In construction - tips welcomed.

[Ruby Rogue]

Check this out.

6x10 foot, 10 feet being the front view on my wonderful paper bag drawing here. It's for 10 or so chicken birds.

I hear a lot of fuss about ventilation in coop design, but seemingly no concern for the chickens freezing to death in the winter. I understand they can keep themselves pretty warm, but I wanna try to keep them laying as well.

I live in snowy, windy Canada. It's going to be cold.

I'm not worried about the summer heat, it's in a shady area that gets relatively no direct sunlight. And they tend to not hang out inside of their current building during the day anyway.

I hear people saying 1 square foot of ventilation per bird, which should be easily attainable if I leave 1/2 foot openings in the roof where it meets the walls. As well as coverable vents along the place there with the yellow arrow.

There's a window in the door that lets in light but doesn't open.

The floor is already insulated from underneath with foam board insulation things.

Should I add windows that do open? More ventilation? Will they be cold? Should I insulate the walls? Will the insulation even matter if there is so much open ventilation?

How high is too high for roosting bars?

Will they like it if their nesting boxes are under the roosts on the floor?

I'll probably have more questions. Thanks.

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

Make sure you don't put the perches so high up, that they hurt themselves coming down, yet make them higher up than the nesting boxes. Now, you want them laying during the winter, are you going to try to do that naturally, or use artificial lighting?

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Now, you want them laying during the winter, are you going to try to do that naturally, or use artificial lighting?

Whatever works! Whatever tips you have are welcomed.

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

Well, I sell eggs. It's my business. So, in order to keep them laying better, and keeping it profitable, it works well for me to have artificial lighting in my coop. I also think it's nice to have a bright coop, especially when it's darker outside, and they've been put inside or haven't been let out for some reason. Some people like to let their chickens have a break during the winter though, it's up to you. (Of course, if you have artificially lighting, I would recommend plugging the lights into a timer, then you can choose (roughly, at least on mine) when you want the lights on in the morning, if you want them off during the day, and when they go off at night.

 

[Mamatomany123]

Whatever works! Whatever tips you have are welcomed.

I wouldnt make them lay year round. It's hard on them. They need a break.

 

[Compost King]

If you have a standard wind direction in your location I would make sure that wind is not blowing directly into those vertical vents you have the center. It will blow in rain. you can always extend the roof over those vents if that becomes and issue. Pretty minor flaw and it may not even be a flaw I might be paranoid about wind/rain. Your design is better than all of mine, I could only spot that issue because I created a vent that faced the on coming wind and when we have wind and rain I have wet bedding the next day.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

The roof does have about a foot overhang and I am going to use those little floor register vent thingies for the vents, if you know what I mean. You can open and close them but I'd have to do it from inside and they're kinda flimsy plastic inside metal casings..they're mostly decorative and can be omitted. Rain could blow in from that direction.

Thanks for the tips. Keep em coming.

 

[Alaskan]

I hear people saying 1 square foot of ventilation per bird, which should be easily attainable if I leave 1/2 foot openings in the roof where it meets the walls. As well as coverable vents along...

Sounds good, but....

1. It looks a bit like that coop is based on a Woods coop design???? In which case you would have those 1/2 foot openings on the wall that you mentioned... really just for summer, and then a huge vent on the right six foot wall that isn't shown on your sketch.

The problem with vents on all eves in windy locations is then a bunch of snow can blow in (or... it did in my coop, I had to close up most eve vents. Vents lower down were ok. No idea why)

Point being... maybe make way more ventilation, and be prepared to stand inside the coop during your first nasty storm and decide what should be closed.

That is way easier than cutting more holes.

The floor is already insulated from underneath with foam board insulation things.

Excellent, BUT, do you have the insulation protected so rodents don't yank it out or start living in it?

Should I add windows that do open?

I would.... see my first answer above. Closing a window, is easy. Covering extra holes with a feed bag or cardboard is easy... cutting new holes in winter is bad.

Should I insulate the walls?

Yes insulate, IF
1. You can make sure no rodents can get into the insulation filled walls

2. You have lots of wind hitting the building.

3.The extra cost doesn't make you cry

Will the insulation even matter if there is so much open ventilation?

If there isn't much wind where you are at, then you are correct, the insulation doesn't do much.

How high is too high for roosting bars?

Depends on your birds, and your bedding and how you keep your coop.

Any moisture in the bedding in cold temps and the bedding turns into concrete, so you would want low perches.

But.... I have poop shelves, I am very careful of moisture in the bedding, so the bedding stays fluffy even in deep winter. I also have mostly light bodied girls (Leghorns and Spitz) so I have a poop shelf at about 4.5 feet up. Works great for me. I have a lower poop shelf that they can hop down to, only 3 feet up, and a "step" inbetween the lower poop shelf and floor. Even my fat Marans cross (6 years old now) does fine with the 1.5 feet jumps, and has never gotten foot issues.

Will they like it if their nesting boxes are under the roosts on the floor?

Chickens are happy laying on the floor.

I love my nestboxes suspended under the poop shelves.

 

[Alaskan]

Oh. You also mentioned laying in winter....

Not sure what latitude you are at....

Or just how cold it gets where you are...

I find if it gets to or under zero F, it starts to get hard on my girls to stay warm, so I prefer they stop laying. Over 0F, and laying is fine.

If it gets under 10F, I find they need lights on a timer so they can eat enough to stay warm. I give mine 10 hours of light, that is enough for them to stay warm but not enough to force them into lay.

I have no idea why so many people are pro starch for chicken winter feeding.

I find they do much better when it is cold if you up the protein in their feed. At least 18%, 20 is also good. Also, and extra fat that I have on hand, and Salmon scraps.

I don't heat, and only do light if it is staying towards or below zero F for too long a stretch.

I only use WIDE flat perches, and have had chickens is Alaska for I think 12 years. Haven't frozen any.

 

[M Brennen]

I know I probably don’t have enough ventilation in my coop. I was worried about the winters here. I live in Vermont. My coop has four small windows and a door on each end. It does get a little stuffy in there in the winter when I have a full coop. I keep a red heat light near their water to give them some heat if they get really cold. Even with my coop closed up pretty tight It has gotten cold enough for some of my chickens to have gotten their combs frost bitten. My birds love to roost up in the rafters. It’s pretty airy up there.