Ventilation question

[Jami F]

I have 3 hens in a 8x10 resin coop at bedtime and free range all day. I have sand base And a small dehumidifier running at night. There are ventilation slots in the top. the double doors are open all day and I clean the coop trap every morning. Am I okay with ventilation this way?

 

[aart]

And a small dehumidifier running at night

Not seeing it in the pics?
How much water does it gather overnight?

The dehumidifier will pull in air, so the amount of air cycled through,

If it's just sitting in the coop, it will only recirculate the air, not draw it in thru the vents.

But a chicken coop is no place for a dehumidifier, IMO...
....it won't remove ammonia(I don't think).

More vents is better as fresh air coming in and moist ammonia laden air can escape.

Measure the humidity both outside and inside the coop, they should be about the same.
If inside is more than 10% higher you need more ventilation.

 

[Alaskan]

The dehumidifier will pull in air, so the amount of air cycled through, will be much more than simply the size of your vents.

The fact that you only have three hens 8n there also helps.

However, I have no idea how much air that dehumidifier is pulling.

So... it would help to add some more ventilation... not sure how you can add ventilation while still keeping the coop secure... but maybe remove the doors it came with, and replace them with hardware cloth doors???

 

[3KillerBs]

The usual recommendation is to have 1 square foot of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation per bird. Do your ventilation slots add up to that much area?

If not, the best place to add more ventilation would be at the top of the gable triangles because heat and ammonia both rise and you want to keep the air flow above the chickens' heads.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I would say with only three hens and all that you are doing, goodness yes you’re doing enough lol. If you share the size of the vent slots, that could help is determine if you even need to be doing all of the extra things. I’ve never heard of someone using a dehumidifier, nor do I know the ideal humidity level for a coop. Where are their nesting boxes out of curiosity?