Hi everyone, hoping to get some opinions and recommendations about building a coop in my barn. My wife and I just moved this fall and we are hoping to start with 10-15 layers this spring. I'd like to build with space to expand the flock to 25-30. I don't anticipate having more than that.
Our property has an old (probably 100yrs) but study barn. It has electricity and it's own well. We are considering converting one of the stalls into a coop (first picture). This is on the NW corner of the barn.
I think we will be able to convert the stall fairly easily, except in regards to ventilation. There is a boarded off hardware cloth screen window on the north wall that can be removed, but that's about the only option we have. There's a hayloft over all the stalls which I could cut a hole in and open up to exhaust through the cupola on the roof, or install an exhaust fan and run it out the side, but I'd prefer not to use mechanical ventilation.
We are not fully committed to this plan yet and may build a stand-alone coop and run but we hate to let all this space go to waste.
Do you guys think we can get adequate ventilation in this space?
Our property has an old (probably 100yrs) but study barn. It has electricity and it's own well. We are considering converting one of the stalls into a coop (first picture). This is on the NW corner of the barn.
I think we will be able to convert the stall fairly easily, except in regards to ventilation. There is a boarded off hardware cloth screen window on the north wall that can be removed, but that's about the only option we have. There's a hayloft over all the stalls which I could cut a hole in and open up to exhaust through the cupola on the roof, or install an exhaust fan and run it out the side, but I'd prefer not to use mechanical ventilation.
We are not fully committed to this plan yet and may build a stand-alone coop and run but we hate to let all this space go to waste.
Do you guys think we can get adequate ventilation in this space?