What the flock should I do about ventilation and windows?

[stephielynn]

Hello chicken peeps,
I am in the process of building an L shaped coop. It will house 9 nesting boxes on the backhand side and have a lounge/perching area on the adjacent side. The roof is a slant design that will overhang about a foot and I anticipate having open gap/hardware cloth ventilation along the perimeter of the roof along with a mesh 48"long x 20"high window in the lounge area adjacent to the nesting boxes. The nesting box walls will actually be double doors to open for easy cleaning. The L shape size is 10ft by 7.5ft.

My questions:
1. Is this enough ventilation (along with the entry door) for the chickens in south florida?
2. Is the window placement ok for the chickens nesting boxes or would that be too much lighting?

Recommendations and wisdom gratefully welcomed

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined.

How many hens do you plan to have? In that size coop you probably don't need anywhere close to that many nests. Or you need a bigger coop. A normal ratio is one nest for every four hens.

What time of day were those photos taken? It looks like you have them in shade part of the day, which is great, but what part of the day? How wide is that gap under the roof? I assume it is all four sides? 3-1/2" is fairly common since that is the depth of a 2x4. That with the window is probably enough.

They need shade during the day, in the run is good. That is part of why the direction of the sun is important. If it is in the run they are not hanging out in the coop and pooping, which might make poop management easier. If you have a cool shady spot in the run the only times you worry about how hot it is inside your coop is at night when they are roosting and it cools off or when they are on the nests laying.

What do your nests look like and how is that window oriented? I have no idea how light or dark that window will make the inside of your nests. If your nests are pretty much enclosed and the window is behind or to the side you should be fine form a light aspect.

You do not want your nests to become ovens. They need to be on a shady side of the coop if they are against the wall or are built external. It would help if you have some ventilation up high in them.

If you paint the outside of the coop a light reflective color it will stay cooler than if is is a dark color outside.

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

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[Melky]

You should have at least 1sq ft of ventilation per every 10 sq ft of space so 8 sq ft of ventilation would be good. This could be windows screened with 19 g 1/2 inch hardware cloth or opening just under the covered roof in ceiling usually where a covered attached run is so weather does not blow in or at least where a significant overhang is.