows. It prevents them from moving so that might not be an issue. Unsure about the chickens getting tangled in them. I would place them inside the jambs close to the windows to get them as much out of the way as possible. What about a pull down shade? I'd have to close the windows but that would definitely block the light. There is a pretty good amount of ventilation other than those windows. I had also considered tinting the windows. Light would still get in but it would be reduced quite a bit.

Not sure about the awning idea but I'll investigate if that would help. I could fab up something temporary just to test and see how effective that would be.

The light is coming from the south and west. Primarily west thus the light on the east wall in the picture. These windows are on the south. Prevailing winds are also from the south and west.

I would hate to do it but I could remove those windows and plug the holes with more siding but it would be a major deal to relocate them to the west wall. I'm unsure how much that would help anyway.

Would it be better to move the roosts to the west wall as I had originally planned? That way there would be solid wall behind the roosts with a window on each end. The north facing window does not have light as the south facing ones do.

Not trying to be lazy but is there a possibility that I'm overthinking or over reacting to the light? Might they just adapt?

 

[daisygirlfp]

Blinds inside would be a nightmare to keep the dust off. I think you will greatly enjoy having the light from your windows and your hens will adjust. I have used a heavy short panel curtain in lieu of a shade that I hung on cup hooks above the window at night mostly to keep our hens warm from the cold window. When I was in the coop I just took the rod off the big cup type hooks at the top of the window and moved the rod and curtain to cup type hooks on the bottom. The curtain was easy as pie to clean, just slide off the rod and wash it in a bucket and throw it over the fence to dry.

Our chickens now live in an old sheep shed that has been raised off the ground and now have wire bottoms. They are not intended for people to go into and are easy to clean out underneath from outside with a rake.

Are you going to paint the inside of your coop to make it easy to hose down?

Just to show you that we love projects as well, here is the kids guinea pig house from 25 years ago made into an outdoor nest box for the chickens.

 

[aart]

Quote: Might be the easiest solution.

But yes, you might be over reacting to the light being a problem, but you may not know until the birds ahve been in residnece for some time
....blinds can be put up later if it's problem.