questions about coop

[gringold]

I am trying to plan for our hot summers in Tennessee and our sometimes cold winters. Here are some pics of parts of my coop. There are is another window on the opposite side like the one shown. The whole thing is under my screen porch so it is out of the sun except for the late afternoon/early evening. The run itself only gets the morning sun and it is dappled due to large trees. There are also vents next to the roof where the roofing material doesn't come all the way down. Is that enough ventilation for when they are confined to the coop or do I need to cut another window?
Next question, do the seams around the windows and doors count as drafts in the winter?
Another questions, I did not put anything next to the roof where it is still open. You can see it best from the picture inside the coop. The roof is screwed down to all the joists and it doesn't have holes on either window side, just the front and the back. Do those need hardware cloth? The holes I'm talking about are next to each joist in this picture below.
Last question, is the latch and screw-type locks sufficient in case of raccoon attack?

 

[gringold]

I forgot, I am changing the front door so that I can install an automatic door. I really need that for when I am back at work (teacher) and when I need to go out of town for a few days.

 

[gringold]

I'm still hoping for advice about the coop. Thanks.

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

I live in Arkansas, so we have similar weather. I would recommend putting in two windows to go along with the ventilation you already have. This will give you options on how much air flow you allow for any given period of the year. I too am going to be putting in one of the automatic doors.

One other thing I've been thinking about possibly adding is a solar powered fan. That would give air flow even if there isn't any of our normal breeze happening.

Our coop is an 8' x 8' with shed type roof, it is situated in a tree shaded area, the roof is not insulated at this time but will be insulated at some point in the near future to keep more of the heat out. I currently have two ends set up for airflow but when I go inside, it isn't enough. We purchased two 2' x 2' slider windows that will be installed and over screened with hardware cloth, these will increase the air flow quite a lot and I'll be doing a sit inside check again when they are in place. Currently our coop is not so hot but I notice it can be a little stuffy, hence the window purchase, it is also very dark inside with no windows, and I want the chooks to have light as well as be able to see when we go in.

If I can't keep the inside temp down with the mentioned items above, I'll end up insulating the side walls on the sides that receive sun light.

 

[gringold]

Thanks for the advice. I think windows on the front and back would help, but I can't figure out how to do that on the back with the 2 big doors. Those are to help with maintenance. That is the way the wind blows mostly.

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

In that case you could simply make an opening in one of those doors, and just hinge it so you could get more air flow without using a real window. It would look like shutters with your screening for predator safety, doing it that way, you could open only one side of the shutter or both depending on the highs for the day.

 

[yellowchicks]

I am trying to plan for our hot summers in Tennessee and our sometimes cold winters. Here are some pics of parts of my coop. There are is another window on the opposite side like the one shown. The whole thing is under my screen porch so it is out of the sun except for the late afternoon/early evening. The run itself only gets the morning sun and it is dappled due to large trees. There are also vents next to the roof where the roofing material doesn't come all the way down. Is that enough ventilation for when they are confined to the coop or do I need to cut another window?
Next question, do the seams around the windows and doors count as drafts in the winter?
Another questions, I did not put anything next to the roof where it is still open. You can see it best from the picture inside the coop. The roof is screwed down to all the joists and it doesn't have holes on either window side, just the front and the back. Do those need hardware cloth? The holes I'm talking about are next to each joist in this picture below.
Last question, is the latch and screw-type locks sufficient in case of raccoon attack?

Is that enough ventilation for when they are confined to the coop or do I need to cut another window?
You would need to provide a lot more ventilation than the current slot vents. Since your coop is under the porch, shielded from the element, try to enlarge the slot vent to as big as possible on both sides of the coop, and on the front coop door side, especially where it is next to the stairs because the stairs will shield the wind, rain and snow. Cover the openings with 1/2" hardware cloth.

Next question, do the seams around the windows and doors count as drafts in the winter?
The seams are fine, they are not large enough to create a strong draft to ruffle the chicken feather in the winter to make them cold. As for adding windows on the maintenance doors, do so after you enlarge the side vents and added windows on the front, see how it worked. If more ventilation is necessary, make them as high as possible since the roof line is sloping toward the doors, roof runoff could get into the windows. You might want to make them a top hinged raise/lower type of window that you can lower if the prevailing wind is too strong resulting in blowing directly on the chickens.

Another questions, I did not put anything next to the roof where it is still open. You can see it best from the picture inside the coop. The roof is screwed down to all the joists and it doesn't have holes on either window side, just the front and the back. Do those need hardware cloth? The holes I'm talking about are next to each joist in this picture below.
I would suggest that you add a horizontal rafter above the joists to support both ends of the roof, so the roofing panel will not sag between the joist spacing, then cover the openings beneath with 1/2 hardware cloth.

Last question, is the latch and screw-type locks sufficient in case of raccoon attack?
It looks fine.

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

Is that enough ventilation for when they are confined to the coop or do I need to cut another window?
You would need to provide a lot more ventilation than the current slot vents. Since your coop is under the porch, shielded from the element, try to enlarge the slot vent to as big as possible on both sides of the coop, and on the front coop door side, especially where it is next to the stairs because the stairs will shield the wind, rain and snow. Cover the openings with 1/2" hardware cloth. If you enlarge the current slots, that will work but you might find that it is to much when a winter cold snap hits, it's an easy thing to temporarily cover part of an open vent like that with plastic.

Next question, do the seams around the windows and doors count as drafts in the winter?
The seams are fine, they are not large enough to create a strong draft to ruffle the chicken feather in the winter to make them cold. As for adding windows on the maintenance doors, do so after you enlarge the side vents and added windows on the front, see how it worked. If more ventilation is necessary, make them as high as possible since the roof line is sloping toward the doors, roof runoff could get into the windows. You might want to make them a top hinged raise/lower type of window that you can lower if the prevailing wind is too strong resulting in blowing directly on the chickens. This is good advice and I totally agree with it.

I would suggest that you add a horizontal rafter above the joists to support both ends of the roof, so the roofing panel will not sag between the joist spacing, then cover the openings beneath with 1/2 hardware cloth. I also agree with this suggestion, it's amazing what a Coon can get in through and if they can reach a chook, they will kill it even if they can't get It out for a nice meal.

Your Latch looks fine to me, the screw link will be hard for a Coon to figure out if it is tightly closed.

 

[gringold]

Bryant Redhawk and yellowchicks thanks for the advice. The coop doesn't get any rainfall unless a tornado happened or straight line winds (we've had both), so I don't think I have to worry about rain running down the roof. This is under my screened in porch. It stays dry under there even in heavy rain.

I think I am going to put a window that opens and closes under the vent on the side with the egg door and one in one of the maintenance doors. Maybe on the front too when I redo that door. That should allow for a breeze to come through. I really just count those small things as vents and they would be easy to cover up if we had a winter like this last one with single digits multiple nights. Usually, a cold winter for us is when we have the teens and twenties for multiple days. January and February are our worst months and they are mild some years.

As far as the roof, that is not sagging, it is screwed down in between the rafters. That was my original thought on leaving ventilation at the top, but making the holes smaller. A raccoon could get their arm in there though, even if they couldn't get anything out or see what they were doing. I also worry about rodents and snakes. There is no way to put hardware cloth up there, but I read on another thread that someone had used the spray insulation foam. I have used that before around two really large holes at my house, so I think I will try that.

Let me know if that doesn't seem like it will work. Thanks again.

 

[gringold]

I have another question. Would something like this work as a nest box and can they sit on the floor? Thanks.