Coop is a metal shed

[LaurenRitz]

Today is 98 degrees, "feels like" 106. The first hot day of summer, the first of many to come.

At the moment my girls are all panting in the heat, not even interested in moving to the water.

When I bought the property it had (has) a chicken coop. Built like a tank, metal walls, metal roof, no insulation. But no ventilation either. One of the first things I did was to put in a hardware cloth door for summer. Now that they're free range it's not used much.

I could take another metal panel off, like I did for light when they wouldn't go in because they couldn't see. I may do that anyway.

My curiosity right now is about passive ventilation, designing to pull cool air in and through, hot air out. I imagine that if designed correctly it may work very much like a chimney, the draw created by the heat around the chimney itself.

Any ideas? I know they used to have houses designed for passive cooling, but I'm not sure of the details.

Maybe something similar to a solar dehydrator?

 

[aart]

Any ideas?

Need to see the coop, inside and out, to make viable suggestions.

 

[LaurenRitz]

From the East. The two doors go into the coop and run. The open door goes into the run. The overhang/garage is where they hang out if they're not out foraging.

From the West. The solid side is the coop, the shaded rectangle the run.

From the South, looking throught the run at the coop.

South wall, showing their "window." I put two windows in so they could see.

West wall with nesting "boxes."

Northwest corner, the other window and roosts.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I would 1/2" HC behind both of those window plastic panels first.. then add more venting as high up as possible on both sides.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Maybe do hardware cloth where the plastic panels are and take the panels out in summer.
Then work on up high ventilation for winter.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I did the panels instead of hardware cloth because we get some vicious winds. There is ventilation, of a sort, created by the roof structure itself, and during one snowstorm my first year it was snowing in the coop. Literally, snow was being forced up under the eaves through those spaces and the ground was white inside the coop.

I could probably do the winter/summer thing with the window that looks out into the run, but the other stays as is. They already have a winter/summer door.