coop with glass wall

[Ricks Chicks]

I am expanding my coop and have a wall of glass that came out of a reception area. The wall is about 7 feet long 4 1/2 feet high. glass is in panels 2ft x 4ft. I was thinking of making that my front wall so I could see into the coop from my kitchen. what do you think?

 

[chickiebaby]

That sounds fabulous, but will you EVER get anything done again?!

(Also, there is the question of heating up too much in summer . . . does that wall get a lot of light? Might be nice for passive solar winters . . .Plenty folks on here will know way more than me about this.)

 

[Chirpy]

I've actually seen that done once and really liked the looks of it. The light into the coop would be fantastic.

My only concerns would be the potential of the glass getting broken from some source (dog trying to get into the chickens because he can see them, stray football, hail storm, etc.) but then, any window can get broken.

Will you cover it with hardware cloth?

Also, do you think the chickens would try to fly into the window?

 

[gumpsgirl]

What an awesome idea!!! I think that would be fantastic as long as the sun didn't shine directly into the coop. You might have to hang curtains if that was the case.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Quote:
You know, that really might be an issue and one that I certainly did not think of.

 

[lleighmay]

I'm also planning to put several large salvaged double-paned windows in the front of my coop which faces SW. Got to thinking about it (don't want to cook the girls) and have decided to put a wrap-around porch about 8 ft deep on it with clear fiberglass panels over the sections where the windows are. I'm thinking that, for summer, I can grow vines and hanging plants on the front of the porch and take landscape fabric with grommets added to the doubled over edges to hang on cup hooks under the clear panels which will provide shade during the summer and can be removed for the winter (or rainy days) when they need more light... plus the dogs and I will be able to sit in the shade on the porch and admire the chickens. I don't know if it will work or not but at least in my head it does Please post pics of what you do- I'm sure it will be fabulous!

 

[patandchickens]

If it's exposed to sunlight, the coop will get tremendously hot (a large awning or porch roof over it might do the trick). Even in winter you don't want *that* much solar heating

, and of course in winter it will be a major source of heat loss too. Are you in a warmer or colder part of the state? (Sorry, I'm not one of the world's great geographers

)

You'd probably want to put a chickenwire 'cushion' in front of the glass, on the inside, so that a startled chicken didn't try to fly thru the window and crash hard and hurt itself.

It could probably be done, with the glass wall thing, but you would want to make sure to think your way around the likely problems first.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[redoak]

Sounds like a cool idea, maybe you could make a little overhanging roof to cut down on sunlight.

 

[Emzyyy]

Quote:
You know, that really might be an issue and one that I certainly did not think of.

I think if you put wire over the glass they would at least see the wire and enough sense not to run into it.

 

[SewingDiva]

Our entire house has glass walls. We've learned a few things over the years:

* If you face it SW, you will indeed get a ton of thermal gain, and on our house the roof over hangs the walls by three feet for just this reason.

* Brids will fly into it. We find a few dead ones every year.

* Make sure the edges are sealed tight to keep out drafts, otherwise you'll lose heat on cold days.

~Phyllis