How a bookkeeper built a coop. :)

[jthornton]

Looking real good, the children are lucky you found them. If you have dogs in the area be wary of them and keep the run gate locked with something like a carabiner so the dog can't open the gate. I'm still sad about the dogs killing my first group of chickens and still looking for the one dog that got away...

JT

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

Laborer only just finished work...it's already getting dark. No run today.
However...I did get some Fort Knox work completed...

 

[lazy gardener]

Lovely job.

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

Roof of the run begins...

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

@aart I am in need of your ventilation expertise. I've read everything you post regarding the subject and I just want to make sure what I have and plan on doing will suffice.

This is the hopper window I made that I plan on putting over the window in the door. Able to prop it open for air flow, but protect the birds from gusts. Reason being...that whole prevailing wind stuff. Coop is on a hill and it pretty much gets hit from all directions with wind. The door faces south/southwest. The one side of the perch butts up against the door right at the window.

The below pictures are of circle ventilation holes cut into the coop. The rectangle window is the side of the coop that faces west. Currently I have a piece of plexiglass covering that rectangle. Again...worried about the whole draft thing. The back wall with the round holes faces north. The north wall holes are only placed on the left side as the perches are to the right.

This is the overhangs on the coop....

 

[aart]

This is the hopper window I made that I plan on putting over the window in the door.

Do not understand the 'hopper door' term?
'Hopper' makes me think it will be hinged at the bottom.....and propped open at the top??

I am no expert at ventilation, just an adamant proponent that it be provided.
Each situation has different needs. Smaller coops are be more difficult to ventilate without 'damaging' drafts...also more difficult to assess cause ya can't get in there on a windy day to feel where/how air is moving inside. I've seen folks use pieces of thin plastic marking tape attached to ceiling of coop over roosts to show air movements, there was great video of this technique but the person made it private.

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

Do not understand the 'hopper door' term?
'Hopper' makes me think it will be hinged at the bottom.....and propped open at the top??

Hopper window...

 

[aart]

Ah!
Awning window.... is hinged at top.
Hopper window is hinged at bottom.

 

[KettermanHillCoop]

Ah!
Awning window.... is hinged at top.
Hopper window is hinged at bottom.

Oh...when I was a kid, I was told to go open the hopper window for the coal man. lol It was hinged at the top. Anyhoo...what do you think of the pop-up window idea to cut down on the draft/wind yet allow ventilation?

 

[aart]

Semantics, or rather colloquialisms ......
as a hopper is open at the top and an awning is open at the bottom.

Any.way.....it will add ventilation for sure,
whether it will allow too much draft on roost area remains to be seen.