Need Soffit/Airflow Ventilation advice for cold northern climates

[DawnB]

Morning all...

Question. I am in-process of building my coop. It has 8ft walls and I'm going to be running something (short framed wall or whatever we can make from the scrap we've got) along the front wall to create a slight pitch in the roof. My roof rafters will be 2x6 rafters that will be set 24" on center.

Should I go with traditional soffit plates (they look like glorified floor vent covers). They've got em at Home Depot for a couple of bucks a piece and their meant to fit in between the studs. My plan is to put them in front and back along the length of the wall.

However, I've been reading that some are just using small opening hardward cloth secured over the openings. I'm in Northern MI. We get lots of wind and snow in the winter...just looking for suggestions/advice.

Thanks!

 

[chfite]

Chickens need ventilation year-round, so I used hardware cloth to cover the opening under the roof to the top of the walls. This is out of the rain, and provides plenty of ventilation. I have a wire mesh coop door to provide air down low, so that air flows up through the vent at the top of the wall without being drafty.

This was much less trouble than installing soffits and vents.

Chris

 

[debir1966]

I am interested in responses to this as well.

We just built a coop and live in a cold winter climate (2-4 feet of snow, can get down into the low teens/negatives).

We have left the rafter spaces open so far and have been debating on whether we want to install closing vents (like those used around foundations), or just cover the openings with hardware cloth with no way to close them.

Our chicken house is 8x12, the 12 foot length having an 8 foot tall wall on one side and a 6 foot tall wall on the other, both with overhangs (8 foot tall wall has about a foot and a half overhang).

I am worried it would be too much ventilation if we did not have ways to close/open to adjust air-flow, but on the same hand, I do not want to have NOT enough ventilation, as I have read chicken houses need alot.