Ventilation

[Padorna23]

Hey guys, I’m new to the whole raising chickens thing and am not sure if I have enough ventilation in my coop. It is 4x4 and there are 4 birds currently in it. I have about a full square foot up top in the back and about 3 square feet up front but semi covered by a gutter. Also by the coop door on the bottom I have about 2in by about 12 in. All of this is covered by hardware cloth. Here is a picture for reference. Where I have it circled I added plywood because I thought it would be way too much for the size coop. Thanks for the help all. Also I live in New Jersey so hot and humid in the summer and it can get pretty cold at times in the winter sometimes single digits but not for long periods of time.

 

[Sally PB]

You need about one square foot of ventilation per bird. Ventilation needs to be up high, above the birds' heads, as ammonia (from their poop) rises. So if you have openings down low, air will come in and create a draft over the birds. The venting you have up under the roof looks like a good location. Is it covered with hardware cloth? I can't tell in the picture.

 

[3KillerBs]

That ventilation up top is great, but needs hardware cloth covering to keep predators from coming in.

 

[rosemarythyme]

x3 on covering it with small wire mesh for safety. Otherwise that's not a bad amount of ventilation for a small coop (which can be difficult to vent well due to space constraints). If you need to add more, I would just do 12x12" openings with gable vents over them to keep wind/rain out.

 

[aart]

Need bigger roof overhangs.....don't think what you have there now won't even keep it dry.

 

[Padorna23]

Need bigger roof overhangs.....don't think what you have there now won't even keep it dry.

It wasn’t finished in that picture... I added plywood up top on opposite ends and left it opened at the front and back ends. No water gets in, I’ve checked during a pretty bad rain storm before I put the birds in.

 

[rosemarythyme]

It wasn’t finished in that picture... I added plywood up top on opposite ends and left it opened at the front and back ends. No water gets in, I’ve checked during a pretty bad rain storm before I put the birds in.

Oh so you covered a lot of it up. I would've really liked to see the slanted covers over all 4 sides, to keep a lot of cross airflow going.

Also I'd personally want to see at least 1 window in there (you can do something like framed plexiglass, top hinged to prop open for airflow when possible) because I'm guessing it's pretty dark in there, which can be a problem as they can't see well in the dark and won't want to go in.

 

[Padorna23]

Thanks for all the help guys. I will pull that ply wood I added, extend the roof and add more hardware cloth in place of the plywood