Husband says "why insulate if you're going to have ventilation"

[aart]

Wow- great discussion here- thank you so much! Well, as I said, I *do* live in RI... on an island in Narragansett Bay. Thus, our temps only get down to the single digits while the rest of the state can get colder. However, this also means that the humidity is higher.

I worry about those Nor'easters. Our house is slightly diagonal to the compass. The coop is going against the east wall which is angled slightly to the south. I am putting a big (closable) window in the south side for summer ventilation and winter sun. The west side will be flat up against the house wall, and the north side will have the egg door, nest boxes and roost, but no windows or vents. The vents will be in the side up against the house (with still 6 inches for clearance) and the eaves (and two small windows that do not open) in the front (east side) of the coop. It's 4x8 for 5 large breed birds in case I get more later. Is the large size of the coop going to be an issue? Should I try to build some kind of a baffle to hold their body heat like a previous poster did? I also have to consider insulation against heat- it gets hot in the summer up against that wall.

---> What is the difference between "well ventilated" and "draft-free" ?

In other news, I really have to get on the ball- I found a chick wandering around the room today. Time to cover the brooder or get them out of there! They are now 4 weeks old. Here's the coop so far, with my daughter and her boyfriend helping:

You want lots of air exchange(1 sqft per bird), most of it up high for the humidity to escape, but no direct drafts on the roost area.
Site placement/prevailing winds can change where the best place is for vent openings. High against the house may work great....or you may get swirling wind there.
Best to have lots of them that can be closed off during windstorms.
Sometimes you won't know how the air flows until you can observe it.

4x8 should be ok for 5 LF birds....depending on how big and where your feeder and waterers are and how much they may need to be confined in the winter.
The 4 sqft per bird in coop rule of thumb is a minimum..depends on flock dynamics and how much time room they outside the coop.

 

[junko]

You want lots of air exchange(1 sqft per bird), most of it up high for the humidity to escape, but no direct drafts on the roost area.
Site placement/prevailing winds can change where the best place is for vent openings. High against the house may work great....or you may get swirling wind there.
Best to have lots of them that can be closed off during windstorms.
Sometimes you won't know how the air flows until you can observe it.

4x8 should be ok for 5 LF birds....depending on how big and where your feeder and waterers are and how much they may need to be confined in the winter.
The 4 sqft per bird in coop rule of thumb is a minimum..depends on flock dynamics and how much time room they outside the coop.

Thanks! I reread the article in your siggy and found a lot of information I missed the first time. Even though I've done this before, I feel like a newbie with all of this information! A lot of it is new since I kept chickens 10 years ago. Hmm... now I need to design a way to close off those eave vents. Might be as simple as shoving in a piece of 2x4 cut to fit.

 

[missnu01]

Even with a pretty well ventilated coop I had some frostbite on wattles and even smaller combs last year...mostly mild grayish bite but some black bite on large rooster wattles, it all healed up with no infection or real scarring. If you didn't have a sharp eye, you couldn't tell it happened.

I monitored temps and humidity all winter, the frost bite happened not when temps were -10F with 20% humidity but when the temps rose to 28-34F and 50-60% humidity

First year having chickens when it would snow I would close all the windows in the coop hoping to keep the birds warm. Chickens got horrible frostbite. This year which was record breaking cold I left everything wide open---no frostbite.
The cols doesn't bother chickens. Dampness does.

 

[Folly's place]

I did insulate my coop ceiling and walls some years ago. It definitely helped with the summer heat, and hasn't increased parasite or mouse problems at all. I have ventilation at both gable ends, and a south window, and windows in the doors. In winter, plastic covers the south window, where some roosts are. Lots of ventilation pays off! I think ventilation is the priority, and protection from summer heat. Mary

 

[JackE]

Here's my winter ventilation, right at chicken level. So it is not required, to have ventilation, up high and over the birds heads. With this coop, prevailing winds mean nothing. I've had 30-40 mph winds, blow directly at the open front. You go in the coop, and it's as calm as your living room. I never have to run out and open and close windows worrying about which way the wind might blow. Maximum fresh air exchange, with no drafts, as the back of the coop is built tight, and the wind has no pathway through. No insulation, so no interior walls. I would ask, somebody with insulation and interior walls, How do you know, what is in those closed up walls? You sure can't see in there. We are talking about an outside, open small building, with animals in there. You have no idea what may have wandered inside. With my coop, everything is open and in view, so I can see, at a glance, if anything is in there, that's not supposed to be.

 

[aart]

Here's my winter ventilation, right at chicken level. So it is not required, to have ventilation, up high and over the birds heads. With this coop, prevailing winds mean nothing. I've had 30-40 mph winds, blow directly at the open front. You go in the coop, and it's as calm as your living room. I never have to run out and open and close windows worrying about which way the wind might blow. Maximum fresh air exchange, with no drafts, as the back of the coop is built tight, and the wind has no pathway through. No insulation, so no interior walls. I would ask, somebody with insulation and interior walls, How do you know, what is in those closed up walls? You sure can't see in there. We are talking about an outside, open small building, with animals in there. You have no idea what may have wandered inside. With my coop, everything is open and in view, so I can see, at a glance, if anything is in there, that's not supposed to be.

This is true..... BUT ......people must understand, that the Woods coop is a different concept,
.........only one very large opening provides lots of air but does not allow any wind to move thru the building because it has only one opening....
.....and it needs to be a certain depth in ratio to the opening, so the birds can shelter/roost towards the back of the building.

 

[subhanalah]

You want lots of air exchange(1 sqft per bird), most of it up high for the humidity to escape, but no direct drafts on the roost area.
Site placement/prevailing winds can change where the best place is for vent openings. High against the house may work great....or you may get swirling wind there.
Best to have lots of them that can be closed off during windstorms.
Sometimes you won't know how the air flows until you can observe it.

4x8 should be ok for 5 LF birds....depending on how big and where your feeder and waterers are and how much they may need to be confined in the winter.
The 4 sqft per bird in coop rule of thumb is a minimum..depends on flock dynamics and how much time room they outside the coop.

I thought heat rises but humidity sinks? I have an open air coop, got the idea from a local farmer with no frostbite here during the winter. It buts up against a building on two sides, and has a roof. Better than shelter a great percentage of humans live in currently!

 

[aart]

Quote: No, I believe humid air does rise. Water is heavier than air but humidity is a vapor...and the ammonia vapor/gas is also lighter and will rise.

 

[meralgia]

When I go into my basement in the summer, it's cool and dry. Upstairs is hot and humid. I expect it's the same in the coop.

 

[junko]

I thought heat rises but humidity sinks? I have an open air coop, got the idea from a local farmer with no frostbite here during the winter. It buts up against a building on two sides, and has a roof. Better than shelter a great percentage of humans live in currently!

What region do you live in or what are your winter temperatures like?