Would a ridge vent be a good idea??

In the summer yes, but in the winter, you'll lose all your heat that way. Maybe one you could cover in the winter and open in the summer??

 

Would a vent turbine work better. Just asking, don't really know myself.

 

Remember those ones that went on a roof and were little turbines that spun around in a breeze? Are those still available to buy? My mom and dad had two on their house and it did a great job of cooling. In the winter they would cover those with heavy duty plastic bags (heavy duty garbage bags) and it would keep them from venting any air out.

I wonder if those would work for getting the heat out in the summer time.

 

I would make sure you get something that has mesh lining, I have seen pictures of snakes coming through ridge vents, and so I went and inspected our shed after that and sure enough a snake would fit. I will see if I can find those pics, it's been a few years.

 

You can do it but it won't honestly do MUCH good. (I would not worry about the wintertime issue though. You WILL have to have vents high-up open in wintertime, and you WILL lose heat as well as humidity thru them, and that's just the way it is, not a problem)

You can certainly still buy those whirly vents, but again, they won't really do much good. They only really work well in a breeze, and if there IS a breeze, you're better off just having large openings in the coop for the air to swish in and out by itself

The solution to a too-hot coop is really just to add a bunch more large openings in the walls. Honest. They can be partially- or wholly-closeable for wintertime, but, basically fresh air and free air movement are what you need. Not thru little slits or holes, but BULK air movement.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

Quote:Why do you have black shingles on your Coop? I put white on mine. Can you just use some cheap white latex to paint them?

 

Depending on the the size of your coop I'd say to reshingle with a light colored shingle or I guess maybe painting would be cheaper but I wouldn't use latex paint on shingles they are made of an oil based product and I'm not sure if it would adheare to them just right.
As for a ridge vent. Any vent may be a good solution as long as it has a bird screen to keep snakes out, and definately have a way to close it off for the winter.

 

I don't know how big your coop is, so this might not be feasible. But if you put a tarp up over your roof, so that there is a space between the tarp and the roof, the shade could make a difference. Friends of ours have a home built in the Texas hill country along this same principle. It looks really weird, but it works to keep the house cooler.

I've read that reflective tarps (like aluminet) work best.

 

its not worth reshingling hot is hot, and thats all there is to it............as mentioned larger openings and planting of trees that will way in the future provide shade. best to build under existing shade if possible.

ridge vents help tremendously. and no worrys in the winter. the vents help the life of your shingles too.