Woods-style house in the winter

[justdishy]

Is there any suggestion for accommodating heavy rainfall & wind, as in western WA.

 

[hellbender]

I think the entire point of this kind of housing is that the birds are exposed to fresh air at ALL times. It was popularly used many years ago, presumably quite successfully. It eliminates stagnant air, and with the constant circulation, the bedding stays very dry.

I'm sure someone else can explain more of the theory behind it. Most heritage breeds from northern climates will thrive in housing like this.

Far more birds have health issues from being exposed to stale dank conditions than cold fresh air. I liked this design long ago and used it as a model for my large house that we built about 3 years ago....even my hatchery Dark Cornish do well in this building, despite plenty of fresh cold air.

FYI...this part of WV is known for having the coldest temps in the nation during many winter seasons.

 

[Arielle]

Is there any suggestion for accommodating heavy rainfall & wind, as in western WA.

Because of the particular location of my land, I turned this coop to the east rather than south. However, if your structure is exactly as the original design, rain and wind is not a problem. The theory is that the winds cannot push into the far back recesses where the birds roost. The closed structure creates a pocket of air with less turn over.To accomplish this, all the sections between rafters must be sealed off.

THis is why the windows at the top are important---this is how the air flow is controlled.

I built directly on the ground. THe bedding is moister than in my coops with a wooden floor.

Also I picked a high spot of land. THe rainwater flows away from the building on all sides. A plus is that it also happens to be a sand esker.....and drains very quickly.....Had to dig only one foot down to hit sand. Not typical material on this property, but a plus.

I've used several barn designs over the years for horses and sheep as well as chickens and ducks and turkeys.....this design mimics the huge loafing sheds for horses...

My one concern is the lack of direct sunlight. I do know that sunlight has antibacterial properties. And direct sunlight is the best for this. most of my birds free range and return to coops at late afternoon. THe muscovies are the last to coop up.....when they are pushed in through the barn / coop door!! lol

 

[Howard E]

Question for OP JackE:

I am in the final stages of design and planning for a portable Woods house in the range of 8' x 12' . Will create a new thread for it once it gets going.

Where did you get / what did you use for your windows? Are the one's on the sides vertical sliders with screens, or removable? What, if anything would you change about the windows?

My thought is to make the sides as full on sliders, moving them completely out of the way for max ventilation in the summer. The heat in summer will be as bad or worse for birds confined in these houses as the cold in winter.

BTW, I note you have commented many times in this thread about this house being a bit warmer inside than outside. Two possible reasons.....one might be the dark colored roof with comp shingles...........the other the red paint. Both will result in solar gain in direct sunlight. I have a fully enclosed tack room in an uninsulated, unheated horse barn and in the winter, temps in there will rise +20 to as much as +40 over the rest of the barn. The cause is solar heat gain from the sun shining on the red metal siding of the south wall. On a clear sunny day in the winter, it is nearly too hot to touch and all that heat radiates into the tack room.

 

[JackE]

Question for OP JackE:

I am in the final stages of design and planning for a portable Woods house in the range of 8' x 12' . Will create a new thread for it once it gets going.

Where did you get / what did you use for your windows? Are the one's on the sides vertical sliders with screens, or removable? What, if anything would you change about the windows?

My thought is to make the sides as full on sliders, moving them completely out of the way for max ventilation in the summer. The heat in summer will be as bad or worse for birds confined in these houses as the cold in winter.

I got all the windows for my coop from E-Bay. They are just old wood framed windows. The side windows slide forward, out of the way for the warmer months. Check out pg 4, of this thread, and you can see the inside detail for the side windows. And you can see in the pics (On pg-1), the outside of the window opening is covered with hardware cloth. The widows work perfectly, I would not change anything. In the summer, everything thing is open, all the windows, plus the entry door.

 

[WthrLady]

See if you have a habitat for humanity re-store. I got my windows from there.

 

[vtguania]

Howard E you can also check the free section on craigslist in your area. I was lucky to have a coworker was getting rid of several of them

 

[Howard E]

Good options! It also occurred to me to call my local Window World folks and ask if they could save me some window sash as they replace some of these old single pane windows. But for me......too late. Unless and until you know the size of your windows, you can't do much framing. By chance, I happened to spot some single pane windows in Lowes.........they are just simple vinyl.......so no wood and no painting. They are simple, single pane glass, but it looks like it would be easy enough to replace the glass with Plexiglass if they were ever broken. About $20 each, so I left with a pair of them and that allowed me to start framing.

What remains to be sourced are the transom windows and I have resolved to make those myself if I can't find some soon. Since the monitor windows tilt out, and are thus at risk for being hit by hail (which we get pretty often), I may make those from wood and Plexiglass. A fairly simple process and I can make them whatever size I need them to be......height x width. Hoping to start framing the monitor top today.

 

[vtguania]

Howard E, I plan on making mine 14x14. For the transom I have a 9' wooden garage panel, the one that has the windows in it. I will be putting some good hinges on it as it will be one full piece that opens out.

 

[exalted512]

When I was 'googling' chicken coops, this came up. This thread (and website) has been very beneficial. I ended up buying the book off amazon and I'm now in the process of making an 8x12. I know it doesn't scale down well, but it did have plans for a 6x10 (IIR the exact dimensions correctly) so I figured a little bigger would be better and with modern day lumber, it made more sense when doing the floor.

I did have a question for @JackE if you see this. I live in south Texas so I wasn't planning on putting windows over the screens on the sides since it rarely ever freezes here (and if it does, it's typically for only a few hours). I read that you made yours removable. Have you ever had your windows removed when a hard, wind-driven rain came though? How wet did it get the pine shavings? Did it dry quickly because of the ventilation?

It looks like your sand doesn't go all the way past the side windows, so I was just curious. Everything else has been pretty straight forward after reading the book and this site.

Thanks!
-Cody