East Wing Solarium

We hadn't gotten around to putting latches on the interior doors, didn't think we needed to, but apparently they were curious enough to push the door open and pile into the east wing, the west wing is in shade most of the day in December and apparently shade wasn't what they were after.

A few times a day they will all migrate into the east wing to sunbathe, sprawling about, stretching and sunning themselves. At first I thought they were dying, turning upside down and sideways, but they were just basking and preening themselves.

Chicken Coop Ventilation

What I do know is that it's killer hot and humid down here in zone 9 Florida. Last year was the hottest ever. The coops we looked at had practically no ventilation and in danger of becoming an oven during the day, I cannot imagine a hen laying in those conditions.

Years ago I went to Hommosassa springs. We stayed in cabins that were all screened in but with no air-conditioning. It was very comfortable, of course the springs were bubbling icy water which cooled the surrounding air, but still, it was nice, slight breeze, hearing the wind and insects in the trees, very comforting.

Whats on our side:

• The future coop spot is mostly shaded during the day with the most shade cast in the afternoon from very mature trees.
• It's a relatively open space so air can move freely around it.
• It's mostly green ground cover (weeds) which is cooler than other ground material around here.
• The shed is a good size so hopefully will have more breathing room and interior air movement.

Whats not on our side:

• Humid, stifling, moist  heat.
• Record high temperatures.

I found this article which makes good sense to me by Patandchickens from Ontario: Cut more holes.
Also I found great info on fresh air housing in this little book: Fresh Air Poultry Houses.
It sounded about right to me.  I don't want to waste energy and hardware cloth on mistakes and have to re-panel the whole thing.

So, one square foot ventilation per chicken with a projected flock of 25 to 30 chickens will base my calculations on the number of openings Ken has to cut out.  I have to account for the roosting bar supports taking away space, but I want the northern exposure bigger because its so much cooler.

We cut the the full wall openings yesterday and stapled wire cloth on the openings. We also cut out the peaks of the shed which are the highest points. Now we have four direction ventilation. We screwed wood trim over the cloth to doubly secure it.  I love it inside now, very airy and light. It's coming along nicely, but we keep revising the plan as we go along.








More ventilation November 26th







I closed the door and worked in there the other day, it was nice breezy and comfortable. I will add more cut-outs in Spring when it warms up. Right now I think this is enough until the chickens get bigger and full-feathered.