Is it possible to have to much ventilation? Open air coop questions.

[DarkAngel77]

I'm still in the planning process for my coop, I have a general idea of the style of coop I want to build. I'm wanting an open air/open faced/3 sided coop, with a slanted/lean to roof, it will be a walk in coop. I was thinking of having the open part (covered in hardware cloth) faced towards the south, and the open air side will have like a partial wall, I was thinking about a foot or 2 tall then having the rest hardware cloth. I was reading that it is good to have a window faced towards the east for coops, so will likely have a east facing window.


So my question is, can there be to much ventilation? I was thinking to also have ventilation in the top, between the roof and wall (also covered in hardware mesh), and possibly a screen (hardware mesh) human door to use in the summer but when it's rainy or cold a solid door. So would that be to much ventilation?

I live in the southern US. So our summers are hot and humid (sometimes 100+F for several days/weeks, and our winter are usually mild with occasional cooler days but can get a cold front that can be as cold as single digits and a couple years ago got below 0) but our summers are longer then our winters.

Any advice, tips, or anything is welcome.

 

[nuthatched]

No such thing.

 

[Kiki]

I agree...no such thing for the south.
A roof with four walls of hardware cloth works down here.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Traditional coops in the deep south were usually lien-tos with the back wall facing north, east and west walls having large gaps between the bottom and the roof, and were totally open in the south. That lets the hot breezes blow through in the summer and shields the chickens from the cold north wind in the winter.

 

[DarkAngel77]

No such thing.

Thank you, I wasn't sure if having that much ventilation would be considered "drafty", especially when we have cooler weather.

 

[DarkAngel77]

I agree...no such thing for the south.
A roof with four walls of hardware cloth works down here.

Thank you. My only concern with having four walls of hardware cloth is how would they get out of the elements when it rains or is cold (spring and early summer is usually rainy and tornado-y) so I'd assume having 3 solid walls would allow them to get out of the elements and offer some type of protection.

 

[TooCheep]

I have two coops, one of which is only covered on the north and west sides where the prevailing winds come from. They have deep litter and it is covered from rain. They do fine even in Indiana winters.

Three sides with walls would be perfectly fine. They have plenty of fresh air. Just protect them from rain and cold winds.

 

[DarkAngel77]

Traditional coops in the deep south were usually lien-tos with the back wall facing north, east and west walls having large gaps between the bottom and the roof, and were totally open in the south. That lets the hot breezes blow through in the summer and shields the chickens from the cold north wind in the winter.

Just out of curiosity, you wouldn't happen to have a picture or know where I could find one? I guess it's just hard to imagine a coop with large gaps.

My plan for the coop is to have the south side open (or atleast mostly open) a window on the east (not a glass window but a window covered in hardware mesh that will have like a shutter to close if the weather gets to cold, or be able to just partially open to allow ventilation) and the human door on the west side that way there will kind of be some cross ventilation on warm/hot days, most of the air/breezes will be coming from the south (open face) and the west, since all of the areas on that side is essentially open field, on the east side not far from where the coop will be is an entire tree line/bushes that get really thick and will block winds from the east, but in the winter it thins out a bit so there may be some breeze from that side in late fall-early spring. I'm sorry if any of that is confusing, I'm not the best at explaining stuff.

 

[DarkAngel77]

I have two coops, one of which is only covered on the north and west sides where the prevailing winds come from. They have deep litter and it is covered from rain. They do fine even in Indiana winters.

Three sides with walls would be perfectly fine. They have plenty of fresh air. Just protect them from rain and cold winds.

Do you ever cover the open sides in the winter or do they stay open year around?

To protect from rain, would having an overhang be sufficient enough, or would covering the open side be better when we are supposed to get rain?

 

[TooCheep]

I partially covered the east side (~85%) with plastic which still provides plenty of ventilation along with the open south side. They handled the cold down to 0F this winter just fine.

That's why I'm not worried about a 3-sided cover. Just make sure they don't get hit directly by cold winds or precipitation.