So...What to do? Ventilation vs Draft-free Coop. What gives?

[AkHenMama]

So...I have a group of 11 pullets & cockerels that I'm growing out - they are English Buff Orpingtons...and they are now all feathered (6 weeks old today).

SO...in Florida - all coops are built with nothing but ventilation - you don't want to cook your chickens in there, so all were built with a ton of ventilation.

Now...in Western NC...temps are regularly getting into the upper teens at night.

So - what do you do? Ventilate? But then you have a draft?

I don't want my chickens suffering from upper respiratory problems...so I want to ventilate the coop...but I also don't want to chill them.

What does everyone do for their coops?

Photo of the coop when we first finished it...because right now they are in their ugly teenage/dinosaur age!

So...I have a group of 11 pullets & cockerels that I'm growing out - they are English Buff Orpingtons...and they are now all feathered (6 weeks old today).

SO...in Florida - all coops are built with nothing but ventilation - you don't want to cook your chickens in there, so all were built with a ton of ventilation.

Now...in Western NC...temps are regularly getting into the upper teens at night.

So - what do you do? Ventilate? But then you have a draft?

I don't want my chickens suffering from upper respiratory problems...so I want to ventilate the coop...but I also don't want to chill them.

What does everyone do for their coops?

Photo of the coop when we first finished it...because right now they are in their ugly teenage/dinosaur age!

View attachment 4005394

I live Alaska, a moist a cold locale, and I had to determine whether or not the passive style I was told to go with would work. It didn’t. My girls started showing signs of frostbite because of my ‘passive ventilation’. I put in ‘active ventilation’, a fan, after I had plugged up all but one of the roof vents from my single pitch coop, 11 in total. We put one small ‘passive vent’ in the coop door. The girls are much warmer at night- no one is sleeping on the floor to stay warmer and there is NO smell of ammonia. They have also started to lay more

 

[Kelly G]

Thank you for this reply!! I really appreciate it!

Do you mind sharing some photos of your vents?

This is what we just installed...we put one at each end of the coop...but I'm interested in what others have done...

 

[lagrange chicks]

Thank you for this reply!! I really appreciate it!

Do you mind sharing some photos of your vents?

This is what we just installed...we put one at each end of the coop...but I'm interested in what others have done...


View attachment 4013586

I am not sure what size those are but there is a formula for square footage of venting for number of chickens.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Do you mind sharing some photos of your vents?

This is what we just installed...we put one at each end of the coop...but I'm interested in what others have done...

This is how I ventilate my chicken coop here in Vermont (lowest temps of the year usually around -8°F). Also have three windows wide open in the summer. The two 12-foot-long by 5.5-inch-high soffits stay open year round and two windows far from the roosts stay partially open all winter.

My duck coop is close to the size of your coop and houses 4 ducks MAX. It has two gable vents which I cover during freezing temps, and some soffit vents which are open year round.

 

[fuzzi]

Eastern NC here. My hoop coop doesn't have the recommended ventilation above the roosts but the flock has done well both during hot humid summers and winter temperatures in the low 20°s.

When I built it I was instructed by experienced people here that my chickens needed a dry place to roost, out of direct drafts. They have that. And I brooded my first chicks from day 3 outside in February.

There are tarps across the back third, shade cloth over the entire structure. They roost either on the A-frame I created with pallets, or just behind on a 2x4 a few inches away from the end.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thank you for this reply!! I really appreciate it!

Do you mind sharing some photos of your vents?

This is what we just installed...we put one at each end of the coop...but I'm interested in what others have done...


View attachment 4013586

That looks to be an 8" diameter vent. It has about 1/25th of a square foot of free ventilation space.

The "thumb rule" is 1 sq ft of 24/7/365 free venting per bird.

Making such things attactive, and expensive, but impractical.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Imo, "draft free" for chickens mostly means out of direct wind. Look up Woods style coops, they have an entire side open to the air and have been used in the northeast us and even up into Ontario. I have a small woods style coop out at my family farm with the open end facing east. We had (adult) chickens out there during the extreme cold (negative teens for days) of the polar vortex about 10 years ago and didn't lose a single bird.

Adding a ridge vent and as much ventilation to the soffiting as you possibly can is essential. I would also cut as big as hole in the gables as you can get away with and still shelter from the weather.

The air filter material idea is fantastic!

 

[nrayas2003]

You want the ventilation high above their heads rather than underneath them. That's how you give them draft free ventilation. Do you have close up pictures of the coop including inside? We can't see important details from that far away. Also how many birds do you have and how big is the coop in feet?

Do you have any suggestions on what type and where to place ventilation in my coop? I am taking the picture from the door which is at the roof practically and the back is taller than the front. It is 38⁰ and 77% humidity in the coop and 68% humidity outside. It is supposed to be really cold this weekend and next week. I wanted to fix the ventilation and make it warmer for them before then. I have 7 chickens total.

 

[FrostRanger]

Do you have any suggestions on what type and where to place ventilation in my coop? I am taking the picture from the door which is at the roof practically and the back is taller than the front. It is 38⁰ and 77% humidity in the coop and 68% humidity outside. It is supposed to be really cold this weekend and next week. I wanted to fix the ventilation and make it warmer for them before then. I have 7 chickens total.

Where you have circled would be a great spot for ventilation. @AinaWGSD has some great suggestions in their post for the vents themselves

 

[ChaosMom]

In my coop the ventilation is at least 2 1/2' above the roost, angled roof. My brother has an open coop, no door (probably 4'x7' open) but has no ventilation other than the door. My girls seem fine and so does his and were in Wisconsin, -3 for tonight.

You know, after all my obsessive readings around here, I think that this is the first time that I have seen an actual measurement of vent height above roosts to avoid drafts!

Did you find this figure somewhere, or is this something you figured out by experience? I know that roosting birds sort of hunker down, so this sounds like any airflow through the ventilation area is a good 18" above the sleeping birds. Meaning 2 1/2' above the roost bars, right?

I can't be the only newer member who keeps reading "well-ventilated but not drafty" and thinks, "huh."