How much ventilation is too much for coop?

[ThatsMyPurseIdontknowyou]

I need some input on building the coop area for my chicken mansion.

You can find the build thread here - https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/building-my-first-coop-run.1645492

But I was hoping to get more replies asking a specific question in the thread title.

Here is the coop area for the chickens to go into at night to roost / lay eggs / whatever they do.

It is 6'x3', so 18 square feet. Which should be plenty for 6 to 8 chickens from my understanding. Thats 3 sqft per chicken.

Here you can see inside. I have not put a top on it yet. I am unsure of what to do here and wanted to discuss options and get feedback.

Here you can see the outside of that triangle shaped vent.

We are in Southern Ohio. Winter temps are often in the teens, sometimes dropping overnight to 0 or less.

1. I could put a plywood cover over the entire boxed in coop area like this (older photo, from before adding the door)

I could add some ventilation, maybe some 4" holes covered over with hardware cloth.

I feel like that is too little ventilation. Especially in the summer.

2. I could block off just the front with hardware cloth, leaving the floor of the coop area all the way to the ceiling open inside.

Is this TOO much ventilation in the winter time? That outside vent is roofed over, rain and snow can't easily blow inside. But there could be a cross breeze over the top of the coop area.

3. I cover the top of the coop box with hardware cloth.

Chickens will roost up there, poop all over, and make a mess and it will be hard to clean out.

4. I put hardware cloth in both places and have wasted space. I don't like that idea.


I do not want to remove that vent up there because I think it will be needed in the summer for a cross breeze.

I could create some sort of shutter for it, but I'm not really sure how without putting it on the inside and requiring you basically have to get up inside the coop area to install / remove.

I would really appreciate any feedback you may have.

 

[Squawkers]

I think option 2 is best. That might not even be enough ventilation for the summer though. I really don't think you have to worry about that being too much for the winter.

 

[Squawkers]

What is an estimate of the square footage of the triangular gaps? typically the minimum ventilation you want in the winter is 1 square foot per bird.

 

[ThatsMyPurseIdontknowyou]

I think option 2 is best. That might not even be enough ventilation for the summer though. I really don't think you have to worry about that being too much for the winter.

Thats really what I was hoping to hear! Thats fantastic.

I was thinking about getting a solar powered fan or running DC electric to it. My office is right behind it. I really really do not want to put 120v AC out there. Seems like an easy way to start a fire.

But it would be easy to run 12v DC from a transformer to power a couple fans. You wouldn't have to worry about it shocking you or anything like you would with AC voltage.

 

[ThatsMyPurseIdontknowyou]

What is an estimate of the square footage of the triangular gaps? typically the minimum ventilation you want in the winter is 1 square foot per bird.

Punching it into a calculator I get an area of 4.5 square feet.

But keep in mind both front and back are open, so roughly double that.

So sounds like I should just hardware cloth in from the top of my coop box to the ceiling. Easy peasy, I can do that in 5 minutes.

 

[Squawkers]

Punching it into a calculator I get an area of 4.5 square feet.

View attachment 3993969

But keep in mind both front and back are open, so roughly double that.

So sounds like I should just hardware cloth in from the top of my coop box to the ceiling. Easy peasy, I can do that in 5 minutes.

Ok, so that's nine square feet. I think that is good for the winter and if you are worried about it, you could cover part of the triangles on really cold nights with some plastic or something. I think that if you added two more vents on the other sides, that way you had vents on all sides (covers for the winter would be good), you wouldn't even need a fan for the summer. I might be a good idea to wait for a little bit just to get another opinion though!

 

[aart]

2. I could block off just the front with hardware cloth, leaving the floor of the coop area all the way to the ceiling open inside.

This sounds good.

I could create some sort of shutter for it, but I'm not really sure how without putting it on the inside and requiring you basically have to get up inside the coop area to install / remove.

You could put up something on the outside with just a few screws, easy up and down seasonally.


One of the problems with your coop area is it is short.
You'll want the roosts above the nests and that leaves little space between roosting birds heads and that upper vent.

 

[aart]

Oh, and...would be good to put your location in your profile so folks know about your climate conditions.

 

[Squawkers]

Aart has a good point. How tall is the coop in the roosting area (minus the vent space)? I don't necessarily think it is too short, but you just need to make sure that the roosts are not to high that the chickens are in the vent area. It is definitely best that the roosts are a distance above the nests, but if that's not possible with your space I think it's fine. Or, could you put the nests outside the sleeping area?? If you don't have the proper height to put them in the sleeping area, that might be best. And that would also give you more roost space in the sleeping area, I have found the more roost space the better (some chickens are complete jerks and if there isn't room for them to get away from the mean ones they will sleep on the ground or nests)

 

[ThatsMyPurseIdontknowyou]

Aart has a good point. How tall is the coop in the roosting area (minus the vent space)? I don't necessarily think it is too short, but you just need to make sure that the roosts are not to high that the chickens are in the vent area. It is definitely best that the roosts are a distance above the nests, but if that's not possible with your space I think it's fine. Or, could you put the nests outside the sleeping area?? If you don't have the proper height to put them in the sleeping area, that might be best. And that would also give you more roost space in the sleeping area, I have found the more roost space the better (some chickens are complete jerks and if there isn't room for them to get away from the mean ones they will sleep on the ground or nests)

32 inches from floor to bottom of vent.

So if you are looking at it from the side, it would look like

That gives 6 feet of roosting space. I'm sure I can find somewhere to add an additional one as well. I could put one in the middle of the door way, or I could connect the two roosts and make one big one thats I shaped.