Roost ventilation

[mi2bugz]

Your record high is 115. Your record low is (-) 4.

In general if you have temperatures below freezing you don’t want a breeze hitting the chickens directly. Think wind chill. A gentle movement of air isn’t bad but a strong wind can get pretty bad. Chickens fluff up to trap air in their feathers for insulation. If a breeze is strong enough to ruffle feathers, heat can escape. It’s not that chickens can’t handle cold, they can really well. But I’m talking about extreme winds and such. I just consider it good practice in winter to have the openings above their heads in most coops.

Summer for you is entirely different. Chickens do not handle heat well. Heat kills. In the summer you can’t have too much ventilation. It doesn’t matter if it is below them or on their level. A cooling breeze feels good. A real good set-up is a way for cooler air to enter at the bottom and warmer air to escape at the top.

I’ve seen chickens sleep in trees when the overnight low was below zero Fahrenheit. These were not on a bare limb of a dead tree up on a ridgeline squawking defiantly in the teeth of a blizzard. They were in a thicket in a protected valley and able to move around to get out of a direct wind. In your climate, you could probably get by year around with a coop open at one end. Just block off the wind around where they are roosting, a solid wall on the prevalent wind side and some wings around the other two walls to form a cul-de-sac to block the wind. The rest could be wire.

Unfortunately one wall of wire isn't an option right now . but here is how we are going to improvise and hope it helps.

Back wall that gets most of the breeze in winter and summer. Window isn't finished but there will be another one same size about 2 feet to the right of this one. Notice the vents in the 2nd picture.

This is one side wall with 2 vents. We will be installing nesting box doors and 2 smaller windows on this wall.

This is the 2nd side wall. We didn't put the vents directly across from each other to stop cross breeze but allow air out.

This is the front. We are adding 2 smaller windows and 2 vents toward the top.

Should I add more vents on the sides even if they would be directly across from each other? Or add the additional vents toward the bottom to force air up?

Thank you everyone for your tips and advice!

 

[henless]

What about adding a bigger vent on the peaked side/sides of the coop? Up toward the top above the vents you already have? The warm, moist air will rise to the peaks and out the vents if you had some up closer to the roof.

Another idea, you have those 2 large doors. Have you thought about adding a double screen door behind them, and then the solid doors could be open to let in fresh air. It would almost be like having a wire wall in the front.

 

[mi2bugz]

What about adding a bigger vent on the peaked side/sides of the coop? Up toward the top above the vents you already have? The warm, moist air will rise to the peaks and out the vents if you had some up closer to the roof.

Another idea, you have those 2 large doors. Have you thought about adding a double screen door behind them, and then the solid doors could be open to let in fresh air. It would almost be like having a wire wall in the front.

Those sound like great ideas. I will definitely do the peak one ASAP. The double doors I will have to see how to construct them to add a screen door. As of yet I haven't been able to figure out a way to add it with the way the door is constructed. Thank you for the ideas. I am now off to google how to do the door