Ventilation Suggestions for Coop?

[mthrcluckers]

Hello! I am new to chickens(going on 6 months) and I have a small flock of 7 chickens. I'm looking for some suggestions regarding ventilation--I am the second owner to this coop, and have started renovating it. The inside has all new walls and floor but I noticed it doesn't seem to ventilate very well, especially in a cold Colorado winter. It has been somewhat more humid this year and my chickens got a little bit of frostbite when it was -14 degrees one night. I usually leave two windows open halfway at night(the one directly by their perch in the second photo stays closed). Just looking to see if I should put some kind of ventilation in the roof, or in the sides above/below the windows? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

You can put gable vents in and it also looks like you can add some more sofit venting,

 

[mowin]

A ridge vent will also help, but you would need to remove any snow, as that would block it.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. Here's my article on coop ventilation: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/repecka-illustrates-coop-ventilation.77659/

What level of DIY skills do you have?

If you can open up the gables it would probably help a lot.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I see a small vent in the soffit already so it looks like that should be the area to expand on. If you could open up soffits on both sides (and cover with hardware cloth) that would help immensely and would yield a lot of climate protected ventilation.

 

[saysfaa]

I would open an entire wall. One of the short walls, in your case.

It needs to be one concept or the other, though, in the winter. Either the gables/eaves/ridge or the open side. One works by cross ventilation, the other by not having cross ventilation - instead it has large areas of air exchanging very slowly. Both concepts can work well.

This is a picture of mine, in the upper midwest, that is built with that concept. This is the most snow it has had - it was after a strong storm and before I found the last of the small cracks in the other walls. Mine has 4' of the side of a 10x14 shed open rather than an end. The chickens have the half with the open side. The other end is storage for garden and chicken equipment and supplies.