Venting questions

[superbouncyball]

Not to insulate is what I'm getting, but venting is key in winter for moisture

The birds produce their own heat. moisture is more the problem then heat. This is also what I'm reading

What I want to know is proper venting.

do I vent all for side around the top of the coop? or just one side. I would assume at least 2 sides. so the wind can blow straight across the top and not be forced into the coop. by blowing in one side hitting the opposite non vented wall and going down into the coop it self. I would assume this is what is meant by drafts?


Brian

 

[Judy]

The vent is the place where the inside air naturally exchanges with the outside air, simply because they're different and will naturally try to "average out" that difference. A single space is fine. More than one can make it more difficult to avoid a draft. One example is a building with the high point at one end and the opening at that highest point. This is for cold weather. For summer, a cross breeze is often good or even necessary to counteract the heat.

This article talks a lot more about ventilation:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop

 

[superbouncyball]

this is being built in northern PA Wilkes Barre Area

ok thanks So what I'm getting out of that is vents up high near the roof line all 4 sides, 4-8in tall and running several feet. if not the whole length of the sides.

then possible door down low to be opened in the summer but covered in wire mesh and weather stripped to prevent drafts in the winter.


one other quick question nest boxes should be about 1ft x 1ft? a 4in divider between each nest is aqueduct? They do not have to be complete separate enclosures?

 

[jetdog]

The nest boxes don't have to be separated but it will give them a little more privacy when they are laying and make them feel more comfortable.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Your record high should be around 103, record low -21. Your ground probably stays frozen maybe three months of the year? Heat kills more chickens than cold.

I don’t know if your coop is elevated or on the ground, how big it is, how many chickens you plan to have in there, or how high it is. I don’t know how it is situated, whether it is in the open or in a protected from wind area. Is it in the shade in the summer? Which direction are your prevalent winds from? I don’t know how often you’ll clean it out or if you plan to use a droppings board. Each coop is going to be unique. It’s hard to get real specific when you don’t know what conditions you are looking at. Pat was reluctant to give numbers because of all these differences so she gave a very conservative number that should cover practically everyone on this forum, which means it can be overkill for a lot of us. That’s pretty common for most guidelines on this forum. Still, I agree with her that it’s really hard to provide too much ventilation at any time as long as direct breezes do not hit the chickens in colder parts of winter.

I’ve seen single-combed chickens sleep in trees with the temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit with no problems and no frostbite. They were not on the dead limb of a tree overlooking a bluff squawking defiantly in the teeth of a blizzard. They were in a thicket in a protected valley with the ability to reposition themselves behind a tree trunk if the wind changed directions. They were roosting on tree branches and when they were cold they’d fluff up their feathers. Fluffing up the feathers traps insulating air plus it covers their feet on those tree branches. They really can handle cold quite well with just a little protection, but in our coops they have limited ability to move to get out of a breeze so we need to help them a bit. If a breeze strong enough to ruffle their feathers much hits them, it can release that trapped air. Also think of wind chill.

Ammonia is lighter than air. Warm air rises and holds more moisture than cold air. Ammonia comes from the poop decomposing. Moisture comes from their breath and their poop. Ammonia can damage their lungs. In winter excess moisture can lead to frostbite (think dew point and condensation). In the summer, excess moisture in the coop can speed the decomposition of the manure. This causes it to smell and releases ammonia. It also gives certain potentially harmful bugs a good home. Lots of ventilation in the summer (and some turning) will help the bedding dry out.

You need to get rid of both ammonia and moisture year around, though if the poop is frozen it is not giving off ammonia or moisture but look out for when it thaws if it has built up. Openings up high year around are important. In the summer, openings down low are important. In a coop with reasonable height you’d be surprised how much of a draft you can create just from cooler air coming in from the bottom and warmer air going out the top. That can take a lot of moisture with it. If your lower air intake can come from a cooler shaded spot (like the north shaded side) you are even better off. In the summer chickens really enjoy a nice breeze.

How much ventilation do you need? I don’t know. I’d certainly leave as much area under any overhangs open as I reasonably could. My rafters are 2x6’s because of the span so I have 5-1/2” open on two sides, covered with hardware cloth. The end that the prevalent wind and most rain comes from is inside a roofed shed so I left a large opening and covered it with hardware cloth. On the normally down-wind side I also left a hardware cloth covered opening. When I get a rain from that direction the inside of my coop gets wet, but with enough ventilation it dries out pretty quickly. If you toss a little scratch on the bedding the chickens will turn it for you. You might want to use a gable vent or shutters to keep moisture out. A roof vent will remove a whole lot of air, whether a turbine or just something like a cupola. Since you get snow, I’d not depend on a ridge vent. It could get blocked.

Windows are really nice. You need some light in there anyway so you and the chickens can see what you are doing. If you have traditional windows, cover the outside with hardware cloth and leave them open in the summer, even if they are at or below the chickens’ roosting level. Or you can make your own windows by framing an opening, cover it with hardware cloth for year around, and have a removable panel of Plexiglas for the winter months. Other hardware covered openings at or near ground level are really great for summer. Just have a flap or something you can put on there in the winter.

If your coop is fairly small, another option is to build a three sided coop with the fourth side wire. That will create a cul-de-sac for them to sleep in where they are protected from storms. Then in the winter, have a panel that covers that entire side.

There are a lot of different ways to do these things. What works best for you depends on what your coop looks like and how it is situated among many other things. An 8x12 walk-in coop on the ground will have different requirements than a 4x4 elevated coop. Civilization as we know it will not end if you don’t do it any one specific way. Try to figure out what is easiest to provide passive ventilation for your unique situation. You don’t have to follow a formula and be real precise with this stuff, just try to err on the side of providing too much. Try to not overthink it, though I tend to do just that and probably gave you enough information to do just that.

Good luck with it. From your posts I’m confident you’ll be successful.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You’ll find we probably do more different things for nests than anything else we do except for different coops. You might look through these to see some of the things we’ve done. You’ll see there are no rules.

Nest boxes
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/41108/show-us-your-nest-boxes-ingenous-design-post-it-here/220

Nest Boxes
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-your-creative-nesting-boxes/80#post_12395882

Opa’s Rollaway Nest Box
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=287684

12” x 12” is the minimum recommended size for full-sized hens but I prefer to go larger. That’s just personal preference. Part of that is that my studs were at 16” centers so that was a convenient dimension for me to use. Part of it is that my hens like to lay in the same nest at the same time. I’ve seen three in one nest at the same time on several occasions. The larger nests give them more room. A photo on here I thought was really amusing was of one hen just sitting squarely on top of another to lay her egg. I let my hens hatch with the flock. The larger nests help the hens share because some will insist on laying with the broody, plus I found out the hard way that a smaller nest is dangerous. Chicks like to climb on top of the broody while she hatches the late-comers. In a smaller nest I had chicks falling off the top of the broody and onto the ground. In my 16” x 16” x16” nests, that doesn’t happen. The broody is not that close to the front.

I also recommend a fairly high lip around the nest. That helps keep the chicks in when they hatch but the big advantage is that hens like to scratch and rearrange the bedding before they lay eggs. It has to be perfectly arranged for them. With a low lip they can scratch out the bedding, fake eggs, or even other eggs that have been laid. I use a 5” to 6” high lip which is another reason my nests are fairly tall. You can see from those links a lot of people don’t do that but as I said, personal preference.

 

[superbouncyball]

Well I'm looking to start with maybe 4 chickens. and will do a raised coup similar to this one https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/the-comedihens-new-coop except the ramp will come out the front and on the side where they have the ramp I will make it open so it can be cleaned.

 

[Judy]

I didn;t respond again because I'm very confident that Ridgerunneer told you what you needed to know, and much more thoroughly than I would have, no doubt!

 

[superbouncyball]

thank you and I will make sure to post some pictures then once I build it