post your chicken coop pictures here!

[bruceha2000]

Growing up we had 100+ chickens at a time and they lived in a metal building with a dirt (straw covered) floor, so this is all very foreign to me as our chickens were fine. I'm a little disheartened hearing that this coop we put a lot of time, thought, and money into is less than adequate for our 6 chickens.

Don't be! That metal building was probably quite large so there was a greater volume of air. Things get funky when you scale down.

It looks like a very good build in general. You used hardware cloth, not chicken wire, you have windows for light and ventilation, etc. It is just that many people are worried their chickens will be cold (Minneapolis has a STUPID zoning reg that says the coop must be 34F minimum year round!) and don't have enough ventilation because they are unaware that humidity buildup can lead to frostbite and ammonia buildup (from the chicken poop) can kill them. The chickens have wonderful down coats that keep them warm and do well with temps significantly below 0F as long as there is no draft to blow their feathers open thus allowing the trapped warm air to escape.

And if it makes you feel even a bit better, I bet if you did a poll asking "have you modified your coop once initially finished" nearly 100% #1 answer would be:
"Are you KIDDING! Several times!"
And those that chose another answer just finished their coop a week or so back

 

[BertieBott]

This building is quite big. Perhaps the photos aren't showing it? It is 8' x 10' with a roof that slopes from 8' down to 7'. 30 sq feet of it is used for the coop with the rest being storage. However, it is all open. There is a fenced off section for the birds, but it is not walled off to 30 sq ft.

How much more venting do we need?

 

[BertieBott]

Sure could...I'd leave one open all winter. But, you'll never know what ventilation you'll need until you get to that point, especially for summer and winter nights...the humidity and temps do crazy things then and you'll want air moving passively through and that's hard to do with all the ventilation at one level in the coop...unless you were planning on keeping your pop door open 24/7? That would help move air.

That metal building was probably pretty tall? Tall and bigger structures like barns and such don't have to worry quite so much about ventilation issues...they tend to have their own airflow created by all that space, though they too need airflow when packed with thousands of birds like they do in commercial setups.

That coop is very sweet and pretty, so don't get discouraged, and it may do just fine...you'll never know until you actually use it and you don't have many birds at all, so it may not even be an issue.

But folks around here know that 6 birds quite often turn into 12 birds in a short time on BYC and they also have learned that what seemed like good ventilation at first often failed the test when hard weather sets in, so they often tell folks to err on the side of caution when creating ventilation. Much more difficult to be fiddling with the coop in the dead of winter, trying to get that ammonia smell to dissipate, than it is to just create options beforehand.

Only you can tell if what you have built will stand the test of time, so you can take all advice and file it for the future...if you start having issues with frostbite, bad smells, etc. you can remember what folks said here. If you never have those problems, then you'll know that what you've created is exactly right for your weather/stocking rates/humidity levels, etc.

I think it's very pretty, BTW....love the colors you've chosen!

Thank you, I had the paint color matched to our house

 

[latex]

Built with used & free lumber. Raised on concrete blocks. Used metal for the roof. Side window from reestore $15. Vinyl siding left over from sunroom addition to our house. I have less than $30 into it with screws,& nails. I also had a cast on my left hand at th

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[latex]

 

[latex]

 

[cavemanrich]

@latex
I like your attitude of reusing what you have. AKA repurpose. My coop is a repurposed plastic playhouse that I enlarged. I also used materials that I already had. I only keep chickens as pets.
And

 

[MeepBeep]

There is about a 2" gap all the way around the house where the soffit meets the roof. The roof overhang should prevent the drafts & it is up quite high since the coop is 8' in the front and 7' in the back. Is this really not enough venting?

You of course have a better view, but based on the 2nd photo I'm not seeing a 2" gap under the soffit, it appears quite solid, same with the front soffit in the 3rd picture...

Maybe the pictures are deceptive? Either way I would consider additional ventilation...

I know you feel that the coop is large, but truth is when 6 birds are in there panting away and pooping away the ammonia and humidity will saturate that volume of air in no time...

 

[MeepBeep]

Hate to burst that bubble, but that math doesn't mean diddly if you want to do deep litter in the coop.  Take any supposed calculations about "adequate" venting and times it by 10 and you just might have enough ventilation to have deep litter

I'm curious where you come up with needing that level of ventalation when using deep litter?

 

[AustralorpsAU]

I really like the openness of your coop. What part of the country are you located in...cold?...hot?...dry?....humid? I'm in south Alabama where we have to deal with hot/humid weather moreso than extreme winter freezing. I'm thinking along the lines of something similar. I had thought about something along the lines of a JT Woods open air house, but I'm thinking more towards something even more open.

I will have to agree with perchie.girl/Deb about getting a better predator barrier installed. I think I'd rather have some 2x4 welded or woven(best) wire fencing...dogs won't tear through it very easily. 1/2" hardware cloth will definitely stop reach-throughs from coons. Something else you might try for coons reaching through the fence is to install another layer of chicken wire on the inside to keep the chickens from getting up against the outer fence. It looks like your posts are fairly thick so a gap that the coon has to span with it's arm might reduce the chances of it grabbing a chicken. You would only need to have this inner barrier a couple of feet tall. Be sure to secure the top of the inner fence to the outer fence so a chicken can't somehow get down between the two fences (chickens *will* do what you don't expect them to do!

)...you could do this by nailing a 2x4 between the posts and stapling the top edge of the short barrier fence to it.

I really do like the openness of it....
Best wishes,
Ed

Im really sorry @Intheswamp I only just saw this. I live in the southwest of Western Australia so not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter! The only predators here are foxes.... they haven't got in or been a problem yet! The wire is dug into the ground to keep them from digging underneath!