Hello All, New member here, excited to get started raising some backyard chickens. I picked up my day old chicks on 2/16 (8 totals: 4 Barred Rock, 2 RIR and 2 Ameracaunas) and am in the process of building a coop. The coop is 6x8 and about 4.5 ft tall. I live in Tracy, Ca and summers can get pretty hot with milder winters. Currently my plan was to have vents all the way around the top (roughly 4" tall by 16" wide on the 6' sides and dropping down 4" on the 8 foot sides -see pics). My question is: will this be enough venting or should I add some windows? One of the 8' wall sections will be a double door capable of lifting up in 4' sections and I will have an enclosed run, so I could always leave a door or two open. I wasn't planning on framing out any windows but after doing more research I'm not so sure. Any feedback is appreciated. VENT: This will basically run around the entire length of the coop. 8 Foot section that will be two doors capable of raising up for easy cleanup. Hard to see drop in opening at top. Look top left and follow across the pic opening narrows down to nothing. Nesting box will be on opposite 8' wall.
Welcome to BYC. If the front of your coop faces away from the prevailing wind, all should work well. Good luck with your flock.
Hello and Nice coop. Here's an excerpt from an article that I can not find the author of but wanted to share: Why is ventilation such a big deal? Because chickens are amazing producers of moisture, ammonia and heat, that's why. Small but mighty! (Mighty messy anyhow). 1) Ventilation removes dampness and humidity from the coop. Chickens generate scary amounts of water vapor, partly through breathing out (same as we do, that's why a mirror fogs when you breathe on it), and largely through pooing (chickens do not urinate as such - all the water they would be peeing out if they were any other sort of animal is contained in their poo). They process a lot more water than you might think. All of this water tends to make the coop air humid. High relative humidity (especially in cooler temperatures) makes chickens more susceptible to respiratory disease and increases the chance of frostbite. Chickens can stand considerable cold without frostbite if the air is dry; not so much if the air is clammy. 2) Ventilation removes ammonia fumes from the coop. Unless you sit there all the time, ready to whisk each plop of poo away to the compost pile the moment it comes out of the chicken, there will be some ammonia being released into your coop's atmosphere. It does not take all that much ammonia to cause subclinical damage to the tissues of the chicken's respiratory tract, which makes the chicken more vulnerable to any respiratory 'bugs' that may be floatin' around the environment. Basically if your nose can smell ammonia, there is enough of it to be harmful to lung tissues. 3) Ventilation usually helps keep the coop from getting too hot in summer. Chickens' bodies perform best below about 75 degrees F; over 90 F they start to have real problems, suffer heat stress, and if it gets too hot they can die, especially larger-bodied and heavier-feathered breeds. Proper ventilation will at least keep your coop from getting any hotter than the outside air.
My coop is built exactly like this...with the eaves between the studs open, of course covered with hardware cloth, and this works great for my flock! If you have both sides of the roof open like this, the air will go in one side and out the other. Especially with slanted roofs. The birds roost low to the floor, and the moisture is sucked up into this positive air flow and out the vents in the eaves. Good luck and welcome to BYC!
Thank you all for the replies. Two crows I'm glad the design is working for you. I will probably give this a try and add a window if needed.
If you find your state thread at "where am I, where are you" in the social forum., you can ask others how they build a coop to handle the heat. Some choose to have one side or two, of hardware cloth rather than solid walls .
