Woods Fresh-Air coop build

[Ted Brown]

... I think the front and back half of the coop are essentially two different zones with different sunlight, different air flow and different temperature.

I do not mean to be argumentative.

The Woods KD is an integrated "system" whereby fresh air in the back section is exchanged either through the upper monitor windows when they are open (summer) or through the open front by means of circular air flow (in the bottom front and out the top) during the winter. If it were not this way the design would not work at all. Certainly the two sections have different sunlight but the airflow and therefore the temperatures are constant in both front and back sections.

I am uncertain at the moment the extent this is explained in Woods' book but there are a number of threads herein that explain this principal. The most revealing comment is the advice to go into the back and hold a wisp of paper/cloth and watch how it flutters when the upper monitor is closed,

 

[Beej7]

I do not mean to be argumentative.

The Woods KD is an integrated "system" whereby fresh air in the back section is exchanged either through the upper monitor windows when they are open (summer) or through the open front by means of circular air flow (in the bottom front and out the top) during the winter. If it were not this way the design would not work at all. Certainly the two sections have different sunlight but the airflow and therefore the temperatures are constant in both front and back sections.

I am uncertain at the moment the extent this is explained in Woods' book but there are a number of threads herein that explain this principal. The most revealing comment is the advice to go into the back and hold a wisp of paper/cloth and watch how it flutters when the upper monitor is closed,

I didnt read the Woods book, just looked at the building instructions and diagrams. Im not sure the difference between the Woods KD and the one I built. Mine is 6x10’. I havent held a “wisp of paper/cloth” back by the roosts but I have experimented with a lighter in the front and back half of the coop to see if the flame moves. In the front it was wiggling around while this last storm was ripping outside but back by the roosts the flame was nearly still. I have also smoked inside the coop back by the roosts just to see how the smoke behaves inside the coop. It rises up to the roof, moves towards the monitor window (closed and buried in snow now), then gets all bungled around and dissipates to the point that I cant really see smoke exiting the front of the coop.

I would imagine heat does the same thing. Flows towards the closed monitor window and then either slowly filters through, gets mixed around with incoming cold air or drops down and flows out the front.

Either way, the inside of the coop not only feels warmer than outside but reads warmer on a thermometer. This was observed several times and right in the early morning, at the coldest part of the day before the sun is up but with all the chickens roosted in the coop.

 

[aart]

My 14 chickens heat this Woods coop about 7 degrees warmer than outside temperature according to the thermometer mounted just in front of the roosts like yours.

Is your outside therm mounted on the coop?

 

[saysfaa]

Interesting.

I only measured in the middle of a bright sunny day. I know it isn't as warm without the sun but I don't know how much, if any, warmer than outside it is at dawn. Full disclosure, mine isn't a Woods' as it is generally know on this site (half monitor, etc). I don't remember if I said that in this thread.

I will measure next week when I get home, before and after I put the hens back in the coop. I'm curious about how much difference there is with no chickens in it. There shouldn't much difference even if chickens do warm it because there are only four hens in a 10x14' building.

 

[Ted Brown]

My 14 chickens heat this Woods coop about 7 degrees warmer than outside temperature according to the thermometer mounted just in front of the roosts like yours.

In our previous coop, 8 chickens raised the temperature about 10 degrees. But that coop was smaller and had horrible ventilation, hence the new Woods coop.

A chicken's "build" is designed to retain heat not give it off.

Further, the notion that any animal the size of even 14 chickens could raise the temperature of a space many many times the cubic space of the animals is preposterous. Simple physics can be used to prove this.

IF your statements are the result of careful measurements and are accurate there is some other explanation for the rise in heat.

 

[Beej7]

Is your outside therm mounted on the coop?

Yes, and its only a few feet away from the one on the inside of the coop. Yesterday evening with all the chickens outside and a cloudy sky the coop was still 4 degrees warmer than outside. This morning with all the chickens inside the coop was about 6 degrees warmer than outside.

 

[3KillerBs]

Yes, and its only a few feet away from the one on the inside of the coop. Yesterday evening with all the chickens outside and a cloudy sky the coop was still 4 degrees warmer than outside. This morning with all the chickens inside the coop was about 6 degrees warmer than outside.

If you swap the two thermometers do you get the same results?

This is the first thing we do when we get a suspicious temperature reading in one of the many refrigerated units at work (grocery store deli) -- swap the thermometer that has the suspicious reading with one from another unit to make sure we actually need a repair call rather than a new thermometer.

 

[Beej7]

A chicken's "build" is designed to retain heat not give it off.

Further, the notion that any animal the size of even 14 chickens could raise the temperature of a space many many times the cubic space of the animals is preposterous. Simple physics can be used to prove this.

IF your statements are the result of careful measurements and are accurate there is some other explanation for the rise in heat.

Good lord you seem like a difficult person.

Our “build” is to plant seeds, dig holes, catch fish and hunt animals but we spend the majority of our time sitting on ass and playing with plastics. Sometimes the way things actually are is different than the way that they “should be”.

And even if a chicken is designed to retain heat, which no doubt they are, it cannot be 100% efficient or they obviously would overheat and die due to constant heat production but zero heat loss. So that lost heat must go somewhere. Heat rises…”simple physics can prove this”.

Im busy enough as it is so I’m not about to go rearrange all the thermometers on my property to try to decipher if some are a degree or two off and which ones are more accurate. It’s irrelevant anyway. Hell, a couple months ago when I bought a few thermometers I noticed that right there on the store shelf they were all reading something different. Most were 1-2 degrees different from eachother and one was 4 degrees off. If they aren’t dependable and accurate brand new sitting on a store shelf I dont know how we can be squabbling about a few degrees in real life situations.

 

[WI chickens]

I'll throw a couple thermometers inside and outside my Woods coop and see what results I get. I have 32 chickens in mine. I believe that my coop, in the roost area, will be a little warmer than the outside temperature on days the monitor windows are closed. It makes sense to me that that raised, closed area in the back of the coop would slow heat loss and retain some amount of heat and therefore be somewhat warmer than the outside temperatures. I don't know how much or how little temperature difference there will be, but it's an easy enough thing to check. I don't have an axe to grind either way. It does seem silly to me that anyone would get at all upset about this discussion.

 

[aart]

If you swap the two thermometers do you get the same results?

Excellent idea....many therms are fairly inaccurate.