Critique my ventilation ideas! Click here.

[Kieyamama]

I think i'm a ventialtion junky. When I first started researching it, something about having A LOT of ventilation, rang very true for me...

So please, if you have the time, critique my infant-staged-coop idea.

I'll try to make this brief and not get into ALL of the coop details!!

Anyway....my main concern is heat because I live in the Sacramento valley in CA. and it gets HOT here! (It's supposed to be 104 today!)

The average lows in Dec.-Jan are around 35 and highs are 54. Average low in the summer is 61 average high is 93. But it regularly gets over 100.

(everything i'm using is reused/recycled because that's my budget.)

So, my plan is to build, basically, an open air coop. I got my hands on these two huge, old, wooden framed screens from some old windows. (They are 4'x4'.) So old infact that the screens themselves are a nice metal! (which I plan on backing with hardware cloth, but that's another subject)

My plan so far is to make a 6'x6' coop for my 8 standard size birds. The front of the coop would have a door(human size) and a 3'x2' slider window. Then on the left and right sides of the coop, I want to frame in those two large, wooden framed screens. (probably with two flaps to fit over them for when it's especially cold/rainy. also, in the flaps I would put a vent ot two.)

So, basically my coop would have 2 open air sides. Is this too much? Is too much even possible?! LOL

Good idea? bad idea?

Please let me know if there is something obvious that I am missing. I'm still brainstorming!

Thanks! I look forward to your input!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
IMO, no it is not possible to have too much ventilation (in your climate anyhow) -- and if there were, you would not even be approaching it

Honestly I would not call your design 'open air' really (that usually means having several or all walls be *entirely* mesh), just 'a coop with large windows'

That is not a critique; what you propose should work fine, although if you *wanted* to make the poeple door all-mesh and/or the rest of that wall mesh instead of just having a window, that'd probably work fine too

If you are going to have two mostly-solid walls and two largely-mesh ones, it is worth thinking hard about wind directions. Unless where you live has exceedingly predictable wind from only one direction or its opposite, you might be better off IMO putting the two mostly mesh walls *next to* each other, because that is less inclined to create a wind tunnel effect. Of course if you have an easy mechanism for closing off one side (like a panel that hinges on, or whatever) then this is not a concern.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Kieyamama]

Thanks for the response Pat.