When you are building your first coop, there are a lot of important things you need to think about. Things such as size, building materials, and use, are things you should think about before you start building. However, one of the most important factors, is ventilation.
Before I talk about proper ventilation and where to put it, I am going get into why you need it. Ammonia fumes can hurt a chicken's lungs, and it doesn't take much to do so. Unless you clean your coop of droppings every single day, there will be ammonia. Having a properly ventilated coop will help with that, but this does not mean you don't need to clean your coop! Proper ventilation an help keep your chickens healthy as well, and help stop disease in your flock from spreading. It an help keep chickens cool, and stop heat stress.
Now, ventilation do, and don'ts. Make sure ventilation is a safe distance away from the roost, so as not to cause drafts. Do: have some way to close up some of the ventilation in winter to keep them warm. Don't: lose all ventilation at one time.
Ways to add ventilation: windows, metal vents, or fans. If you add windows, be sure to have them covered with hardware cloth to deter predators. My coop and it's ventilation:
As you can see, there is plenty of ventilation, and it is very open. (This was taken in summer when it was very hot)
Before I talk about proper ventilation and where to put it, I am going get into why you need it. Ammonia fumes can hurt a chicken's lungs, and it doesn't take much to do so. Unless you clean your coop of droppings every single day, there will be ammonia. Having a properly ventilated coop will help with that, but this does not mean you don't need to clean your coop! Proper ventilation an help keep your chickens healthy as well, and help stop disease in your flock from spreading. It an help keep chickens cool, and stop heat stress.
Now, ventilation do, and don'ts. Make sure ventilation is a safe distance away from the roost, so as not to cause drafts. Do: have some way to close up some of the ventilation in winter to keep them warm. Don't: lose all ventilation at one time.
Ways to add ventilation: windows, metal vents, or fans. If you add windows, be sure to have them covered with hardware cloth to deter predators. My coop and it's ventilation:
As you can see, there is plenty of ventilation, and it is very open. (This was taken in summer when it was very hot)
