New coop - enough ventilation?

[New Kid In the Coop]

Hi everyone! I first want to say this forum has been most helpfull! we are new to chickens and we didn't realize how much we didn't know! I live in the Northwest, and am not sure about winter. I know chickens are pretty hardy (at least the ones I got) in winter. There really is only a few weeks total that it gets below freezing in the winter. Anyway, I was wondering if I had enough ventilation for the winter time. We will have 2 opening windows for summer time. We put a total of about 18 1" holes in the bird blocking that will have screening over them. Is this going to be enough for winter when they are all closed up? Thanks! I will post some pics as soon as I figure out how!

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Posting Pics: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=504

Remember you will need cross ventilation for ventilation to work right. Also, it depends on the number of birds and the size of your coop.

 

[New Kid In the Coop]

Wow Farmer Kitty! That was fast! Thank You! OK, so the coop is 4x4.5. We have five chickens; 2RIR, 1 Golden laced Wyandott (sp?), and 2 silver laced Wyandott. The holes are on each side of the coop under the eves of the roof. Here are some pics. Any comments on the roosts and nesting boxes are welcome also!

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[New Kid In the Coop]

I just wanted to add that we will have another small door next to the nesting boxes. This door and the front door will have opening windows with hardware cloth on the inside. This way they will have plenty of air in there in the summer. We also have another roosting bar other than the one in the pic. It is about 48" high. The one in the pic is about 12" high and the nesting boxes are about 18" high. Thanks in advanced for any info and advice!

 

[patandchickens]

Eighteen 1" holes is only the equivalent of something like a single 2x6" vent. I would really very strongly recommend putting in a considerable amount more ventilation, preferably as actual rectangular openings not just a bunch more holes poked through.

Ideally, they would be located up under the eaves of the roof on at least 2 (in a perfect world, all 4) sides, and you'll want closeable flaps or sliders on the vents so that you can close down some of them, especially the upwind ones, on especially bitter or blizzardy days.

Without more ventilation, I am fairly completely positive you are going to have condensation, frost, and very humid air in wintertime, which is hard on the birds in terms of respiratory illness and frostbite. And it's a lot easier to make more vents NOW, before the coop is finished, than in January

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Alaskan]

if your nesting boxes are higher than the perch, they will roost on the nesting boxes. which = nasty.

But that house looks SUPER cute!

 

[New Kid In the Coop]

Quote:
Good point Pat! I think we can put one on the front and one on the back up under the eves. I was just afraid that too much ventilation would = cold and drafty. Thanks for the advice!

 

[New Kid In the Coop]

Quote:
I do have a perch that is higher than the nest boxes. It is about 48" high. We also angled the fronts of the boxes. Do you still think they will try and roost up there? They can roost on the front pieces of wood along the bottom to the boxes I suppose. Do you think the higher roost will discourage that or should I just remove the lower roost. We just put that there to make it easier to get up to the nests. Thanks!

PS. It will look even cuter when it's done! I'll post more pics

 

[ChickaD]

Hi & welcome to BYC!
I just wanted to mention that despite all our logical plans, sometimes chickens come up with their own loony ideas. We made sure our nesting boxes were built nice and low, with all the perches up at various higher levels, with some supposedly inaccessible, fenced off storage shelves (lofts) even higher. So guess where some of our chickens have insisted on going to lay their eggs through the years? Yup, way up on the shelves, requiring them to go to extreme lengths to fly over or around all our fencing and barriers. They seemed to love the challenge and the mental competition with us! We finally removed the enticement of hay bales stored up there...now they fly up onto garbage bags of stored wood shavings for their weird new laying spot. Sometimes, just to throw us off, they even use the nesting boxes! They vary it back and forth. Nutty, huh?

I don't think chickens are "dumb clucks"!

 

[LynneP]

We're watching for the same thing in our coop-within-a-barn. Another option is to make those vents, with a cover that is hinged to come down in case you get an 'Arctic Express'...