How many vents?

[Floralpicker]

Hi everyone, we are I the process of building our coop, it is 8x12. How many vents should there be, and in which direction eg. North-south ends, or east-west? Also, there are a couple of 20 foot trees in our run, my husband has plans to seal the wire on the roof of the run around the tree to keep out unwanted guests, will the hens try to roost in the tree instead of going back into their coop at night? Thanks!

 

[Ceilismom]

This is just my preference, because we get a lot of wind here. My coop is a lean-to style building, and the tall side faces south. That's where most of the vents (which are never closed) are, because the wind comes from the north/west. I've also got windows that open and close on the east and west ends of it. It's not a question of how many vents, but a question of how many square feet of vent you have. There's nothing wrong with having vents on all sides of the coop, but I would choose to make it so that the vents can be closed during a rain storm, blizzard, high winds, hurricane or whatever severe weather you experience where you are.

I really wish I had asked my husband to read this page before we started building our coop. It's much easier to build with plenty of ventilation than to retrofit later.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop

If you raise the chickens from chicks in the coop, that's where they will generally choose to sleep at night because that's where they will feel safe. If you can't raise them in the coop (for example, because the coop isn't finished when you get the chicks, or you buy hens rather than chicks) then confining them to the coop for a few days before allowing them outside should teach them that the coop is the place to sleep.

 

[CrazyPetunias]

That's a great article!

We just put our chicks out last night in the new coop. I have been trying to talk my DH into adding another window. We have 2 - 2ft windows in the people door and ~ 1ft with the chicken door. Our coop is 7x7, so, it looks like we may be ok with what we have so far. Makes me feel better.