Woods Fresh-Air coop build

[saysfaa]

.. I will measure next week when I get home..,

Well, life happened, my apologies.

I bought two thermometers of the same type. They read the same when side by side. I checked them many times over two days.

Short version is inside is warmer and dryer when the temperature is falling. And outside is warmer and dryer when the temperature is rising.

Long version in next post.

 

[saysfaa]

...Long version...

I wired one to the garden fence less than ten steps from the coop. And the other to the wire wall inside the coop. Both are about the height of the roost. And waited a few hours.

At 2 pm
Inside: 30 F (-1 C), 88 humidity.
Outside: 32 (0 C), 78 humidity

At 3 pm
Inside: 30 F (-1 C), 78 humidity
Outside: 32 F (0 C), 73 humidity

At 4 pm
Inside: 30 F (-1 C), 78 humidity
Outside: 33 F (0.5 C), 78 humidity

At 5 pm
Inside: 30 F (-1 C), 82 humidity
Outside: 30 F (-1 C), 80 humidity

At 6 pm
Inside: 32 F (0 C), 85 humidity
Outside: 34 F (1 C), 82 humidity

At 7 pm
Inside: 30 F (-1 C), 85 humidity
Outside: 32 F (0 C), 82 humidity

At 7 am
Inside: 34 F (1 C), 85 %
Outside: 35 F (1 C), 80%

I realized directly above the open water pail might not be a representative place. At 7 am, I moved the thermometer to the nail holding the window in.

At 8 am
Inside: 30 F (-1 C), 85%
Outside: 35 F (1 C), 80%

Nearly touching the window might not be either. At 8 am, I moved it to above the nest boxes.

At 9 am
Inside: 32 F (0 C), 82%
Outside: 37 F (2.7 C), 50%

At 10 am
Inside: 36 F (2 C), 78%
Outside: 36 F (4.5 C), 50%

At 11 am
Inside: 44 F (6.6 C), 53%
Outside: 40 F (4.4 C), 40%

At noon
Inside 46 F (7.7 C), 45%
Outside: 40 F (4.4 C), 40%

At 12:30 pm
Inside: 46 F (7.7 C), 43%
Outside: 40 F (4.4 C), 39%

At 1:30 pm
Inside 42 F (5.5 C), 44%
Outside 39 F (4 C), 39%

At 2:40 pm
Inside: 39 F (4 C), 51%
Outside: 34 F (1C), 55%

At 3:45 pm
Inside: 34 F (1 C), 60%
Outside: 30 F (-1 C), 67%

There are pictures if anyone wants them. At least until I delete them but I'll wait at least a week.

 

[saysfaa]

The weather was thick clouds the first day. The second day dawned mostly clear. Some haze and scattered clouds both which stayed through the morning. Clouds moved in during the early afternoon.

Possibly, the temperature inside was affected by the several days of near zero F (-17 C) temperatures we had up until the day before the first day of the trial. There is quite a lot of mass inside the coop that may have been a factor in how responsive inside was on the first day.

 

[Ted Brown]

Well, life happened, my apologies.

I bought two thermometers of the same type. They read the same when side by side. I checked them many times over two days.

Short version is inside is warmer and dryer when the temperature is falling. And outside is warmer and dryer when the temperature is rising.

Long version in next post.

I just went through a 30 degree tempeture inversion/re-inversion in 30 hours.

Net net is?

 

[saysfaa]

I just went through a 30 degree tempeture inversion/re-inversion in 30 hours.

Net net is?

I'm not sure what you mean by net net. ??

 

[Ted Brown]

I'm not sure what you mean by net net. ??

I understood your data to say coop temperatures track outside temperatures but delayed?

If correct adding heat (original premise of this thread?) is a waste?

 

[saysfaa]

Oh. It means what is the bottom line..
to me, that is the people who see their coop is warmer and those who don't are both correct.

I had to reread the thread to remember why I was measuring (not sure if that is eye roll at myself, hiding under a chair, or just laughing at myself.) Anyway, I was just curious - and saw thermometers that also measured humidity for less than $5 - just about the time this thread started talking about whether the coops are warmer inside than outside without a heat source other than chickens or a sunny day.

I don't recommend heating coops; it is better to have the ventilation. Although, I've moved a bit from never a good idea to add some heat (as long as the ventilation is there too). I looked into the biology of cold adaptation - some of the mechanisms take some priming.

I guess I was off topic. And getting further off topic.

 

[Bantam bell Wood]

I’m starting this post to document, and get advice about the chicken coop I’ll be building this summer. This will be my first real construction project and I’ve got very little experience building anything really. But I’ve got a bunch of rough sawn red pine at my disposal and chickens that need a bigger and more winter appropriate coop, so I’m excited to get this project underway hopefully soon.

Some background information: We are in Michigan’s upper peninsula (USDA zone 3/4 border) and get feet of snow and temperatures as cold as -40F in the worst of winters. This coop is a (roughly) 100 year old design that I stumbled across somewhere online. I believe Prince T Woods was the original chicken keeper who came up with this design and utilized it in parts of the Northeastern US and some parts of Ontario. According to his book, chickens did exceptionally well with this open front coop built to his specifications and so we’re giving it a try. Heres a link to an online version of the book. We will be building the 6x10’ coop and primarily using it for winter.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924003138272&view=1up&seq=1&skin=2021

We’ve still got some snow on the ground and its mud season, so I wont be building for a bit. But I’m in the planning, sketching and asking questions phase so hopefully some of you will be able to help me with that if needed.

The site is pretty flat and has a decent amount of sun in the winter. The open front will face SSE. I’m going to build it on skids and I plan on using rough sawn red pine for as much of it as possible. I will probably either char the skids or coat them in some preservative poison but leave most of the rest of the wood untreated and rough most likely. Also thinking of putting the skids on some concreteblocks to keep them off the ground.

Some preliminary questions:

1. Theres quite a bit of buckthorn that’s growing in the area. Ive cut a lot of it down but that just makes it grow more. What would you all recommend, if anything, as far as keeping it at bay underneath the coop? I’m not sure if I should just set concrete blocks down, level them and build, or if I should dig little stumps up, lay gravel, compact it and then lay the blocks and start building. Also considering sheet mulching with cardboard first and then either gravel, sand or woodchips for brush suppression.

2. Would you all let your chickens underneath or not? I dont know if I should give it enough height to let them under (and provide good air flow) or keep it low enough to the ground that nothing but a weasel or rabbit could get under. I’d almost feel better with more space underneath than less.

Also, here are some other links to similar coops:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-6x10-woods-coop.1305803/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/woods-colony-house-portable.1104954/

Thank you! I followed the link to the book from Cornell. I didn’t start that way and so far (in Maine) my birds are surviving (healthy for sure), but I will be moving in this direction with coop alterations and such as time goes on. I appreciate the information.