Will my chickens get enough air on the top floor of their ark?

[benthere-donethat]

I've built a moveable coop/ark using the catawba coop plans (I'm not affiliated with them in any way - but loved their plans for their ease of use and clarity). We have some raccoons and skunks in our neighborhood, so I'd like to shut them up into the top floor at night. But, I wonder if they'll have enough air? It's not air tight, but there are no windows, etc, for venting. Will they be okay?

Also - what about water? Is it safe to close them into the top each night when their water supply is below?

Thanks in advance.

 

[elmo]

They may not asphyxiate up there, if that's what you're worried about, but it does not sound like you have suitable ventilation for their long term health. Chickens need more ventilation than many people realize:

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

An A frame design is very hard to ventilate properly so that cold air can't blow onto the birds from the vents in the wintertime. What's your winter climate like?

In summer, if you live someplace that gets hot, an inadequately ventilated coop can actually kill chickens if they're locked in and heat builds up inside.

So, bottom line, yes, get out there and ventilate your coop!

With regard to water, you will need to be faithful about letting them out first thing in the morning so they can drink. I keep water (and feed) inside my coop because some mornings I can't make it out to the coop at the crack of dawn.

 

[Nicolla]

We are using the exact same coop and we just put hardware cloth on the bottom of the coop to prevent predators. That way they can go up and down as they please for water, food, or air circulation. During the really hot days we are going to take the side panels off for ventilation and put them back on at night. I don't know how you built yours, but ours are really easy to take off and on.

Hope that helps

 

[benthere-donethat]

if you covered the bottom with hardware cloth, does that prevent them from scratching through and eating grass, weeds underneath? i wonder if i can just put a border of hardware cloth around the outside edges to keep predators from digging under? then the ramp would always be open and they'd get plenty of air...

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Can you open up the ends for the summer with hardware cloth and have a hinged door or removable panel to cover it when the weather is cold? Not enough summer ventilation often looks like a problem with that type of design. The original designs came out of Great Britain and they just don't get the same kind of heat we get in the States. It's fine to have an opening in the bottom, but you need enough of an opening for the air to flow out at the top, too. So you definitely need some type of ventilation opening at the peak, on the end or ends, even in cool weather.

 

[benthere-donethat]

that's a great idea - the sides are completely open right now and there is plenty of air flow through it for the bottom floor. there is definitely some space between the side panels and around the top - it's not airtight by any means. my biggest problem is what to do with them at night and how to keep predators out.

i lost some chicks last night - i forgot to shut them up into the top and something dug under the coop and took them... so i'm on a mission today to figure out what to do.

here are some options - i'd love to hear your feedback:

per your suggestion, i could use hardware cloth to cover the ends of the second floor, that would give them plenty of air when i shut them into the second floor - but when they start laying in a few months, that would make egg gathering difficult - the nest boxes are on the ends and the doors allow access.

i could also leave the ramp down 24/7 so there is air flow up from the bottom - but i'm worried that predators might climb in at night.

i could put hardware cloth across the bottom, but i really want them to be able to forage and scratch the ground on the bottom of the coop - wouldn't this prevent them from doing that?

how about this - what if i put a flat-on-the-ground border of hardware cloth around the outside perimeter of the coop? it won't look as nice, but it would prevent other animals from burrowing under. my only issues with this are the aesthetics and the ability to turn the coop on it's side for cleaning, etc...

thoughts? thanks for all of your comments!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I'm so sorry you lost chicks. If you have predators digging in, you can't leave the ramp down the way it is.

Can you make just the top part of the doors hardware cloth? That would give you more air flow during the day and even at night when the ramp is closed. Just cut part of it out and put hardware cloth over the opening. The lower part of the door would still be solid. Would that work for you? If that turned out to not be enough and the temperature was too hot in there at night, then you could always do something different.

If you needed to attach a wire bottom where the chickens are, you might be able to use something with a larger opening like 2x4 welded wire. The chickens could still eat the grass through it. You'd just need to have the chickens locked in the upstairs when you moved it, so their feet weren't injured.

Wire aprons work well to prevent predators from digging in, as long as they can't tip the whole thing over.

 

[benthere-donethat]

Thanks for your kind reply. I ended up putting hardware cloth on one of the sides - the wooden side is removable, so when it's hot out I'll just leave off the wooden side at night and they'll still be protected by the hardware cloth. We replaced the chicks and we're back where we started... Thanks again!