Chicken mansion

[Big Doggie]

Roof and most of the walls are on! Left one panel off to install the door. We decided to do soffit for ventilation. Anyone have any knowledge on the adequacy of that for ventilation?

Just repeating what I’ve read , one sf per bird

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Just repeating what I’ve read , one sf per bird

I just did the math on that advice. I have a 200 sq foot coop and 17 birds. Since soffit has holes in it, the true gap for air l, I believe, would be between the space between the roof trusses and the framing, which is about 2”. The roof is 20’ long and 10’ wide so that would be I believe 100 sqft of air. With my winters, regardless of bird count, I would really hesitate to do anymore venting. I am learning a lot as I go though, both in terms of building and in terms of chicken coops.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

View from above

 

[aart]

I just did the math on that advice. I have a 200 sq foot coop and 17 birds. Since soffit has holes in it, the true gap for air l, I believe, would be between the space between the roof trusses and the framing, which is about 2”. The roof is 20’ long and 10’ wide so that would be I believe 100 sqft of air. With my winters, regardless of bird count, I would really hesitate to do anymore venting. I am learning a lot as I go though, both in terms of building and in terms of chicken coops.

Spaces between rafters should 3.5" high, the actual size of a 2x4.
Put a fascia on end of rafters and cover with HC.
Do the same at high edge of roof.

More pics on my coop page:

You can always stuff holes with furnace filter if too much air, or snow, flows.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/ventilation-baffling.75434/

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Spaces between rafters should 3.5" high, the actual size of a 2x4.
Put a fascia on end of rafters and cover with HC.
Do the same at high edge of roof.
View attachment 2350940

More pics on my coop page:
View attachment 2350942

You can always stuff holes with furnace filter if too much air, or snow, flows.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/ventilation-baffling.75434/

Wow those were exactly the suggestions that I was needing. Thanks for the pictures!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Be gentle with the criticism here. I know we went above and beyond the call of duty, and opinions vary substantially on the use of insulation. Just from my personal experience of working in the coops, the entire structure is way less drafty and warms up quickly once we put up the foam board insulation. Anyways, we are almost ready to install the pop doors and the roosts. We just need to lay down the linoleum. I wanted to use hardware cloth on the rafters, but I am scared of heights and the task of facia and soffit fell to my boyfriend, who thoroughly shot me down, despite evidence. We used actual soffit instead of hardware cloth for the rafters. However, I still believe the ventilation is adequate since the square footage is more than the number of birds I ever intend to have.

I also framed out the windows using scrap lumber we already had on hand. I have wanted to reframe the windows inside my house, so I was pumped to use the coop for practice since I had never done it before. I know this definitely looks "extra," but I really didn't have any extra money in this.

I haven't decided yet how I'd like to structure the pop doors.

To reiterate, the coop is 10'x20'. We will add a covered run of the same size, and the coop is elevated to give them an additional 10'x20' of run space under the coop. As far as construction of the run goes, we want to finish the coop first and have only concreted in the 4x4 posts at this point. The interior of the coop will be divided into unequal thirds. 10x10' will be the main coop. Attached to the main coop is a 4'x6' "extra" coop for broody hens, injured chickens, or raising hatchery chicks. However, it will only be sectioned off with a door, so it can be part of the main coop when not in use. The remaining space is storage. Extra water feeders, med kit, a small work bench with a sink (we are running water lines to another building, and the coop is only 15' from the water line, so we are just gonna dig a trench for the coop while we are at it. Same for electric). Right now we have chicken supplies stored all over the property, so we are pumped to have storage space for the extra.

I think we are gonna name this behemoth "Cluck Mansion".

Edited to add: the random pieces of foam board on the roof aren't staying. It was just 30* F the other morning, and we turned on a heater. My bf slapped them up there to keep in some extra heat.

 

[aart]

Is the entire ceiling covered with foam board?
The high end soffits appear to be blocked with that one piece.

Right now we have chicken supplies stored all over the property, so we are pumped to have storage space for the extra.

I'll bet!!
It's a nice sized building for sure, you'll have fun with the flexibility.

 

[SulkyBantam]

Wow lovely! What's to criticize?!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Is the entire ceiling covered with foam board?
The high end soffits appear to be blocked with that one piece.

I'll bet!!
It's a nice sized building for sure, you'll have fun with the flexibility.

The entire ceiling has 1/4" foam board which is actually a moisture barrier between the metal and the rafters. We already had the material on hand. The 1" foam board that is nailed onto the rafters is temporary. My bf slapped them up there when it was 30* F out and wanted to keep in a little extra heat (for himself) using a space heater. They will be removed and the ceiling will remain open.

The high end soffits have half the exterior rafters covered with soffit (dark brown) and half with a board, because the soffit wasn't wide enough. Again, that wasn't my doing :/ but I still don't think I should have issues. I believe soffit is about 6"-8" wide. That should put me at around 30 sq feet of ventilation if I am calculating that correctly.

My current coop is a 4'x6' coop with no ventilation except windows, and condensation hasn't been an issue since I started keeping a "dry" coop. I bought it that way when I was still very much a chicken newb. I scoop poop up daily and don't keep their water in there. I'm just hoping for the best, and if worst comes to worse, the windows are higher than the roosts will be in the new coop, and I could always crack them open a for a little extra ventilation in the winter. What do you think?

Wow lovely! What's to criticize?!

I'm a little embarrassed that we've gone so far overboard! The windows, insulation AND roof are better than our actual house! BUT we've learned so much and have enjoyed the process so much that we are now talking about building our own house as a ten-year goal, so maybe it's not that overboard since we are just honing our skills??

 

[SulkyBantam]

I'm a little embarrassed that we've gone so far overboard! The windows, insulation AND roof are better than our actual house! BUT we've learned so much and have enjoyed the process so much that we are now talking about building our own house as a ten-year goal, so maybe it's not that overboard since we are just honing our skills??

If you can make a house like that, there nothing to feel but pride, trust me.