Ventilation?

[535616]

I wonder why you are putting in insulation. People put insulation in a building to help hold in heat. You do not want to keep the warm moist air in the coop. You want it to leave via the upper vents. Insulation is also a wonderful place for mice to spend the winter. They love that warm cozy stuff. I live in northern Montana. I don't have insulation in the coop. It has gotten down to -22F, -30C. At that temperature the chickens are out in the covered and protected from the wind run. With the down blankets chickens wear year round they can deal better with cold than heat.

See Ridgerunners reply I sent but to add to this it gets pretty nasty warm here in the summer and when i walk into my former tack room whoa.....what a difference from outside.....nice and cool. So you can look at it from both sides. Thanks for the thoughts!

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Hello! Welcome to BYC!!

If you will have pictures/plans of your coop build you may want to enter the coop article contest. Look in forums and in the contests section at the top. Good luck on your adventures!

Feel free to check out the links below for some interesting reading.

 

[RoosterML]

An exhaust fan mounted high or on the roof with built in thermostat is very nice to have. Especially in warm/hot climates. I have one of the mushroom roof mount fans and love it.

 

[535616]

Hello! Welcome to BYC!!

If you will have pictures/plans of your coop build you may want to enter the coop article contest. Look in forums and in the contests section at the top. Good luck on your adventures!

Feel free to check out the links below for some interesting reading.

Thxs......will do

 

[535616]

An exhaust fan mounted high or on the roof with built in thermostat is very nice to have. Especially in warm/hot climates. I have one of the mushroom roof mount fans and love it.

Just read it to my husband. I will look into it. Thxs

 

[N F C]

What a great space to modify for a coop!

 

[Eggscaping]

But those chickens were not sleeping on a bare tree limb overhanging a bluff, crowing defiantly into the teeth of a blizzard.

This was an excellent post - but this line in particular made me laugh! Good one!

 

[Eggscaping]

Good day ALL.....This is my first day. My husband is building an addition onto his car barn(was my horse barn) and I'm claiming 8'x10'! It will have 2 windows, a man door, a chick door, insulation and ventilation. My question is....I've read u shld have 1' per 10 sq ft. So 8' of ventilation? Also what about an exhaust fan? Something i can turn on in the summer or whenever to blow out the fumes? My plan is to eventually have 10 australorps. They will have an outside run. Oh btw, I am a recently retired R.N. I have 5 dogs, 5 cats and a killer Caique. My husband found your BYC site. I want to get away from factory farming eggs. I like to cook up eggs for the dogs as well as myself. Nice to meet all of you.

 

[merrymutts]

Welcome to BYC !!!

 

[Shezadandy]

Just read it to my husband. I will look into it. Thxs

First, WELCOME!

Second: Makes sure it's an exhaust fan intended for barn/poultry use. Every attic fan I researched had "not for use in poultry application" or some related wording- because the dust will choke most of those fans and create a fire danger or just kill it early in its life.

I now have 2 - one for each coop - got them from ValleyVet- the best price I found (including shipping) - made by J&D Manufacturing. In our 8x12 the 24" fan keeps everyone comfortable on those horrible summer nights. For the cost difference, to me anyway- there's no reason to go for the smaller ones.

https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail...itemguid=fb6cb6e4-8b91-4df5-ad8c-f8b5055fe291

The more technical info for the sizes (cubic feet per minute, energy use):

https://www.jdmfg.com/sites/www.jdmfg.com/files/pdfs/2019_exhaust_30_inoutes.pdf?pdf=downloaded

Super easy to install- cut the hole, screw it into the frame, plug it in - done. They plug into an outlet - and are made for the abuses dealt by chicken dust. I can't say enough nice things about them. Just make sure you have an opening across from the fan that will let it pull fresh air through the space - I have a metal security screen door across from mine and the result has been a HUGE difference in the summer. As soon as it starts cooling down in the evening, the massive amount of air movement cools the coop instantly instead of holding onto the heat of the day.