Ventilation question

[robyn8]

This will be our second winter. The girls did fine last winter here in southeast Michigan but I'm always wanting to make things better so I'm wondering if we should alter our ventilation. We have shutters we can open in the warm months but that open area under the overhang is our only winter ventilation. Is it too open? Should we block part of it? Rain and snow minimally comes in if its blowing the right way but only in the corner where we have no roosting bars. I can feel air moving across the vent but not actively blowinwing in. We are planning to insulate this year and I'm wondering if we'll just lose all the heat thru that big vent anyways. Thoughts? We have 12 birds and coop is 8x8 ft. I think the roof is about 6-7 ft up

 

[lazy gardener]

General recommendation is for 1 s.f. of ventilation/bird, or 10% of the foot print. Our winter temps can stay below 0*F for days at a time. My coop has 3 windows. In a blizzard or below 0* temps, I will close the windows, but open at least one of them when the sun rises in the morning. My coop also has louvered vents cut into gable ends, soffit vents, and a floor level vent. In order for ventilation to work at it's best, you need an intake and an outlet. Preferably with the intake low, and out let high, though your set up may not work well for that. Vents on opposite walls would work also.

If I had your coop, I'd consider cutting a nice big window into the wall on the run side.
Would the design of your coop allow you to put a soffit vent or cut in a louvered vent on the wall at the low side of your shed roof? You will need to take into consideration the direction of your usual prevailing winds.

With venting, if conditions warrant closing off the vents during a prolonged cold snap, or a blizzard, you can always do so. But... if you don't have the vents in the first place, you may have a build up of moisture, and have no way to regulate the coop conditions. I recommend keeping a hygrometer in the coop so you can keep an eye on the humidity levels. Let your nose dictate if you have ammonia issues. The slightest hint of ammonia smell is call for immediate action.

 

[cavemanrich]

Your ventilation looks good. Do not reduce it since you feel air movement but no wind/drafts. It is also up high which is ideal. (no direct wind blowing on your chickens). I would encourage you to place another , possibly closeable vent on opposite wall as take in air supply. This way there would be an easier air movement to vent moisture and ammonia odors.
WISHING YOU BEST.......

 

[robyn8]

Thanks for the advice! We had no issues with ammonia last year and the humidity was always the same as outside so I think we did ok last year but we have more chickens this year. I guess I was thinking we had too big of a vent but sounds like you all are saying it's not too big and we should even consider more. I can open up the wooden shutters up top on nice days to get a cross breeze. We had those open initially last winter but we were getting drafts from the back. We could probably add a vent on the wall across from the big vent but it would be lower due to the roof sloop.

 

[aart]

We are planning to insulate this year and I'm wondering if we'll just lose all the heat thru that big vent anyways.

Insulation can cause more problems than it solves, I would not bother with it.

Thinks your ventilation looks pretty good.
You do have other open-able options if you find you need them.

 

[robyn8]

My husband will love the no insulation suggestion, lol! Maybe I'll rethink it.

 

[aart]

My husband will love the no insulation suggestion, lol! Maybe I'll rethink it.

Insulation become moot in a well ventilated coop in our climate.
It's not like our houses where we do indeed 'hold heat'.

Insulation would have to be covered so the birds won't pick at it and eat it.
An insulated wall with inner and outer sheathing can become a haven for rodent habitat.

Do you leave your pop door open 24/7?
Looks like you have a 'curtain' there?

 

[robyn8]

We were planning to use foam board with OSB covering in. No we do not leave pop door open all the time. I close them in at night. There's a piece of carpet cut into strips in front of the pop door to block some wind. It's a pretty big pop door so I wanted to block some wind during the day. I originally put it up when I had a broody sitting on eggs in early spring right in front of the pop door and she was getting a lot of wind on her.