Vent protection from blowing snow

[K0k0shka]

I am stealing this idea and have saved your post for future reference!

I’m wondering if you made the covers a little lower if it would’ve stopped the snow blowing in? Looks like you got hit pretty hard. Hope everyone is ok!

Everyone is okay, thanks! I wonder if it would've stopped the snow if I'd made the awnings reach down lower... But then, how low? I didn't even have awnings on the long side until this weekend and never had snow blow in from that side before, so I didn't think it was necessary, and I definitely didn't think making them any lower was necessary either. And in most cases this probably would be enough. It was just a freak storm...

 

[Big Doggie]

My overhangs with fascia are pretty good, but when the lower roof gets full of snow and can blow into the upper soffits, so I installed furnace filter to keep the snow out.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/ventilation-baffling.75434/

Thanks good idea

 

[K0k0shka]

Wow.

I didn't worry about a little snow in my Open air coop last week, but what you got in a much more protected coop where the consequences are more severe is CRAZY.

If those awnings couldn't protect the vents I don't think anything short of a roomy barn would have done the job.

Yeah I did all I could, and at this point I may just need to accept that some storms can't be outwitted. This was a very unusual one though, so if most years are okay and we get this only every once in a while, then it won't be too bad. Good thing about storms is that I'm home all day (boss always asked us to work from home on storm days, even pre-pandemic when I worked in an office), so I can be around to periodically clear the snow inside the coop and do basic disaster management.

 

[K0k0shka]

A few years ago - was 2015 the snowy winter? - I was living in Somerville Mass. My house had a carriage house, about 15’ deep, with two double swinging doors on the front. The doors didn’t fit super tight, but didn’t have particularly large gaps. In a couple of the storms that winter we had a narrow drift of snow from the door all the way to the back wall. It was amazing the amount of snow that could make it in through those small cracks, and the distance it could travel. And in my driveway, with houses on 2 sides and the carriage house on the 3rd, and narrow gaps for the wind to blow between, I had areas scoured clear of snow while a few feet over there was a drift 3-4x the depth of the snowfall. It was pretty amazing. Gave me a new appreciation of the standstill caused by the blizzard of ‘78. (In ‘78 I lived up here and we got significantly more snow - but no wind. Plows were out while it snowed & then we were all back on the road. Great skiing.)

Can you tell if the snow mostly came in one or two of the sides? If so, I would imagine the best solution would be to make the vents on those sides closeable and have sufficient protected vents on the others to provide the necessary airflow. If the snow seems to have been eddying & coming in all sides, I know some people here have internal baffles, sort of a false ceiling under the vents to catch snow (though in this sort of storm the snow might just blow all the way across & down onto the chickens anyway).

EDIT: just saw the top “Similar Thread” is “Coop Fail” where just this sort of interior baffle didn’t work to keep the snow away from the chickens! Oh well! Back to the drawing board.

I remember The Great Snow of 2015! That was fun.

Yeah yesterday's storm was exactly the kind that would blow snow through the tiniest crack. There was only one vent in the whole coop that didn't get snow blown through - at the back where the lean-to roof slants down over top of it - but it's not enough on its own for 7 chickens pooping and breathing all day, if I were to close all the others. Snow was also blowing through the crack where the human access door (being an old house door and not completely straight anymore) meets the door frame. It's the tiniest little crack, but, like in your story, snow was still blowing through it

My husband suggested hanging a tarp as a fake ceiling below vent level, but connecting it wall to wall on 3 sides, leaving a space along the 4th to let air through for ventilation. In the "Coop Fail" thread, there's a large gap between the two tarps, where the snow blew down from (plus the vents were much less protected and just got a larger volume of snow blown in). I might try that for next time.

 

[junior67]

Yep, Boston suburbs. Sorry to hear it snowed in your coop, too


No Cochins there. The two on the left with the black heads are Double Silver Laced Barnevelders, the rest are all English Orpingtons of different colors. There's one not pictured that's a Silver Laced, the yellow ones are Lemon Cuckoo, and the dark one by the feeder and the orange one by herself drinking are both Red Partridge, though the dark one didn't get the memo and looks nothing like the breed

Here's a better picture of the one that's by herself:
View attachment 2978389

And her sister who's supposed to be the same breed and color, but she mixed up her colors and now they are reversed - orange lacing on black, instead of black lacing on orange

View attachment 2978388

They are just so cute!!!!!!!!!! They have the same body type (or to my untrained eyes) as Cochins just don't have the feathered feet. Look like they have the same fluffy butts. LOL I love the mixed up one! She is just so cool looking! The correct one is beautiful!!!!!

 

[K0k0shka]

I just saw the title and thought holy cr@p how hard does the snow blow there that you'd need to worry about that?

Windiest city in the country, so it can blow pretty hard But I always thought "vent" was an odd word to use to refer to a chicken's butthole (egghole? everythinghole?) Just invites accidental humor like this.

 

[K0k0shka]

My overhangs with fascia are pretty good, but when the lower roof gets full of snow and can blow into the upper soffits, so I installed furnace filter to keep the snow out.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/ventilation-baffling.75434/

Very clever! I remember seeing this a while back, thinking it was a good idea, but then I completely forgot about it. Worth a try! Do you leave the furnace filler there all winter, or do you only put it up for storms?

 

[K0k0shka]

They are just so cute!!!!!!!!!! They have the same body type (or to my untrained eyes) as Cochins just don't have the feathered feet. Look like they have the same fluffy butts. LOL I love the mixed up one! She is just so cool looking! The correct one is beautiful!!!!!

Thanks! Yeah, very similar body type - chunky with a big butt, just the way I like 'em

 

[K0k0shka]

Fun photos from the storm aftermath. My run is partially covered and has plastic on all sides, but that's no match for this storm so snow blew in anyway, in dramatic drifts. So there was a lot of shoveling, and half of the run is taken up by majestic snow mountains now. I'm so glad I save lots of bagged leaves every fall, because that's the only thing that will bring my chickens outside post-snowfall!

I am seriously impressed by my heated dog bowl! It was buried under 2+ feet of snow, but when I dug it out, it still had liquid water inside!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Aart, Dude quit, stop. Eyes up here.
Now can we get back on topic?

Er, Moonie... Aart is a lady. Not a dude.