Oooh, so much snow. It looks insulating. With all that open area, a lot of people would think their birds would freeze. But like you, I know better. The history and sequence of your ventilation adventures are instructive, and I am fast approaching your midway point. OK, so I've got some idea of how much open space I need to have. I can cut most of the top of the end sections away, cut windows on the doors and ends. The bottom 18" along the Lee (east) side is plywood, and I can put in a number of vents. My sense is that the clear tarp will help keep things warm. I like the use your curtains, also how the end is set back. I did a small prototype using just tempered hardboard for the ends, with the front end set back somewhat like yours. I just made a cut out for the pop door because I'm not closing pop doors anymore, and I put a 2x4 roost in about 30" off the ground - it's not a very tall shelter - and 2 cocks are doing very well in it. It's pretty ugly, though, made from an extra 10x6 leftover silver tarp. I don't have trees here or I would use leaves for bedding; hay works all right for me, and if I throw scratch on it now and then, they scratch it up and keep it from getting too compacted. I think it will help a lot to have the tarp come forward and down some past the end of the coop to keep snow from blowing in. Easy to do. I have some birds that prefer to free range and roost in what I think are exposed locations. They are doing well, though, and one or two are still laying eggs in a Dogloo. They like the Dogloos. I have lots I can do and you've given me some great ideas. You probably made your curtains, but did you buy the supports? What kind of fabric did you use? It's a lot easier to build in ventilation when you don't have to be worrying about whether your birds will get too cold. Many thanks for your thoughtful help.I had made the classic mistake of thinking that my hoop coop would not be a very warm place for the chickens in my climate, even though lovely for summer weather, so I had battened it down with tarps and plastic, with hay bales all along the bottom, etc. I had good ventilation at the roof line and had the pop door open all winter, but with the coop all battened down tightly, I started to see condensation at the roof, dripping off the plastic and onto the birds and I also saw a faint rim of darkening at the combs. I thought I had had enough ventilation at the roof and floor level to get rid of any humidity but I was wrong...even the bedding was cold and damp, no matter how often I added dry bedding it was soon damp and cold feeling. Not good. The following year I got rid of the haybales but still used the plastic to keep out the cold and left more open areas here and there that I could adjust, but they weren't really doing much...still got condensation, but less than the year before and no frost bite but the bedding would still feel a little cold and damp at times. The year after that I built in the ends of the hoop coop, building an extra hoop onto the back for the roosting area, building in the ends with wood scraps, creating large windows covered in plastic on the sides where the roosts were located that could be opened or closed at any time. An additional window even with the roosts for the same purpose, the front door was built in half way up but the whole top half was left open...this can have a curtain applied to it if the wind is blowing the wrong way in the winter~rare, but it happens~, little windows on either side of the front door that were open at the top as well, but the bottom half could be opened or closed if needed. I had two pop doors now, either could be opened or closed as I saw fit. In this manner, I have some ventilation that I cannot close~the roof vents, top half of the coop door, top half of the front windows, large cracks at mid level here and there~and some that I can close if the wind is kicking up on subzero days in the winter. I did these many vents that cannot be closed so that I would not be tempted to close them...and it was good. I also replaced my dark tarp in the central coop area with a clear tarp in the winter months...this let in lovely sunlight, warming the coop and the air in the coop, even on single digit days. Meanwhile, I also had changed how I managed my deep litter, abandoning the pine shavings that weren't really working well, and going to mostly leaves for additional dry bedding in the winter months. All of these changes were like night and day to the time before when I intentionally closed every single opening except the roof vents and the pop door in attempts to keep the coop warmer...those worked in the opposite manner, trapping humidity from the chickens and the bedding inside to chill the birds and keep things damp. Now my coop was light, airy and warm....even in subzero temps it was registering 10 degrees warmer than outside temps at my roost level! Adjustable ventilation can be achieved in many ways...with flaps that can be closed, use of floor furnace vents mounted at various heights in the coop wall that can be open or closed, curtains over openings, etc. I've even seen people use the exterior mountings for dryer vents on their coop to provide draft free ventilation. Didn't mean to write a book...sorry.Here is a pic with some of the adjustable vents open....the windows on either side of the door are open and the feed bag curtain on the top half of the door is left open....
And one with the little side windows closed but the top half of them cannot be closed by the use of the little doors....they can if need be, be adjusted with just a flap of feed sack over them on really windy, subzero days. On those days, I've even closed that curtain on the top half of the door, but those days are rare as the wind usually blows from west to east on this coop.
Under the roosts I leave the pop door open no matter the temps or wind, as I have a wall opposite the pop door to block the wind from blowing directly into the coop there. That's another way to adapt ventilation...to have a diversion that blocks direct wind from entering the coop while still allowing air flow.
