Coop venting?

[Arkantex]

So I am about half the way done with building my coop and I had a question. What do you guys do for venting your coop and getting good air circulation? Do you leave the coop "vented" all year or just durring the warmer months? I was thinking about leaving about a 1 and 1/2 inch gap at the top of my coop where the walls meet the roof to let air flow through. I figured with them being up high it will help the coop from getting to drafty. Not sure if I need to cover them durring the winter months though. What do you guys think?

 

[Arkantex]

Oh yeah... I will try to post some pics of my build progress this afternoon after I get off work.

 

[CupOJoe42]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

This page has great information about ventilation. It's especially important during winter to have good ventilation. Do NOT close your coop up tight in the winter. Also, any openings should be covered with hardware cloth to keep out predators.

 

[debid]

You're in Texas? I'd be more worried about summer heat than winter cold! A lot of TX folks build open-air coops (basically, a windbreak) rather than worrying about protecting from drafts.

I'm in TN (lows in the teens, highs just above 100) and have the top 6" of the coop wire the whole length of the coop (8') on both high and low sides of a slant roof. The roost is low enough that the birds would have to stretch for that breeze during the summer but I also have a couple of good-sized windows on opposite walls that stay open for anything short of sideways rain. The coop is in full shade which also helps a great deal.

ETA: I have no plans to close the roof venting but I did close the windows for the winter. I have some bubble wrap saved to tape over them since they are pretty thin and drafty old utility shed windows.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Oh, amen to that! Your coop better be in as much natural shade as you can find, too. If it isn't, you're going to need to create some artificial shade come spring. Chickens can handle cold much better than heat, generally speaking.

Here in Dallas I know many people who lost chickens to the heat last summer. It's pretty awful.

 

[Judy]

My coop is so well ventilated it's in effect almost a three sided coop. In winter I put plastic over the hardware cloth people door because it stops wind from blowing onto the roosts, but there is still half of one side that is hardware cloth, plus it is open to the air all the way around, under the eaves, for several inches. I feel they do much better with plenty of fresh air, although I don't want wind bowing on them.

 

[blkpoodles]

this is 1 of my 3 coops, at the top is a vented siding and on a side at the floor there's a vented siding too, the 2 windows is covered by a tarp when its cold out, other then that its open, another coop has 2 small windows for venting. make sure you put wire where the opening is and since your in texas i'd keep it open since its not cold, it can get stuffy when its hot

 

[SueBaby]

I'm in So. Cal, so maybe our winters are similar? Here's a pic of my coop/run. The whole thing has hardware cloth over the top and then the slanted corrugated roof is above that to protect from rain and make it harder for a predator to just sit up there.

The person we got the plans from lives in Portland, so I have to assume that having the top open is still fine in the winter.

 

[Arkantex]

Thanks. That was a good read. I think I am going to need more than what I had planned. I live in a fairly warm desert type climate. Back to the drawing board...

 

[Arkantex]

After some consideration, I think I am going to stand the 2x4's up rather than lay them flat for the roof. That will give me 4, 3&1/2" x2' air vents on the high side and low side of my single slope roof... Might put in a tubine in the roof as well. The door I am using (on the west side of the coop) has a ~2'x2' window I will put a screen in for summer. I am also going to put 2 windows on the north side and 1 window on the west side, all of wich will have screens in them durring the summer. Do you guys think this will be enough?

I agree with what has been said about needing it more for the summer than the winter. I live just about the center of texas as far as north and south goes. It gets as high as 110 to 115 durring the heat of the summer. Winters aren't usually that bad. Maybe low teens.