Weeping Roof

[BobbieB7]

Hello I live in Rhode Island.
My coop has a sloping roof made with preformed compost.
I was doing great with ventilation although I was concerned my Ladies we’re getting some drafting from it. We just has a blizzard and unfortunately when I checked in Ladies next day the coop had snow in it.
My poo boxes had a bit of snow which meant chickens had snow blowing down on them. There was snow a long side walls as well. I cleaned it up and shoved feed bags in eaves and some styrofoam on open ends of roof.
I did leave a little bit of openings.
Fast forward to today and the roof is weeping and the floor under sand seems damp. I suspect I need to remove some of the bags so coop can vent?
We are expecting a ice storm Friday and not sure what to do. We did have very heavy constant wind for blizzard so maybe that what my ventilation let snow in, but now I’m worried about rain turning to ice blowing on them
Will the sand dry if I open coop up tomorrow or replace?
How far down should roost bar be down from open eaves
Hopefully you can see the vents

 

[azygous]

Did you also leave ventilation at floor level by means of an open pop hole? This is necessary component of the thermodynamic effect. Air is sucked in at floor level, as it warms, it rises and creates an air current that will carry the water vapor upwards and then out the roof or eaves vents. This is not a harmful draft, simply air movement with heated air (from the body heat of the chickens) as its engine.

Create the conditions for this thermodynamic effect, and water vapor will be exhausted from the coop. You might wait for a warm day and caulk the cracks that let the snow blow in while making sure the vents at top of walls at the ceiling are adequate.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

@K0k0shka built a protector to prevent snow from blowing in her eaves. I can't find it right now, but maybe she'll chime in

 

[3KillerBs]

Fast forward to today and the roof is weeping and the floor under sand seems damp.

Ventilation is absolutely critical, even in winter.

You need a free flow of air to carry moisture and ammonia out.

 

[K0k0shka]

@K0k0shka built a protector to prevent snow from blowing in her eaves. I can't find it right now, but maybe she'll chime in

Here's my thread on vent protection:

Vent protection from blowing snow​

The awnings I built work great for everything but that crazy nor'easter we just got last weekend. It was the first time I'd ever gotten snow in my coop from those vents (after many many storms), and the awnings helped a LOT but didn't stop all of it. It was just a combination of exceptionally strong winds, and very low temperatures which caused the snow to fall in small, lightweight flakes easy to blow around.

If you can, I'd recommend building awnings like that to protect your vents. That should cover most snowstorms, and all rain storms (rain doesn't blow horizontally or upwards as easily as snow does). And for the occasional unusual conditions like this past storm, I got the idea from another BYC user to cover the vents with furnace filter material (the blue rolled up type you can cut to length, not the panels). It should let air through but stop the snow/rain.

I'd recommend doing something like that instead of closing up the vents. Ventilation is extremely important, even in - and especially in - bad weather when the chickens may spend more time inside, and poop/breathe in there more than usual, concentrating the ammonia and humidity. During our snowstorm, I covered the one remaining unprotected vent with plastic, and closed the pop door (first time I'd ever closed the pop door during the day, but snow was blowing in through it and piling up, also a first). But I left the other vents open - they still gave me more than 1 square foot per chicken, as recommended. I had to go clear snow out of the coop periodically, but it was only like an inch at a time, and I'd rather do that than close the vents. That was the first time my chickens had spent the day inside. My coop doesn't usually smell, but on that day... well, you could definitely tell there were chickens pooping in there! And that's with the vents open. Imagine if I'd closed them. Despite the snow, nobody got frostbite and there was no weeping or condensation anywhere in the coop, because the vents remained open. The bedding (pine shavings) is now a little damp, from the melting residual snow that I wasn't able to clear from the floor (hard to clear snow from shavings without shoveling everything out) and from tracking some of it in on my boots. I threw some PDZ and fresh shavings on top, but I'm not too worried. It will dry eventually.

Do you use sand as the coop bedding, or just on the poop boards? It's hard to tell from the pictures. Sand on the floor as bedding changes things... It isn't fluffy like shavings, so it doesn't have as much total exposed surface area, thus it takes a lot longer to dry, especially in cold and humid conditions (one reason why I don't like sand as bedding, but that's a whole separate subject). Sand also provides no insulation and saps heat from their feet as they walk on it. And it freezes when wet if the temperature drops, then they're walking on frozen sand. If you have wet sand inside the coop right now, you can try throwing a layer of pine shavings on top of it as a temporary solution. They can help absorb some of the moisture, and they'll be better able to evaporate it. It will be better for your chickens to walk on, too. Then leave as much open during the day as you can, on good days when there's no rain/snow actively falling. Lock the chickens in the run and throw the doors and windows open on the coop, too, to speed up the drying. Long term... I'd replace all of the sand with shavings or another loose type of bedding.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had snow blow in the coop and just left it to melt. The problems with a wet coop typically is not that it is wet but that it stays wet for a while. One day isn't bad, over two days is starting to be a problem. It takes two or three days for the bacteria that causes it to stink to grow and reproduce enough to start stinking. As cold as you are they are not going to reproduce very fast, same for harmful bacteria. If they have to stand in wet for a few days it can affect their feet but mine walk around in occasional wet, like rain, without a problem. As long as their feet can dry out some during the day they'll be OK. Snow on the feathers shows how well their feathers and down insulate them, it's not melted. Snow will fall off of them when they shake or try to fly. If it does melt, so what? Mine enjoy walking around in a rain. I think they are looking for worms that come to the surface in a rain. Mine have walked around outside while it was snowing. When snow blows in my coop I have enough ventilation that it will soon dry out. I just don't consider it a problem.

Fast forward to today and the roof is weeping and the floor under sand seems damp. I suspect I need to remove some of the bags so coop can vent?

I would say yes.

We are expecting a ice storm Friday and not sure what to do. We did have very heavy constant wind for blizzard so maybe that what my ventilation let snow in, but now I’m worried about rain turning to ice blowing on them

I would not worry about ice blowing on them at all. I would not worry about the ice storm in this regard either. To have an ice storm you need precipitation to fall as rain but it be cold enough for it to freeze when it hits something. It's usually not that cold during an ice storm.

Your risk is form frostbite, not them freezing to death. I think you will get cold enough for that to be an issue after the ice storm. From what I've seen of the forecast it will get pretty cold after the ice storm. Moisture in the air can be a big contributor toward frostbite and wet inside the coop will contribute to moisture in the air. I think that is where your risk is.

To me it looks like the vents from the corrugated roofing are fine. I can't tell where any eave ventilation is in relation to the roosts. I'm not sure if they are at risk of being in a breeze or not. It's not a certain distance, it's whether a breeze will hit them if air blows through.

My suggestion is to get that ventilation open. Get moisture out of the coop, don't trap it in there. If the sand and any bedding is wet I'd probably try to change it out for dry. Reduce that moisture source.

I suspect the actual amount of moisture that came in was pretty low, remember that snow is about 10 times the volume of water. If you had left the vents open there is a pretty good chance the moisture would be at an OK level. But since it has been weeping and such I'm not really comfortable that the sand and bedding will be dry enough.

 

[BobbieB7]

Did you also leave ventilation at floor level by means of an open pop hole? This is necessary component of the thermodynamic effect. Air is sucked in at floor level, as it warms, it rises and creates an air current that will carry the water vapor upwards and then out the roof or eaves vents. This is not a harmful draft, simply air movement with heated air (from the body heat of the chickens) as its engine.

Create the conditions for this thermodynamic effect, and water vapor will be exhausted from the coop. You might wait for a warm day and caulk the cracks that let the snow blow in while making sure the vents at top of walls at the ceiling are adequate.

Great information! I do have pop door , but close at night. There’s a large house window that I could crack open a bit from bottom to create this flow. I haven’t opened anything on bottom because I was concerned with breeze on them. The nest are across from window about four feet with curtains. I could put a little wall or something to protect draft into nest

 

[azygous]

Sounds like you're getting the idea. To be better able to visualize the air flow in your coop, it helps to use something that will generate smoke or steam that you can then release into the coop to watch how the air current will carry the visible substance. This professional product will show you what I'm talking about. https://www.degreec.com/air-flow-visualization-techniques/ That way, you can stand there in the coop and play with you pop door and vents to see what you need to do to get the air flow you want. I would not buy one of these expensive tools but an incense stick that is smoking or a pot of hot water with steam coming off it will do the trick for practically free.

 

[BobbieB7]

I've had snow blow in the coop and just left it to melt. The problems with a wet coop typically is not that it is wet but that it stays wet for a while. One day isn't bad, over two days is starting to be a problem. It takes two or three days for the bacteria that causes it to stink to grow and reproduce enough to start stinking. As cold as you are they are not going to reproduce very fast, same for harmful bacteria. If they have to stand in wet for a few days it can affect their feet but mine walk around in occasional wet, like rain, without a problem. As long as their feet can dry out some during the day they'll be OK. Snow on the feathers shows how well their feathers and down insulate them, it's not melted. Snow will fall off of them when they shake or try to fly. If it does melt, so what? Mine enjoy walking around in a rain. I think they are looking for worms that come to the surface in a rain. Mine have walked around outside while it was snowing. When snow blows in my coop I have enough ventilation that it will soon dry out. I just don't consider it a problem.


I would say yes.


I would not worry about ice blowing on them at all. I would not worry about the ice storm in this regard either. To have an ice storm you need precipitation to fall as rain but it be cold enough for it to freeze when it hits something. It's usually not that cold during an ice storm.

Your risk is form frostbite, not them freezing to death. I think you will get cold enough for that to be an issue after the ice storm. From what I've seen of the forecast it will get pretty cold after the ice storm. Moisture in the air can be a big contributor toward frostbite and wet inside the coop will contribute to moisture in the air. I think that is where your risk is.

To me it looks like the vents from the corrugated roofing are fine. I can't tell where any eave ventilation is in relation to the roosts. I'm not sure if they are at risk of being in a breeze or not. It's not a certain distance, it's whether a breeze will hit them if air blows through.

My suggestion is to get that ventilation open. Get moisture out of the coop, don't trap it in there. If the sand and any bedding is wet I'd probably try to change it out for dry. Reduce that moisture source.

I suspect the actual amount of moisture that came in was pretty low, remember that snow is about 10 times the volume of water. If you had left the vents open there is a pretty good chance the moisture would be at an OK level. But since it has been weeping and such I'm not really comfortable that the sand and bedding will be dry enough.

Thank you I’ll have to look at notes for the height from roost to eaves. I did a lot of reading because we had no building experience.
I think it was 19” from roost bar to bottom of window, so I’m thinking a good two feet from roost bar to eaves.
Sadly I had my furbaby Lillian cross rainbow bridge today . I did take out everything in eaves blocking air.
Heavy rain coming into Rhode Island tonight and then the temperature is going to drop. I will replace sand tomorrow before freeze Thank you

 

[BobbieB7]

Great idea. I have scent burning sticks I can use. I did make like dream catchers out of ladies feathers. I’ve saved them since chicks! The feathers give me indication of air flow !
But I didn’t hang low because, well they are chickens and worried they peck at string