Clear roof for light? Yay or nay

[21hens-incharge]

You really should build it bigger to start. It is expensive to redo.
Ask me how I know.......

The premade kits basically suck. To small, cheap materials, poor predator proofing, poor ventilation etc etc etc.

 

[21hens-incharge]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...nally-finished-pic-heavy.617973/#post-8205994

Thought you might like seeing this one.

In the thread she does say that if it were not under a solid roof she would not have gone with the poly roof.

Its still a great visual.

 

[casualty]

As you've seen, everyone here(including me) will recommend a larger coop. A 4x4 coop will work, but you will have to make sure they have run access all year. My experience matches the rest; my chickens will not step foot in snow.

 

[chickie22]

Okay. Looking into turning it into a 4'x8'. Thanks everyone for the input.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

I'm in NY too and find the hot summers wouldn't agree with the clear panels. In a perfect world you could cover them in the summer because they sure would add some warm in the winter months.

Good for you being ready to grab the birds quick! I will add that using full sheets of plywood so you end up with 4x8 saves enough cutting to justify the expense of just a bit more lumber. Much more comfortable size. You'd never know how unpleasant the problems of your coop being too small in this climate can be. You won't be treating wounds and wondering why your birds are standing outside in freezing rain getting frostbite(because they have no choice in a small coop).

If you really can't do it then try to plan the underneath high enough and enclosed, maybe with those tuftex panels, so they can eat and drink out of the wind and wet. Tarping a part of the run can help too. You really don't want them to ever go to bed wet in cold weather.

Good luck and keep us posted, you've got a great start trying to think it out to keep them happy!

 

[Birdinhand]

skip the clear panels for the roof if it will be exposed to direct sunlight in the hot summer. I have a clear roof over part of my run and can get away with it because the walls are nothing but hardware cloth. and yes, glad to hear you are doubling to size, I always recommend doubling the minimum number of square feet per bird, they love space and perditors love to eat them, so free ranging is problematic, best to keep them in. I recommend framing the coop out and enveloping the whole thing, including the roof in hardware cloth, if you can keep the rats out you keep everything else out (no more than a 1/2" gap anywhere, especially door frames. the hardware cloth needs to go about 2' into the ground, preferably at a 45 degree angle away from the coop to deter the diggers, with a 12" eave to keep the rain away from the underground hardware cloth. if you keep the rain away from the hardware cloth in ground, it will last for decades vs 5 years. if you pour a slab and have a berm up to the hardware cloth, a good 6" up, then it will last indefinitely.

building a good coop is a serious undertaking and if done right will give you peace of mind long run. if not done right, it will turn into a headache. buy hardware cloth in 100' rolls of 48" galvanized is kind of the gold standard, secured to 4"x4" posts at 46" centers, secured with galvanized fencing nails/unails. the roost should be relatively draft free with plenty of ventilation... they do most of their pooping at night and need to have enough ventilation to keep the ammonia level down. my roost area is raised, my hens enter a hole in the floor, the walls have two windows that are permanently closed and there are vents in the crest of the roof. the vents can be covered with slats or situated to avoid direct wind.

 

[lazy gardener]

It really wouldn't take you any longer to make a 4 x 8 shed style coop. Actually less cutting and fitting than involved in making a short 4 x 4 coop. And, if you find that chickens aren't for you, then you could easily re-purpose that 4 x 8 into a shed, play house, or any other yard use.

 

[squadleader]

While a coops primary duty is for night-time roosting, in almost all cases they are called on to be daytime shelter as well, if only because it's raining, too windy, you're out of town, someone forgot to let them out, whatever.

So the ability of the coop to provide the best possible conditions cannot be simply dismissed by saying, "oh they'll never be in there during the day".

To create the best possible conditions, regardless of the coop size, orientation of the coop is critical. Let's deal with both extremes (hot and cold) and see what we can come up with.

Heat first.

With few exceptions, chickens don't like direct sun and spend the vast majority of their time in the shade, especially in hot weather, so you're correct, a clear roof is a very bad idea.

In fact, the best possible roof in hot weather is a bright white roof, to reflect as much solar energy away as possible. I had a black PVC roof membrane I installed on my chicken tractor, and it got so hot, I could not touch it. I repainted it bright white, and the same membrane was cool to the touch, so in heat, use a light colored roof.

Next provide generous eaves, one foot to three feet, depending on whether you want to store things under them, and work beneath them, the benefits are many.

Eaves keep rain off the wood of your structure, preventing rot, they prevent blowing rain from entering windows, which allows you to leave windows open on hot humid days with storms, which is a huge help with ventilation and keeping litter dry.

As mentioned, they also give you space to store bins, and to work without getting wet, plus additional dry shelter for the chickens in the run, or keeping space under the coop dry in blowing rain.

Plus, for all these benefits, eaves are cheap. You've already built their support (the coop itself), all you have to do is simply extend the plywood, or whatever else you're using for the roof, beyond the walls of the coop as far as you feel you can, without the roof sagging.

If it's a large structure, pick up some covered storage space. I made the eaves at the back of my tractor 28 inches and now I wish they were 36 inches. My front eaves are 12 inches, and again, I wish they were 36 inches, especially when I'm working at the front of the tractor, with rain water flowing off the roof onto me.

28 inch, always north facing back eaves.

12 inch, always south facing front eaves.

I'm actually probably going to change out this roof membrane eventually, and carry the new membrane down 18 inches lower, along the sides of the tractor, then use angle iron to tilt the extra membrane up, creating a nice eave down each side of my tractor.

While your coop isn't on this scale, the benefits of eaves are just as true for a 4x4 coop. I'd guess good eaves could double the lifespan of a wood structure by keeping the wood dry.

You'll also notice I only allocated two feet of the 16 foot length of this tractor, to clear roofing, and it's only on the south end of the tractor, to capture as much low hanging winter sun as possible, to provide warmth to the tractor and the chickens in winter.

So that brings us to cold. In winter the sun is very, very low in the southern sky. In summer the sun rises almost due east, traveling directly overhead, then setting almost due west.

Most people aren't that aware of this fact because it has little bearing on our modern life of central heat and air.

But this natural fact is the greatest resource available to you, and your chickens, for a creating a comfortable coop.

Because all your heat load in winter is on your south wall, face one wall of your structure south to southeast, with as much glass or open wire as possible on this wall. This floods the coop with winter sun. However, in summer all the heat loads switch to your east and west walls.

Especially if you used eaves, no sun will enter the south wall of glass at all during summer because the sun is too high in the sky, unlike the winter sun, which is very low in the southern sky, and will flood the inside of your coop with sunlight.

So if you used eaves, in the summer, when all the sun is on the east and west walls, the eaves will keep the sun off your east and west coop walls, except early in the morning, and very late in the evening. This is a huge help with keeping the coop cool.

So ideally, your south side is open, and your east and west walls could have simple hinged wall sections that open, near the roof line, covered in half inch hardware cloth, under the eaves, which can be opened in the summer, even in rain.

As an aside, if you happen to live in a very temperate climate, like some parts of the southern US, and it seldom gets to freezing, you don't need walls at all. Ideally, you'd have half inch hardware cloth on all sides, with large eaves all around, keeping the coop dry and preventing rot.

To recap, use eaves, and provide as much open wire or glass facing south to southeast as possible.

 

[lazy gardener]

Okay. Looking into turning it into a 4'x8'. Thanks everyone for the input.

You will not regret that decision for a moment of your life.

 

[quackingdom]

Here's a thread about balancing ventilation and drafts: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/ventilated-but-free-of-drafts.1048597/

2-3 square feet per chicken CAN work...if they're ONLY going to be in there for the night, roosting and sleeping. If they have to be inside most of the winter, they need room to move around. Plus, maybe chicken math will hit you and you'll want more chickens. Bigger is always better.