The coop is nearly done! Too much ventilation??

[mamakelly]

My coop is nearly done! I started with a $25 dollar dog house from Craigslist. I sawed, drilled and painted and now we have this...

I drilled small ventilation holes all around the top sides and back. I added 2 hardware cloth vents on the upper sides. I added a roost, pop door and a linoleum floor. It's 4 feet by 6 feet and we have 5 girls in there. I'm going to be building the run off the left side this week. I had to get the girls out of my garage though, so we put them in yesterday. What do you guys think of the hardware cloth on the front? Is that going to be too breezy for them? At first I had planned to close it off, but it was stuffy in there when I was working. I thought maybe I needed more ventilation, so I used the wire instead. But then last night it was in the 50's and I was worried about my babies being too cold. I'm in So California. It gets to be in the high 90's low - 100's in our neighborhood for 1-2 months in the summer, I think we get down to the high 30's occasionally in winter, but never colder than that. I need to pull the door off and frame it. It's not closing properly. I'll work on nesting boxes when they get a little older. Other than that, anything I'm forgetting?

 

[CoopCrazy]

Looks great.. I think the ventilation looks fine, just maybe wrap the door in plastic come winter so they dont get chilled

 

[bfrancis]

I like it...

I'm getting ready today to add something close to what you have in the side of my coop for extra ventilation. I'm going to put a hinged flap on mine so that during real bad thunder storms and cold months it can be closed.

 

[mamakelly]

Quote:
I was thinking about doing the same thing. I already have the piece cut to fit, I just can't figure out the best way to attach it so It would be out of the way when you need the ventilation.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

you can never have to much ventilation, you can always plug it up, its hard to add after your done building

 

[CoopCrazy]

Quote:
I was thinking about doing the same thing. I already have the piece cut to fit, I just can't figure out the best way to attach it so It would be out of the way when you need the ventilation.

Maybe drill your holes and use like rubber washers that way it hopefully wont bust your plastic and is easy to put in and take out.. Or oyu coudl make it were it just slides down into a track made on the door///

 

[Intheswamp]

Somehow posted before I got a pic attached....OOOPS!!!!

Ed

 

[tammyd57]

In your climate, you won't need to close off that section of wire. If it is facing away from prevailing winds and has some shelter overhead to keep rain out, it should be fine. I've only ever used 3 sided coops here and we get a few cold snaps that go down to about 28 for a few hours. The open side of my coop faces away from the wind and is protected from rain by the roof over hang from my house. Chickens seem to be able to keep warm in fairly cold weather.

Your coop looks great just like it is.

 

[Intheswamp]

Like Buck Creek said, you can never have too much ventilation. I would even suggest to put a vent at the top of each gable end wall. This would allow the hottest air at the top of the roof/ceiling to escape...as it is with the window further down the side a pocket of stagnant hot air can form at the top. In the winter put a shutter over them (triangular board) to keep cold drafts out of the top. Just some thoughts.

Looks like a nice coop!

Ed

Extra vents in red area on each end...

 

[mamakelly]

Quote:
Where in Central Ca are you? I'm in San Diego, so if your chickens are okay with 3 walls, mine should be too. The only problem I'm running into with leaving the wire up, is if the nesting boxes will be too "bright". I thought the hens liked dark to lay eggs, and I was going to put the nest boxes on the right side of the coop where it's now super bright.