New coop ventilation help please

[Jaxon64]

I’ve read a lot about ventilation here but I’m still unsure.
I live in central illinois, cold winters and very hot and humid summers; triple digit heat index for weeks at a time. I plans to get 4-6 hens once the coop is finished. It will placed under shade trees. The coop is 4 feet wide by 6 feet long. I’ll have a open run attached, covered and predator prof. The clean out door will face north and the chicken door faces south. We have ordered 5 windows 14x24 two for the west side even with the perch. 2 on the East across from the other two. One in front mid level next to the chicken door. See pics of windows and coop measurements. I plan to put a vent in the clean out door for summer. We plan to cut out 4” wide around the top of the entire coop on all four sides and add hardware cloth. Please advise if this this is adequate ventilation for summer then once winter comes we can close the windows to avoid drafts. Is that enough ventilation for winter? I appreciate your time to help us out. Let me know if you need more pictures. The rod is shingles with an overhang.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The open area under the roofline if 4" tall will provide a little over 6 sq ft of ventilation, so that alone should be enough for winter. The additional vents provided by the 5 windows if all are swung open in summer add another 11 sq ft or so, which will help in hotter weather.

Depending on the size of the vent in the human door you may end up wanting to leave the door open during the day, to maximize ventilation since it does get so hot there, so might want to go generous on the venting there (i.e. most of the door is wire mesh and you can cut out a similar size panel of wood to cover it up in colder weather).

 

[3KillerBs]

We plan to cut out 4” wide around the top of the entire coop on all four sides and add hardware cloth.

An excellent idea. But you may need to extend your roof overhang or add awnings to keep blowing rain/snow out.

In re: windows, top-hinged windows are better than ordinary house-type windows because they are their own awnings.

 

[WIchickMama]

An excellent idea. But you may need to extend your roof overhang or add awnings to keep blowing rain/snow out.

this is what we did, the overhang and put the vents underneath there, it has been great for the rain and hopefully the snow in the winter too.

Sounds like you will have a lot of great air flow. You can always add a small fan if you need to move the air

 

[Jaxon64]

The open area under the roofline if 4" tall will provide a little over 6 sq ft of ventilation, so that alone should be enough for winter. The additional vents provided by the 5 windows if all are swung open in summer add another 11 sq ft or so, which will help in hotter weather.

Depending on the size of the vent in the human door you may end up wanting to leave the door open during the day, to maximize ventilation since it does get so hot there, so might want to go generous on the venting there (i.e. most of the door is wire mesh and you can cut out a similar size panel of wood to cover it up in colder weather).

Thank you so much for the suggestions. I do like the idea of putting hardware cloth on the people door for summer too. Thank you so much. So the windows cross ventilation would blow across the perch/roost in summer I assume that is good. Closed in winter of course.

 

[Jaxon64]

Thank you so much for the suggestions. I do like the idea of putting hardware cloth on the people door for summer too. Thank you so much. So the windows cross ventilation would blow across the perch/roost in summer I assume that is good. Closed in winter of course.

I’ve read a lot about ventilation here but I’m still unsure.
I live in central illinois, cold winters and very hot and humid summers; triple digit heat index for weeks at a time. I plans to get 4-6 hens once the coop is finished. It will placed under shade trees. The coop is 4 feet wide by 6 feet long. I’ll have a open run attached, covered and predator prof. The clean out door will face north and the chicken door faces south. We have ordered 5 windows 14x24 two for the west side even with the perch. 2 on the East across from the other two. One in front mid level next to the chicken door. See pics of windows and coop measurements. I plan to put a vent in the clean out door for summer. We plan to cut out 4” wide around the top of the entire coop on all four sides and add hardware cloth. Please advise if this this is adequate ventilation for summer then once winter comes we can close the windows to avoid drafts. Is that enough ventilation for winter? I appreciate your time to help us out. Let me know if you need more pictures. The rod is shingles with an overhang.

We will also have electricity for the coop so if we need a small exhaust fan for winter or a cooling fan for summer that’s possible too. Although we are hoping for the majority of it to be through passive ventilation with windows and vents.

 

[Jaxon64]

The open area under the roofline if 4" tall will provide a little over 6 sq ft of ventilation, so that alone should be enough for winter. The additional vents provided by the 5 windows if all are swung open in summer add another 11 sq ft or so, which will help in hotter weather.

Depending on the size of the vent in the human door you may end up wanting to leave the door open during the day, to maximize ventilation since it does get so hot there, so might want to go generous on the venting there (i.e. most of the door is wire mesh and you can cut out a similar size panel of wood to cover it up in colder weather).

Great idea. Does anyone here have a clean out door that has a hardware cloth center with a wood piece to insert over that for winter? Looking for ideas It’s 24”x30”

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Great idea. Does anyone here have a clean out door that has a hardware cloth center with a wood piece to insert over that for winter? Looking for ideas It’s 24”x30”

should be easy to make a 12x12 (or any size really) HC covered hole then use the cut out panel to pop over the hardware cloth for winter. Secure with wing nut style closure.

 

[Alaskan]

So the windows cross ventilation would blow across the perch/roost in summer I assume that is good. Closed in winter of course.

Yes, breeze on perches in summer is good.

 

[Jaxon64]

I’ve read a lot about ventilation here but I’m still unsure.
I live in central illinois, cold winters and very hot and humid summers; triple digit heat index for weeks at a time. I plans to get 4-6 hens once the coop is finished. It will placed under shade trees. The coop is 4 feet wide by 6 feet long. I’ll have a open run attached, covered and predator prof. The clean out door will face north and the chicken door faces south. We have ordered 5 windows 14x24 two for the west side even with the perch. 2 on the East across from the other two. One in front mid level next to the chicken door. See pics of windows and coop measurements. I plan to put a vent in the clean out door for summer. We plan to cut out 4” wide around the top of the entire coop on all four sides and add hardware cloth. Please advise if this this is adequate ventilation for summer then once winter comes we can close the windows to avoid drafts. Is that enough ventilation for winter? I appreciate your time to help us out. Let me know if you need more pictures. The rod is shingles with an overhang.

Updates, we are making progress. We got 3 of the 5 windows in. The vent around the top and a few other small things. Getting excited