Shed to coop help

[DickMidnight]

Would this be enough ventilation?

it looks good, but ultimately your ventilation needs are gonna be dictated by the number of birds you have.

generally, you want at least 1sqft of ventilation per bird.

it’s best up under the roofline for a few reasons. first, it’s more easily protected from the weather. and second, the heat and ammonia from your chickens’ breath and poop will rise, so ventilation up high is good.

 

[Beah10]

it looks good, but ultimately your ventilation needs are gonna be dictated by the number of birds you have.

generally, you want at least 1sqft of ventilation per bird.

it’s best up under the roofline for a few reasons. first, it’s more easily protected from the weather. and second, the heat and ammonia from your chickens’ breath and poop will rise, so ventilation up high is good.

Okay thank you! I'll have about 16 if all the babies make it. Is the 1sqft/bird for all climate types?

 

[DickMidnight]

Okay thank you! I'll have about 16 if all the babies make it. Is the 1sqft/bird for all climate types?

1sqft is the minimum. more is advisable especially in hot, humid summers.

windows that can be opened in the summer are great as extra ventilation.

in the summer i keep my nest box doors open for an additional 10sqft
of ventilation. they’re inside my fully enclosed run, so i don’t have to worry about predators getting in.

 

[rosemarythyme]

1sqft is the minimum. more is advisable especially in hot, humid summers.

windows that can be opened in the summer are great as extra ventilation.

in the summer i keep my nest box doors open for an additional 10sqft
of ventilation. they’re inside my fully enclosed run, so i don’t have to worry about predators getting in.

x2. More ventilation is advisable if you can fit it in, I have close to 3 sq ft of ventilation in the coop most of the year and we're not generally hot or humid.

When I had a real hot spell (got up to 112F) I left the human door open, but my coop sits inside the run so that adds some level of security.

Netting is fine as predator protection against aerial attacks but ground based pests/predators *could* get through it. That said, I've never had anything try, so can't tell you how well/poorly it'd do.

 

[3KillerBs]

Might be.
Actually open mesh walls might be the way go to in NC....like @3KillerBs has.

I was out all evening yesterday and missed this thread. I'll be out half the morning today, but I'll try to get back here later.

This is Neuchickenstein, which is designed to cope with our brutal summer heat

I am considering putting a tarp or a piece of scrap metal/wood up to provide a draft shield for the roost area within the next few months since we can get storm winds from any direction.

 

[3KillerBs]

Now I have time to read the whole thread.

From the Sandhills. Are you all the way up in the mountains or in the western Piedmont?

 

[3KillerBs]

First thing, here are some links to a few good shed-conversion coops:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-coop-page.65912/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-scoop-on-a-rubbermaid-big-max-coop.76444/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/toy-shed-conversion.64879/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-mulligan.74743/

I'd run a big hot fence all around the coop and run, not attached.

This is excellent advice. Really the ONLY way to deter bears.

I'd extend the roof overhangs to 24" all around and add huge top hinged windows all around.

This also. But in NC's brutal heat pulling the siding completely off your leeward wall and replacing it completely with hardware cloth is a good idea.

The whole wall would be hardwire cloth? Would that be hard to keep the wild animals out of?

Well-secured hardware cloth -- put on with either proper fence staples or with screws and fender washers, with all edges covered by trim boards -- is secure against all the the strongest predators. Hot wire around the entire facility is going to be necessary if you have bear visiting your property.

Would this be enough ventilation? The doors cut out and lined with HC, possibly making the current windows longer. The two sides cut the same, a triangular area up top and a large horizontal window in the middle-ish. Would I need to add more ventilation to the back of the shed?

No, it would not be enough in an NC summer -- assuming that you're in the part of the western piedmont that gets 95F with 95% humidity for much of the summer like I do here in the Sandhills. Right up in the mountains, where temperatures rarely top 85, it probably would be.

My Little Monitor Coop, which has a bit over 5 square feet of ventilation with the pop door open, stays at the same temperature as the ambient air if it's located in deep shade (preferably natural, but I had to put up a picnic fly when I moved to a property that doesn't have much natural shade). The Monitor design offers superior heat removal because of it's location.

My Brooder Coop, which has 16 square feet of permanent ventilation and another 10 square feet of supplemental ventilation, has over twice the recommended minimums but still requires shade to keep it under 100F on a 93F day.

Neuchickenstein, pictured above, is located in an area that cannot be shaded. But I sited the clerestory roof to take advantage of the fact that there is always a breeze up the hill on a hot day due to thermal air currents -- so it's the coolest place in the yard when the temperatures climb.

Adding roof overhangs to keep rain out of the vents is important. But it can be intimidating to inexperienced handymen. Here's how-to (and how not to), extend a roof by sistering the extension to the rafters: https://strousehomeinspections.com/blog/structural-roof-extensions.html

And here is how to use lookouts to extend the roof at right-angles to the rafters: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...e-overhangs-eaves-of-a-shed-coop-house.76599/

Unfortunately, I don't have a good link for making top-hinged windows.

 

[Beah10]

Now I have time to read the whole thread.

From the Sandhills. Are you all the way up in the mountains or in the western Piedmont?

Weaverville area

This is excellent advice. Really the ONLY way to deter bears.

This also. But in NC's brutal heat pulling the siding completely off your leeward wall and replacing it completely with hardware cloth is a good idea.

Adding roof overhangs to keep rain out of the vents is important. But it can be intimidating to inexperienced handymen. Here's how-to (and how not to), extend a roof by sistering the extension to the rafters: https://strousehomeinspections.com/blog/structural-roof-extensions.html

And here is how to use lookouts to extend the roof at right-angles to the rafters: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...e-overhangs-eaves-of-a-shed-coop-house.76599/

Thank you for all the links, I will start reading through them. When I get home today I can add interior pictures of the shed as well.

For the hot fence, is that the same as the premier one electric mesh fencing? Or is it something different?

If it's better for whole sides to be replaced with HC, I may put them in a different location instead. I have a large covered/screened in porch in the back that we never use. It has a solid wall about 3ft up. Could I just turn that into an open coop for them? It almost seems easier than cutting up the shed

 

[3KillerBs]

Weaverville area

OH! I've been there. DH works for Historic Sites and we've done demonstrations at Vance Birthplace during some of their special events. We stayed in a lovely cabin with a Weaverville address courtesy of Airbnb.

That's real mountains so you get something that kind of resembles winter sometimes. With considerable wind at times, but it doesn't go over 90F very often, right?

The wire wall shouldn't be necessary in that case, but putting wire in place of the doors would be a great way to get good summer ventilation. If you could convert them to actual Dutch doors instead of mock Dutch doors it would be highly versatile to open and close as needed depending on how the weather varies.

It will be necessary to make sure that storm winds can't blow directly on the roosts. When we lived up in Boone the winds were so strong from November through March that I sometimes thought I'd wake up to find that the entire county had blown off the mountain and was now a suburb of Winston-Salem.

Make sure to put the most solid wall toward the winter winds.

For the hot fence, is that the same as the premier one electric mesh fencing? Or is it something different?

I love my Premier 1 48" Poultrynet Plus for my situation but I think that the Permanet is supposed to be better for high predator loads. The power of the charge is important for repelling bear -- solar may not be strong enough -- and it is reputed to help to train the bear by baiting the wire with bacon so that they get their first jolts from their sensitive nose and lips.

This article is incredibly informative: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/a-treatise-on-electric-fences-for-poultry.72229/

 

[Beah10]

OH! I've been there. DH works for Historic Sites and we've done demonstrations at Vance Birthplace during some of their special events. We stayed in a lovely cabin with a Weaverville address courtesy of Airbnb.

That's real mountains so you get something that kind of resembles winter sometimes. With considerable wind at times, but it doesn't go over 90F very often, right?

The wire wall shouldn't be necessary in that case, but putting wire in place of the doors would be a great way to get good summer ventilation. If you could convert them to actual Dutch doors instead of mock Dutch doors it would be highly versatile to open and close as needed depending on how the weather varies.

It will be necessary to make sure that storm winds can't blow directly on the roosts. When we lived up in Boone the winds were so strong from November through March that I sometimes thought I'd wake up to find that the entire county had blown off the mountain and was now a suburb of Winston-Salem.

Make sure to put the most solid wall toward the winter winds.



I love my Premier 1 48" Poultrynet Plus for my situation but I think that the Permanet is supposed to be better for high predator loads. The power of the charge is important for repelling bear -- solar may not be strong enough -- and it is reputed to help to train the bear by baiting the wire with bacon so that they get their first jolts from their sensitive nose and lips.

This article is incredibly informative: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/a-treatise-on-electric-fences-for-poultry.72229/

Oh very cool! I've never been to the Vance Birthplace, but I drive by it frequently.

We don't get many days over 90. Just a few days here and there throughout summer. Our particular location, we don't get much wind, just nice breezes, even in winter. We're mostly blocked by a section of woods at one end and a lot of other trees around our property. The shed doors face South East.

We definitely have different bears throughout the year, we've had a huge male most recently. Earlier this year we had a mom and 2 cubs and after them was a younger one alone. Would I have to bait it all year?

Here are a few extra photos of the shed. I have a few interior ones although I couldnt get very good ones, I will this weekend when I finally clear it out lol.