Help. We have ventilation issues :-(

[Audie_and_Mike]

Our coop odor thread turned into a ventilation thread, but my pics are getting buried and now I’m fishing for ALL you ventilation experts. See pics below, please!

Coop front facing West. No window(s) on the back (but could add). Audie bought the coop from somewhere and they delivered it.

Okay,

More ventilation up high and under the front eaves should be easy.

We’re thinking add a couple windows on the back for starters.

Okay so I’m open to ideas, all of ‘em!

Oh, and if we add windows, then we’ll need to put on eaves or something to help protect against rain, so ideas to prevent rain getting in are also welcome.

Louvered vents instead of windows? I’m thinking if we put louvered vents we can cover them when it gets über cold.

 

[aart]

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View attachment 2995002

 

[Audie_and_Mike]

• Location: near to middle of Middle Tennessee

• Growing Zone: 7a

• Birds: 11 total, ~8 weeks old, 5 Easter Eggers, 4 LavOrp hens, 1 LavOrp Roo, 1 Black Splash Americana (sp?)

• Coop: ~5’x10’ inside

 

[Huntmaster]

I would say large cut out under front overhang over door and all the way across then covered with hardware cloth. Louvered vents don't give you a lot of ventilation but maybe a larger one on each side up top. As far as windows you could add in back but use top hinged windows so they can be fully open or just a little open with window acting as eve. Just want to figure where you are going to put roosts as you don't want them in direct line of ventilation you want it over birds' heads.

 

[Audie_and_Mike]

I would say large cut out under front overhang over door and all the way across then covered with hardware cloth. Louvered vents don't give you a lot of ventilation but maybe a larger one on each side up top. As far as windows you could add in back but use top hinged windows so they can be fully open or just a little open with window acting as eve. Just want to figure where you are going to put roosts as you don't want them in direct line of ventilation you want it over birds' heads.

Wow was I close to installing my roost bars. I’m going to have to lower them from where I’d thought but no big.

Thanks for your tips! The good news is that windows on the back will be in the fully enclosed run. We’re of a mind to get a couple windows from one of the local big-box hw stores, and put ‘em on the back but reversed so we can raise and lower from outside.

Y’all shoot holes in my thinking here. I’m not easily offended so help me out ;-)

 

[3KillerBs]

First thing, BIG vents on those gable triangles. You'll need to make awnings for them or extend the roof to keep the rain out, but you really *need* ventilation at the very top because heat and ammonia both rise.

Here's how-to (and how not to), extend a roof by sistering the extension to the rafters: https://strousehomeinspections.com/blog/structural-roof-extensions.html

And here is how to use lookouts to extend the roof at right-angles to the rafters: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...e-overhangs-eaves-of-a-shed-coop-house.76599/

This member did a nicer job putting awnings up than I did on my brooder: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/check-out-my-chicken-tractor.1456418/post-24496139

We’re of a mind to get a couple windows from one of the local big-box hw stores, and put ‘em on the back but reversed so we can raise and lower from outside.

Don't bother with glass windows at all, make top-hinged window covers over wire -- they are their own awnings and can be adjusted for different weather conditions.

Here's a coop that takes it to the extreme edge: https://countryliving.blog/2021/06/15/my-coop/

 

[saysfaa]

I would replace the siding of one end with hardware cloth (actually, with the metal lath used for stucco). The end, not the side, to get the width/depth proportions right for winter. I don't see dimensions, but yours looks right enough by eyeballing it. Ideal is the golden rectangle which is about 8x13 but 6x10 and 8x12 work just fine. Possibly, if your dimensions are much different or smaller than 10' deep from the open side, you would need to leave a few feet of siding on the top or bottom of the open side... if the opening is too high for how deep the space is, there may be problems. I worried about that with mine but my 7' high opening works with a 10' deep coop... I've been using it about 8 months now.

I would put window(s) in the other end and/or the back wall for spring through fall. Single-pane, barn sash windows cost about $20-$25 new as of last spring. Mine get taken off completely from March or April through most of October... I'm in the upper midwest. The rain comes in a little about every fourth or fifth rain we have but it doesn't matter. It gets so much airflow that it dries very quickly. It might matter in a very wet climate. My climate is no where near dry but not soggy either.

For winter, put the windows on so that only the end is open. Then the snow doesn't come in more than a dusting. Mine doesn't.

Having eaves would be better but I would at least try this before redoing that roof. My overhang shelters the eave openings but doesn't make a nickel's worth if difference for the open end or windows given their sizes. And be meticulous with maintaining the paint, especially if that sheathing is OSB or T11; you kinds need to do that anyway if you want it to last.

 

[saysfaa]

Not that the advise of the others wouldn't work. I think it would. It just isn't the only way that works well.

 

[addctd2plnts]

I won't comment on the methods to achieve more ventilation. But I will say in middle TN that heat is going to kill more of your birds than cold. I'm outside St. Louis Zone 6a, and we use predator prrofed stalls in a barn with awesome ventilation sitting on top of a big hill, and I STILL need to have 2 agricultural fans going in each stall to keep my ducks from dying! I keep them going from June-Sept, usually 24/7. The old saying in poultry is "You can NEVER have enough ventilation!" and it is really true! In fact, if I ever build separate coop buildings, I'll build Wood's Open Air Coops. There's a great book about this type of coop on Amazon, and several threads on how well they work, even in very cold places, here on BYCs.