Ventilation Suggestions

[CaptainPoulet]

Hello Friends,
I designed the world’s greatest coop (in my mind at least), but bc lumber is so crazy expensive right now, we went with a prefab job for our first time owning chickens.

I know that I need to improve the ventilation, but bc of the roof design I can’t just cut windows along the top. Any suggestions? During the day I have doors hooked open for a cross-breeze, but at night they just have those 2 windows at the top.

 

[neo71665]

How many birds do you have and how large are the windows?

 

[BDutch]

The two windows on opposite sides don’t seem to be too small. If you can open them both.
What’s important: how many chickens? Are they normal sized?

One thing to improve might be to lower the roost a bit so the air flow is higher as the chickens.

 

[neo71665]

I wouldn't lower the roosts. They are already level with the nest boxes so I bet there is gonna end up being roosting in the box problems in the future.

That thing overall is very poorly designed for chickens.

 

[CaptainPoulet]

How many birds do you have and how large are the windows?

4 birds max, most likely 3 bc we think 1 is a roo.
Top windows are about 5”x5”

 

[CaptainPoulet]

I wouldn't lower the roosts. They are already level with the nest boxes so I bet there is gonna end up being roosting in the box problems in the future.

That thing overall is very poorly designed for chickens.

I know it is, but it has to do for the first year.
There are 2 roosting bars at the top as well.

 

[CaptainPoulet]

The two windows on opposite sides don’t seem to be too small. If you can open them both.
What’s important: how many chickens? Are they normal sized?

One thing to improve might be to lower the roost a bit do the air flow is higher as the chickens.

4 normal size birds. 2 Easter eggers and 2 barnevelders.

 

[neo71665]

So almost 1 sq ft of vent. Hmmm

If it was me I would open up the entire ends straight across even with the bottom and top of the window and cover the opening with hardware cloth. Then build a flap that you can prop open for airflow but limit the amount of rain that gets in.

I seen the bars at the top but I really doubt you will ever see a bird up there. It's too cramped against the ceiling and the airflow from the windows will be too much.

 

[CaptainPoulet]

So almost 1 sq ft of vent. Hmmm

If it was me I would open up the entire ends straight across even with the bottom and top of the window and cover the opening with hardware cloth. Then build a flap that you can prop open for airflow but limit the amount of rain that gets in.

I seen the bars at the top but I really doubt you will ever see a bird up there. It's too cramped against the ceiling and the airflow from the windows will be too much.

Ya, I figured it would be too tight for them to fly up.
Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[BDutch]

I know it is, but it has to do for the first year.
There are 2 roosting bars at the top as well.

I supposed they sleep on the high roosts. I meant to lower these a bit. The others I didn’t count as roosts bc chickens normally don’t choose lower roosts.

The 2 top windows are not too small for 2 - 4 chickens if you have a good air flow. But air flow might be a problem if the coop is near to the wall.

A better solution is to open up the doors with hwc in front and close the back top window. If the temp is normal that should be fine if this is not the side were the rain is coming in.
This way you have a lot of ventlation on one side. If it gets real warm in summer you can open up the closed window on the other side too.