Newbie, Do you think i have enough ventilation??

[acechicks]

I'm building my first coop (8 by 10).I have tried to gather as much information as possible when it comes to vents. We live in Michigan so summer and pretty hot and winters are pretty cold. We are going to have a ridge vent (10 feet), 14 by 14 gable vent on each end, 1 by 7 foot vent on the south side that will have a door on it so we can control how much air it lets in, and a 31 by 40 inch anderson window that cranks open (free from my dad). I would love to know what people think?

We are also starting with 11 birds.

Thanks, Jess

 

[latebloomer]

one square foot per chicken is a recommended minimum

 

[Farmer_Dan]

1 square foot of ventilation per chick? I thought the ventilation would be based on the size of the enclosure more so than the number of chicks, but I'm not an expert.

 

[latebloomer]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

pat calls it out by chicken and by floor area

 

[patandchickens]

From what you describe, I would venture to guess you should be in good shape for wintertime, with reasonable flexibility to deal with changes in weather and wind direction. I am not a big fan of ridge vents for chicken coops, IME you may find you need to stuff rags (etc) in yours to prevent snow from sifting in, but some people like them, so <shrug>

IMO the only slight questionmark is whether you have enough open area to keep the coop from overheating in summer. Hard to tell without knowing how much shade it's in, what it's made of, roof material, etc etc. If it is in full sun, I think there is a "reasonable" chance you may end up wanting to put in one or two more large openings... but, you can do it now or just wait and see if you need to do it later. Certainly retrofitting extra ventilation is less obnoxious in July than in a blizzard

Quote:
In livestock housing generally you figure your ventilation per animal, the reasons being a) it tends to produce good results that way

and b) the humidity and ammonia input, and oxygen demand depend almost entirely on the number of animals.

The size of the building also matters if you take it to extremes -- as does the shape of the building, to a lesser extent, b/c it affects how effectively you can ventilate the *whole* structure -- but most people are stocking their chicken coops within a fairly restricted range of stocking densities so that tends not to come into play.

JME, good luck, have fun,

Pat