Ventilation in 16x16 Coop

[llombardo]

in the planning stage...figuring out wood needed, windows, etc.

I was thinking 6-12 inches across the west and north side.

How many inches and would this be enough? Or should it be 3 sides? 2 sides across from each other?

As we have learned it can get quite cold. We hit -55, so I must keep this in mind for the future. There will be roughly 5 windows(one on north/south side, 2 on the east side and one on the west side)

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

@aart?

 

[Stephine]

Hm - how big is your flock?
With 4 sqft per chicken you could have up to 64 chickens in there if I calculated correctly. !
At 1 sqft of ventilation area per chicken you are at 64 sqft. Over 16 feet, that’s 4 foot high. Or 2 feet on 2 sides; or 1 foot on each side....
If it was me, ( and I was planning on 60 chickens) I would do 1 foot under the eaves on all sides - or just on 3 sides and have some hardware cloth covered windows on one side.
We have high ventilation the length of the coop and under the gables on the short side and that works very well. Make sure the roosts are low enough they will not get bothered by drafts.

 

[cavemanrich]

@Stephine gave you some good advice. What I would like to add/suggest, since you are making a LARGE COOP. Go with a WOOD'S COOP. design. It is the best coop design in my opinion.
You can get detailed plans from books available at the library. There are other sources for plans as well.
I believe/remember you are somewhere in the southern half of Illinois from reading other posts. The Woods can handle temps way colder than what you and I encounter each winter. It is also IDEAL for the warm summers with the open design ventilation.
WISHING YOU BEST.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[jthornton]

Wood's Book.

JT

 

[aart]

X3 on a Woods coop if you are building something that big.

 

[gootziecat]

I agree with the others that the Wood's coop is a great one. One thing you might want to consider is how much wind you get where you live. Before we had a weather change a few years back, wind wasn't that big of a consideration. Now it's a bigger one where I live. Just a thought.

 

[Stephine]

That is an excellent point! Especially in the light of getting colder temperatures now sometimes in the winter... That’s why I like the high ventilation openings under the eaves - keeps the wind off the chickens...

 

[gootziecat]

I have a 16' x 12' coop and have open eaves running the long sides, front and back. The worst wind comes from a side direction, not open. I had to run strips along the open eaves due to so much wind coming inside, the chickens have literally been snowed on. It still is too drafty in my opinion, but they also need ventilation. So now I hook up a brooder lamp on really cold, windy nights. It's hard to know what is enough or too much.