Ventilation Question

[dominiques]

Some pics of our progress. Roosts in progress and part of nesting box.


Pop door. You can see it's kind of high which I'm concerned about. But see the light plywood below it? When we first reciprocal drilled that spot for the pop door all this yucky stuff came pouring out. I think it was vermiculite aspestos insulation!! I freaked out to say the least. So we sealed it up and had to made the opening above it. So we can put a ramp up to it but it's going to take a lot of inside the coop room, so that's an issue too. We still need to make a hardware cloth window screen for the window opening.

 

[dominiques]

Do you think the roosts are too high? Or the nesting boxes?

 

[DanEP]

If that's your nest boxes in the first pic then yes their to high. nest boxes should always be lower than the roost or they will want to sleep in them. I try to keep mine at least 12 in lower than my lowest roost for this reason and they can sit on the floor for matter. You just don't want them sleeping in them.
I also see a shelve in the second pic to the right of the roosts. If you don't close that off some way they will be all over it leaving little presents for you to clean.I have several girls that like to get into my shop and check out ever thing on the workbench pooping and knocking things over, one aussie trys to drink my coffee and one buff orp lays her egg behind my air compressor every chance she gets.
You are going to have a nice coop and will just have to figure out what works best for you .
Dan

 

[Joe.G]

Ok Ill try to remember and answer you questions, But you have to do me a favor, I would love to see Pic's of the rest of the barn the outside also, Don't matter the shape I love old buildings.

1. The screws and battons on the hardware cloth is a good idea, I used Heavy Gauge Fence/poulty staples that you put in with a hammer, Do you use the floor upstairs? if so you may want to cover it with plywood, thats not a coop issue just figured be easier to store stuff or what ever.

2. The Door gaps, what I would do is frame out for a Screen door like we talked about wood Frame, Hardware cloth over it Ill post a pic of what I am talking about very easy, it'll make the door way a little smaller but you don't need to use big wood just needs to be sturdy and I just use a regular barrel bolt lock but you can use what ever as long as a raccoon can't pull on door and open it.

3. Nesting box is to high, I would lower it closer to the ground say maybe 10 Inches or so to the bottom, and that shelf will get dirty, you can leave it but maybe put something on top to make it easier to clean.

4. The roost are fine but I would add two more boards, one in front and one in between the two you have now, so it is easier for the birds to get up and go from one to the other, some heavier breeds don't fly that well. Since you still have time I would build some kind of chicken droppings collector under the roost, people use sand or Sweet PDZ and they use like sifter it makes it easier to clean out and using a shifter you won't lose your sand or what ever, you will be amazed at how much they go at night and trust me a couple hours of work now and not much money will save you a lot of time and money cleaning up and replacing the bedding under the roost.

5. The Pop door, It may have been aspestos but I think it was probably just regular Blown in paper Insulation, I myself would have put a mask on and kept the pop door down low, but I understand if you don't.

Looking good.

 

[dominiques]

Ok Ill try to remember and answer you questions, But you have to do me a favor, I would love to see Pic's of the rest of the barn the outside also, Don't matter the shape I love old buildings. I'll put one in at the bottom of this reply.

1. The screws and battons on the hardware cloth is a good idea, I used Heavy Gauge Fence/poulty staples that you put in with a hammer, Do you use the floor upstairs? Not really but if we change that I think your idea of plywood floor is a good idea. Thanks! if so you may want to cover it with plywood, thats not a coop issue just figured be easier to store stuff or what ever.

2. The Door gaps, what I would do is frame out for a Screen door like we talked about wood Frame, Hardware cloth over it Ill post a pic of what I am talking about very easy, it'll make the door way a little smaller but you don't need to use big wood just needs to be sturdy and I just use a regular barrel bolt lock but you can use what ever as long as a raccoon can't pull on door and open it. OK; I bought wood today. 2x4's and 2x3's. Recommendation on which to use? I'd love to see a pic of what you're talking about. I think I have an idea but pics are good .

3. Nesting box is to high, I would lower it closer to the ground say maybe 10 Inches or so to the bottom, and that shelf will get dirty, you can leave it but maybe put something on top to make it easier to clean. I had a feeling. Thanks! We'll move it down.

4. The roost are fine but I would add two more boards, one in front and one in between the two you have now, so it is easier for the birds to get up and go from one to the other, some heavier breeds don't fly that well. Since you still have time I would build some kind of chicken droppings collector under the roost, people use sand or Sweet PDZ and they use like sifter it makes it easier to clean out and using a shifter you won't lose your sand or what ever, you will be amazed at how much they go at night and trust me a couple hours of work now and not much money will save you a lot of time and money cleaning up and replacing the bedding under the roost. Joe, the boards to add here should they be same height as the two up there now? Or should the first one in front be even lower? I have wood to do a poo collection board and I have one bag of Sweet PDZ although I'm thinking I'll need another.

5. The Pop door, It may have been aspestos but I think it was probably just regular Blown in paper Insulation, I myself would have put a mask on and kept the pop door down low, but I understand if you don't. I'm really torn here. I looked the the stuff up online and it was the metalic sheen and bits that caused me such concern. We'll try it where it is but I must admit I think this is going to be a problem. Also a problem is the door is only 11" X 11" We have Dominiques which I believe are small birds but this is not the 14" X14" door I was envisioning.

Looking good. Thanks!!! We are not done yet but hoping to have the chicks in by this weekend. We are going away next week and my son will be watching them. Run won't be built until the following weekend. I'm hoping that's OK for them to be in the coop for a week before their run is done. OK...here's an outside pic. You can see the wall inside on the left is one wall of the new coop. The one with the new vent and the door that's we need to rebuild somehow. All the way to the left is the soon to be run area.



And below is where the pop door will be and where part of their run will be. 1/2 will be under this structure and the other 1/2 will be outside.



Here is the vent we put in and the door that is in need of rebuilding or building a screen door. We did hardware cloth those few opening between the boards, above openings where the insulation is, and the vent we did on both sides. I don't know if you can tell that the door is a 1/2 door. The white strip across the middle is where the horse chewed it while poking his/her head out.


Thanks. I can't tell you how much this helps.

 

[Joe.G]

Is that OSB on the front outside of your barn? That is the stuff that looks like wood chips glued and pressed together? If so you will want to at some point cover that up it will rot at some point.

I would put the first 2x4 or you could use a 2x3 lower then the rest of the boards maybe like a foot or so off the ground and then the next will go between the two that are there now ( this is for the roost ) You want them to be able to go up and down easy with out to big of a leap between boards.

It's hard to tell by these pic's but what you want to do is take say 2 x 3 and you will put two on each side and one on top and one on the bottom of the inside or outside on the door frame kind of like a regular screen door but this one is going inside instead of outside. if you look at teh pic on the right you will see where this screen door ( I had it for a different project wasn't built for this coop or it would have had a lot less of a gap ) there is a 1 inch gap, I put a board behind it so it acts as a stop and fills in the gap.

 

[dominiques]

Wow, that's a great set up you have! Did you build that? Awesome job

Yes that is the stuff on the outside of our barn. Not quite sure why they put that up or when but as you can see we are slowing covering it up. We are wondering how the heck we will do the top as it's really high up! I see your door. I get it perfectly. I think I have the wood to do it tonight. Doesn't look too hard. As for the roosts we can do that too. I've got what I need to give them a stepping up roosting area and poo board underneath. I see your nesting boxes too; right on the ground. That's easy enough. Maybe I should just take the shelf down that my nesting box is up on now and just put it on the ground? Where is your pop door? Thank you again Joe! I'll post pictures when we are finishing up. It's time. The girls got away from me today as I was taking them out of their indoor pen (it's in our garage) and putting them in their outside temporary pen for the day. Had them in the travel bin and when I turn around with the last one they were all sitting on the edge and then whoose they were off. They are so ready.