Feed back on new coop

[Mbensonb]

Hello chicken raising community!
This after noon my husband and I finished the coop for our new chicks (even though they are currently to little move into their new house lol).

Just looking for some feed back as now that is is done I’m worried there isn’t enough ventilation. It felt like enough when I drew out the designs…. But when I was I there added hardware cloth and screens to windows it seems like it might get stuffy. There are windows on 2 sides as well as the chicken door on a 3rd side. All the eves are open for venting. Do you guys think I should add more?

Also will the removable roosting bars set up work ok? Instead of ones that are attached to the walls. Just seemed like it will be easier to clean if we can just take it out.

We Pinter it to match my backyard ADU we built last summer that I use as my office, now chickens have a matching office!

Thanks in advance for the feed back

 

[Mr Spot]

Hello chicken raising community!
This after noon my husband and I finished the coop for our new chicks (even though they are currently to little move into their new house lol).

Just looking for some feed back as now that is is done I’m worried there isn’t enough ventilation. It felt like enough when I drew out the designs…. But when I was I there added hardware cloth and screens to windows it seems like it might get stuffy. There are windows on 2 sides as well as the chicken door on a 3rd side. All the eves are open for venting. Do you guys think I should add more?

Also will the removable roosting bars set up work ok? Instead of ones that are attached to the walls. Just seemed like it will be easier to clean if we can just take it out.

We Pinter it to match my backyard ADU we built last summer that I use as my office, now chickens have a matching office!

Thanks in advance for the feed back

It looks nice : )

 

[nuthatched]

The ventilation above the door will likely need closed in winter since it's close to the roosts. You don't want drafts hitting the chickens.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. Where, in general, are you? Climate matters, especially when it comes to housing.

Venting up in the eves is a good thing, as long as the coop itself is tall enough. What are the actual dimensions of your coop?

This is the kind of airflow you're looking for:

Lots of airflow above the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost and no drafts directly on them.

 

[Krugerrand]

How many chickens do you have?

 

[Mr Spot]

How many chickens do you have?

13 hens and 1 rooster. I intended to just get 6 hens and 1 rooster, but, you know how that can go.

 

[gtaus]

Just looking for some feed back as now that is is done I’m worried there isn’t enough ventilation.

Looks like a nice coop. Congrats on your build.

Where do you live? Location matters a lot. Everyone is worried about adequate ventilation, but I think you have to factor in location, size of coop, design of air flow, and number of birds in your coop.

I can't tell exactly how big your coop is, but I am concerned that 14 chickens might be too many. The more chickens you have in the coop, the more ventilation you will also need.

The trick with ventilation is that you don't want to have a draft coming up from underneath your roosting birds. Where I live in northern Minnesota, that could cause the roosting chicken to lose their body heat in the winter and freeze to death. All my ventilation is above their heads in my coop. So far, that has worked out well for me.

When I first got my chickens, and headed into my first winter, I put a thermometer inside the coop and compared the temp and humidity inside the coop with the outside temp and humidity. They were the same. So, I stopped worrying about adequate ventilation. But I only had 10 chickens in a 6X12 coop with an 8 foot high ceiling.

Point is, you can get a set of temperature gauges and compare your temp and humidity inside your coop with 14 chickens to the outside temp and humidity. If your coop temps and humidity are much higher, then you would probably want to look at adding more options for ventilation at that time.

 

[Cynthia12]

13 hens and 1 rooster. I intended to just get 6 hens and 1 rooster, but, you know how that can go.

Hmm.. thinking that isn't quite big enough for that many chickens.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Assuming your climate veers towards hot, opening up 1 entire wall for ventilation would be ideal.

As far as number of birds, what's the measurements of the coop? For 14 you're looking at a minimum of 56 sq ft floor space (not including nests), 14 linear ft of roost (because of the shape of the roost the corners can't be counted twice, as birds' heads and tails need to stick out), and 14 sq ft of ventilation in mild/moderate climates. Since you ended up with more birds than planned, if those numbers don't match up with above, I'd suggest you think about downsizing the flock.

 

[3KillerBs]

13 hens and 1 rooster. I intended to just get 6 hens and 1 rooster, but, you know how that can go.

I agree with @rosemarythyme

How big is that coop?

14 chickens need a minimum of 56 square feet -- that's 8x7 and unless the photos are deceptive your coop isn't nearly that big.

Really though it's a good idea to buy more chickens than you want to keep, pick the ones you like best, and sell the rest.