Coop ventilation?

[aart]

Well, I guess I built my coop too short. Hopefully my chickens don't die of frost this winter as their heads will be about level with the bottom of the vent when they sit on the roosts. I saw all those shorty prebuilt coops and assumed mine would be giant compared to them. Shows what I know.

The learning curve with chickens is steep...and there's lot of misinformation in the marketing arena that leads folks down the wrong path.

 

[Ridgerunner]

In Greensville, you’ll probably be OK with that in the winter. Chickens can handle cold really well. They can squat pretty low on the roosts and duck their heads down. They will probably be able to avoid the worst of the wind.

I also like more height in the coop, it can get you more air movement in the summer. Summer is when your biggest danger is, heat kills a lot more chickens than cold. In summer the more movement you have in there the better. My main suggestion is put some type of opening down fairly low but above any bedding that you can open in the summer and close in the winter. Put it on the coolest side, probably the north out of the sun. That way cooler air can come in from the bottom and force warmer air out the top.

Your nests are external and look pretty low so it doesn’t matter with yours, but Aart is putting a personal preference in that stack method, that 18” above the bedding. It is nice to have more coop space in a small coop but some people are quite happy with cardboard boxes or milk crates sitting on the floor as nests. With walk-in coops some people really like the nests even higher so they don’t have to bend over to get the eggs. My lower nests are maybe 8” above the bedding. In some ways it would be nice to have them higher, but it gives my juveniles a place to hide from the adults when I’m integrating. It gets used a lot that way. I didn’t plan it that way, it’s just the way it worked out. A couple of times I’ve had hens decide it makes a nice place to lay eggs so I had to retrain them. There are tradeoffs in practically any of this.

I wish we had chatted before you built that but I’ll mention this in case you decide to build another one or for the other people reading this. Most building material come in 4’ or 8’ dimensions. If you buy your material new you can reduce cutting and waste by building around those dimensions. A 4’ x 6’ isn’t bad since you can probably use the cut off stuff to make nests, but a 4’ x 8’ doesn’t cost a lot more and reduces cutting and waste even more. You will have to get an extra sheet of plywood and a couple of 2x4’s for framing so there is extra cost.

I don’t know what kind of roof you are putting on there. I like overhang to help keep rain out of those vents, but I don’t have that on the north side of mine. Some rain and snow occasionally blows in but with good ventilation it soon dries out. My up-high vents look a lot like yours by the way.

You were right to slope it so rain runs off. Some people build flat roofs and water just sits up there, either leaking through or rotting the roof. It’s best to not slope it toward doors or things you will open, like your nests. You don’t want water running off there when you are trying to feed or gather eggs. You also don’t want the run-off going into your run. You want to try to keep the run as dry as possible.

I don’t know how you plan to put the opening so you can get into your nests. As flat as the tops appear you might have a problem with water leaking into the nest area or the coop. You may have to get a little creative to keep the nests dry. I haven’t built any like that so I can’t give any advice from experience but a lot of people have. It can be done.

For six chickens you really don’t need more than 2 nests that size. It looks like they are 12” x 12”. It won’t hurt a thing to have those four and the way you built them I don’t think it cost you any significant materials or extra time. Not sure how you are doing the openings for your nests though to gather eggs. If you do individual openings hardware costs could add up.

If you haven’t bought some of your hardware yet I suggest you go robust. I made the mistake of going too small and had to go back for more substantial stuff. Make sure the hinges are up to the job and make sure your locks can fit through the hasps with room to spare if you go that route.

I assume that opening in the bottom photo is your pop door. It looks level with the floor of the coop. Are you planning on putting any bedding in there? If so you need a pretty good lip to keep the chickens from scratching the bedding out. I use a 12” x 12” pop door so I think you have a lot of room to put a lip if you need to.

I realize I sound pretty critical. I don’t mean to. I think you did a really nice job and it will work well for your chickens. I just wish we had chatted before you built it. There are some tweaks that might have made it easier on you and you may have some issues to deal with. We all do. Trust me, I made plenty of mistakes in mine. How do you think I came up with most of these suggestions?

Good luck and welcome to the adventure.

 

[aart]

Guess I need more disclaimer words in my stack up theory .

 

[mobius]

Just weighing in here about ventilation...some thoughts...I really like your coop with the upper ventilation, I think it is impressive.

In order for the ventilation to "draw" and circulate passively, you WOULD need ventilation at a lower level. The pop door would help for example, altho I agree about putting a lip on it to stop bedding from falling out.

Here is my example: My house (not the coop) passively draws....On my top floor in the roof, I have two openable skylights. Nice, heh? It is. So in the summer I open them. Then on the lower floor, I open several small knee level windows (there are about five so I can vary this). If I didn't do this, the skylights woud help SOME for air to move up and out, but when I open the windows, oh, my, the house passively draws air and circulates.

NC can get hot. I suggest you consider lower level vents, maybe that can be closed...think maybe metal vents that can be found in the hardware store, about 12 x 6 inches...that are used for crawl spaces...yes I got some of those too..

I might mention that this works so well that I have no airco in my house. That being said, I live in Montana. But it is never uncomfortable and I live for the summer when I can "open up" my house.

Here is another example:

When I designed and built my wood-fired sauna, ventilation was very important to keep oxygen moving through for the users...so there ia floor level vent and another closable vent above head level on the opposite wall above where people sit....too little oxygen is why some people get sick in saunas and then don't like them...the fire takes up all the oxygen and it is not properly vented.