Winter ventilation for a small coop...

[MarkJP]

Hello All,

My wife and I are new to raising chickens and this will be ours/theirs first winter. I have a question for the group regarding coop ventilation in the winter. We have a small coop I built from a kit that I purchased from an online site. It is about 3’ wide x 4’ long and 4’ high. The height includes a cupola that runs the length of the coop. It has two 1-1/2” holes at the end of the cupola. They are covered with hardware cloth. There are also two sliding “windows- no glass-just wire mesh) that run the length of the cupola on both sides. I have closed them for the winter, but they can be left open a bit if needed. The coop also has two 3-bay brood boxes on each side that extend beyond the measurements I listed. I have caulked the joints in the coop, but it is not airtight as I can see daylight through a few areas. I’ve been leaving the door open- it is small- overnight and I’m wondering if I should begin closing the birds in at night as it is getting colder. The coop has an attached run of about 6’ in length x 3’ in width. The run continues under the coop as well. I’ve attached a 7’ x 13’ run to the original smaller run. It has a peaked roof across the top and have covered the westerly side of that run with two tarps to break the wind for them. So, do you think that if I close the chickens in at night, will they have enough ventilation? We have 6 chickens- Australorps, Buff Orpingtons and Light Brahmas. Thanks in advance for your suggestions?

 

[RoosterML]

Hello All,

My wife and I are new to raising chickens and this will be ours/theirs first winter. I have a question for the group regarding coop ventilation in the winter. We have a small coop I built from a kit that I purchased from an online site. It is about 3’ wide x 4’ long and 4’ high. The height includes a cupola that runs the length of the coop. It has two 1-1/2” holes at the end of the cupola. They are covered with hardware cloth. There are also two sliding “windows- no glass-just wire mesh) that run the length of the cupola on both sides. I have closed them for the winter, but they can be left open a bit if needed. The coop also has two 3-bay brood boxes on each side that extend beyond the measurements I listed. I have caulked the joints in the coop, but it is not airtight as I can see daylight through a few areas. I’ve been leaving the door open- it is small- overnight and I’m wondering if I should begin closing the birds in at night as it is getting colder. The coop has an attached run of about 6’ in length x 3’ in width. The run continues under the coop as well. I’ve attached a 7’ x 13’ run to the original smaller run. It has a peaked roof across the top and have covered the westerly side of that run with two tarps to break the wind for them. So, do you think that if I close the chickens in at night, will they have enough ventilation? We have 6 chickens- Australorps, Buff Orpingtons and Light Brahmas. Thanks in advance for your suggestions?

Pictures would go a long way all sides exterior as well as inside.

 

[RoosterML]

I like it. You should have some happy chickens with that set up.
With those manual opening vents in the top part that will give you some really nice control over what's going on inside. To me the best thing you could do is get something to monitor the humidity level inside the coop.
You can't go wrong with knowing what the humidity is exactly. Humidity should be as close to outside as possible. I would guess that on really cold windy or stormy days you can close those vents up and let the two little holes do the venting. After that use your judgement and crack those vents open accordingly. Maybe open them up a couple inches on each side. If you have one side with a prevailing wind close that one up and open the other side some more. It's nice to see your coop done with both good looks and function. I am not sure I would leave your pop door open on the bottom during cold windy days with the top vents being open, it seems that it would create a draft thru the coop running from bottom to top directly across the birds. I know you'll obviously have to open the door for them but maybe when the door is open you close the tops vents on cold days to minimize the drafting, and once you close the lower door you can open the top vents alittle. Like I said with your set up you will have some really nice control of how thing are inside. So don't get it wrong and everything will be just fine.
Almost forgot you could always permanently hang a ribbon in the coop and monitor the ribbon for movement. Will be a good indicator of what kind of draft the birds will feel.
And hello from CT also !!
This is Dummy proof so it's perfect for me it tells you if humidity is high or low:

 

[aart]

That's a nice big run, you'll be glad you have that!
Measuring the humidity inside and out is a good idea.

I like the cupola, best one I've seen on a pre-fab,
is the whole bottom of it open to the coop?
Would be hard to get a pic, eh?
Thinking about how to dampen that flow by semi blocking on the inside,
maybe furnace filters on inside of sliders or over open bottom of cupola.
Again, hard to get in there to work, how handy and nimble are you?

What are all those power cords going into the nest area?

 

[MarkJP]

Pictures would go a long way all sides exterior as well as inside.

Hi Rooster. I just finished posting pics. Hope this helps!

 

[RoosterML]

Everyone has there preferred bedding material for coops. I see you have hay or straw. I think the chickens surely prefer that over the large wood flakes but the biggest problem I had when I first started out with hay was trying to keep it clean. For example in order to clean the poop out of straw I had to discard a large amount of straw. When I switched to the flakes and I picked out the poop it was like you had clumping cat litter, just a small clump removed and things were clean. Again its just what worked well for me.

 

[MarkJP]

That's a nice big run, you'll be glad you have that!
Measuring the humidity inside and out is a good idea.

I like the cupola, best one I've seen on a pre-fab,
is the whole bottom of it open to the coop?
Would be hard to get a pic, eh?
Thinking about how to dampen that flow by semi blocking on the inside,
maybe furnace filters on inside of sliders or over open bottom of cupola.
Again, hard to get in there to work, how handy and nimble are you?

What are all those power cords going into the nest area?

Yes, I have a water heater going. It is attached to an outdoor 3 outlet attachment under the nesting box to keep it dry. The entire hookup goes to a ground fault outlet. I had planned to use a 20 watt bulb for heat and extra light through the winter- actually installed a porcelain fixture as high up as I could go, but decided not to use it, so the cord is just for the water heater. I've blocked the rain/wind from hitting it directly since the directions said to keep it dry. It's working well so far.
As for the cupola, it is totally open to the entire coop, so the vent windows really create a good air flow. No way can I get any filters inside. I can barely make it into the door on the side with the window, and with my arthritis in my back, I just can't twist and bend like I used to. Believe me, getting the light fixture up as high as possible was almost impossible. I'm pretty handy since I did make quite a few modifications to the coop and run, but somethings are just too hard for me to do. I will begin to measure humidity inside/outside the coop. Thanks for your input.

 

[aart]

and with my arthritis in my back, I just can't twist and bend like I used to.

I hear ya....got it all over, worst in hands and knees.
Another thought... larger louvered and adjustable and maybe 'filtered' vents in gables of cupola....well outer gable of cupola and under run-roof gable of coop itself. They could be kept opened in even badder weather...and could be installed while standing up.

 

[RoosterML]

Thank you for the great advice. I appreciate the time you took to respond to my query. I will definitely begin monitoring the humidity. Where can I find the digital device you showed the pic of?

I believe it was Home Depot.Its a really nice unit been using it for years in my basement.

 

[RoosterML]

We use chopped bedding straw. It works pretty good and my wife and I can usually clean out just the offending material. What do you mean by "flakes"? We did start with pine shavings if that's what you meant, but received discouraging advice about using that. From what I've learned, the straw is a better insulator as well and the bottom of the coop has a sliding metal tray that I"m sure will get pretty cold as the weather turns, so we opted for straw.

By flakes I mean the larger ones. At tractor supply the white bag is pine "flakes" larger one and the yellow bag is fine pine chips. I think the pine flakes are also a good insulator. See my biggest worry about the hay or straw was that they would eat it and get an impacted crop. I guess it could also happen with the pine chips also so in the end it's which ever is easier to clean. Like I said everyone has a favorite if it ain't broke don't fix it.