Woods-style house in the winter

[JackE]

Quote:
Check out the link Cargo provided. They had houses like this all the way up into Canada. Shows pictures of the coops all but buried in snow. This house would be more than suitable for Georgia.

 

[speckledhen]

It's at least made me want to keep those vents more open than usual all winter. I'm battling DH, who thinks they need to be buttoned up tight with vents barely open at all. I'm at 2000 ft in the mountains and we get single digits a few times in winter. Most of the time we only get a few inches of snow a few times, but this winter, it was extra snowy and extra cold. You'd be surprised how cold it can get here in GA, but certainly not as cold and snowy as New England or Canada!

 

[Zoomom]

It's a beautiful coop. The chickens look really happy and healthy. So nice to see how they can survive in the cold without dampness. I love it!

 

[Judy]

Wonderful coop and design, and great thread, too. Thank you so much for posting.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Ventillation? Everybody's always posting that ventillation is the biggest thing............ does this coop have vents built into the overhangs? Or is it not an issue with this open front? Can you post pictures if there's venting?

I'm pretty sure this is the future coop for me. Somehow I'll have to darling it up. Maybe striped awning somewhere, and windowboxes for flowers.

What I love most is 2 (yes, TWO!!) sloping roofs to catch rainfall in pretty little gutters for pretty little rainbarrels. I'm going to love this coop.

 

[patandchickens]

6chickens in St. Charles :

Ventillation? Everybody's always posting that ventillation is the biggest thing............ does this coop have vents built into the overhangs? Or is it not an issue with this open front?

The open front is all the winter ventilation it needs. For summertime he's got side windows (not all open-front coops do) and those upper transom windows open out.

You won't get a lot better ventilated than this style house. HOWEVER it does not scale down well to real small (backyard) sizes so it is important to be careful if you want something small. I know a poster somewhere above says their 4x8 house of this style is working ok but that is real iffy with a lot of breeds in Northern climates IMO, because drafts do not scale the same as linear dimensions do.

Pat​

 

[JackE]

Quote:
The open front is all the winter ventilation it needs. For summertime he's got side windows (not all open-front coops do) and those upper transom windows open out.

You won't get a lot better ventilated than this style house. HOWEVER it does not scale down well to real small (backyard) sizes so it is important to be careful if you want something small. I know a poster somewhere above says their 4x8 house of this style is working ok but that is real iffy with a lot of breeds in Northern climates IMO, because drafts do not scale the same as linear dimensions do.

Pat

In the book I have, (Fresh air poultry houses, By Prince T Woods). There is a discussion about a scaled down house with dimentions of 6x10ft. It would look like an almost half scale version of my house. The book I have goes into great detail about the science that went into the design of these type houses. For example, sitting in the house with candles during all kinds of weather conditions, to see how the air would flow through it. If somebody was to build a house like this, I would highly recomend this book. Because there is definently a WRONG way to build it. Mr. Woods explains all of it. The book is available on Amazon.

 

[EweSheep]

I'm impressed!!!!!!!!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
In the book I have, (Fresh air poultry houses, By Prince T Woods). There is a discussion about a scaled down house with dimentions of 6x10ft. It would look like an almost half scale version of my house. The book I have goes into great detail about the science that went into the design of these type houses. For example, sitting in the house with candles during all kinds of weather conditions, to see how the air would flow through it.

Yeah but note that he says he does not really recommend that even though it can sorta kind a work; he recommends something like 6x14 (ish) as a minimum.

Also I do not believe his drawing of his results with a candle flame. I think it is basically totally made up. Because no real-world situation would be SO beautifully even and symmetrical; also because it severely contradicts my own experience with open-front livestock housing. I mean, yes, if you have a deep enough shed with a small enough front opening it will indeed be quite sufficiently "draft free" in the back end for LIVESTOCK purposes, but it ain't "candle-flame-doesn't-waver" draft free. Remember he is quite the, ah, enthusiastic promoter of his points

(Please do not think I am recommending against his book or that type design, quite the contrary, I just think you have to remember that nothing in his book was handed down to him on stone tablets from above as it were and there may be some points on which this book does not give quite the full story

)

Pat

 

[breezy]

I have 2 questions. The first is how high up are those transom windows..how do you open them. ( Im short can you tell?) and secondly I noticed that the area in front of the big main window has a board across it and is raised above the main floor. What is the purpose to that? I was wondering if you had a mix of something in that area for the hens to dust bath in maybe? Ok Sorry thats actually 3 questions.