Venting without drafts?

[shouts]

I know ventilation is important, but how do I avoid drafts with large ventilation openings?

Also, does anyone know if insulation is necessary in NJ?

 

[LynneP]

My climate is similar to yours, and I opted to use insulation as described here-

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693-Coop_Insulation

but lots of folks do not use it.

The key is to have adequate air apace, and especially no drafts. You may need vents in summer near your eaves, to keep the heat down. They must be predator-proof.

patandchickens has a ventilation page, she lives north of you in Ontario.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

How many birds and what is your setup?

 

[shouts]

It's a room in an uninsulated barn - it may have once been a stall. 25 chickens, 150 sq ft.

They won't move in until May, so I'll be working on it this month.

Pictures at https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=139455

 

[Clay In Iowa]

That looks a lot like what I'm doing right now. I'm not going to insulate due to an over abundance of rodents. Instead I'll seal the outside as much as possible and put panels inside to create a dead airspace with out providing nesting material for mice. I'll try to get some of the pics I've taken up later.

Ventilation will be easy since it's inside I can leave most of the ceiling open and still not have any drafts.

 

[shouts]

Hmmm.... good point about the rodents. I'm renovating my home next to barn and I found my beams tunneled through by the squirrels and many carcasses in the attic insulation. I'm planning on putting in a window, but I guess I'll just leave the eaves without the plywood?

 

[Julie08]

Venting = up high
Drafts = down low

 

[patandchickens]

If it's in a barn and you are in NJ, you certianly don't "need" insulation and personally I dunno as I'd bother. (I grew up outside Philly, btw).

A stall within a barn can be a little more difficult to predatorproof than a stand-alone coop, so I'd suggest concentrating your efforts there.

As far as ventilation, basically build in as much as you can stand (preferably some of it on the interior walls so you can ventilate to the interior of the barn at times), with at least some of it high on the walls, and then you can close down whatever you don't want at the moment.

Have fun,

Pat

 

[echlfan]

Quote:
That sums it up for me perfectly! We are building ours now. It will be 6x6. We are leaving the top 10 inches open, but covered in hardware cloth. Plus we will have 2 windows to open for cross currents.