So here is my Coop. It is the back section of the shed, 8ft X 16ft. Right now we have the door open all day and the window is open all the time (with hardware cloth on the inside). My husband and I keep going back and forth on the ventilation issue.... he was thinking of of putting some sort of a ceiling vent in as well as 2 or 3 vents on the front (the door side). The window is set that we can leave it open just a few inches for ventiltion in the cooler months. We cannot put a vent on the back wall, there is a 3 foot closet in the shed for my chicken supplies! Will this be enough? I have seen these exhaust fans that i was thinking of for the ceiling vent, would that be better??
It would help knowing how many chickens you will have living in the coop. In a structure that size, it is probably advisable to have some roof vents that will allow for air to circulate out, especially during the hotter days in a way where cooler air can enter (window/vents) from below and exit out the top. If you're keeping quite a few chickens in there, a forced air vent wouldn't hurt either. The general consensus that i have read is to have more ventilation than originally planned. The intention of the vent isn't just to get fresh air in, but to get potentially problematic gases (ammonia) to escape.
moisture is a big problem too. ammonia only if you only clean once in a while. mine is pretty common in design a sloping roof, my vent is located on the south side wind normaly comes from the north here, it runs the whole length of the front of the building wich is the tall side. its is at the highest point of the building. can be open and shut. and my pop door is directly below it. I think that helps to limit draft. the roosting area is basicly a dead end nowhere for the wind/draft to go so it cycles through the two openings. and as you know warm air rises. so thats my logic. so basicly what im saying is locate the vent as high as you can and make it as large as you can. also locate it as close to where your air will be infiltrating. I say skip the fan, lots of dander and dust in a coop.
I'd put in a ridge vent all across the top. I'd also put large vents on both ends at the highest point. In my 24- x 50-foot barn's 12- x 24-foot coop section, I have two ceiling fans going all summer, a ridge vent, and a 2' x 24' vent made of 1/2-inch hardware cloth at the top that opens to the rest of the barn's interior.
Are you planning firmly on sticking with just the 12 chickens or do you think you might get more in future? And, is the COOP 8x16, or is that the size of the whole BUILDING and the coop is a fraction of that? Without yet knowing the answers to that, I would say that most likely you need a good deal more ventilation than you have, though. And more "winter-worthy" ventilation -- you want your wintertime ventilation to be at the TOPS of the walls, not halfway down like a cracked window would be. (Ventilation high up gives you more moisture removal per am't of air exchange) WIthout knowing more about #s I am not going to make specific suggestions, but specific suggestions would likely be in the realm of a goodly number of square feet more vent area, not the size of premade vent covers sold at Home Depot; and I would not suggest a ridge vent, as being too annoying to retrofit and not giving you *much* bang for your buck and also it sounds like you have an internal drop ceiling which would further reduce the value of a ridge vent. Pat
