Chicken Coop Designs
Ventilating A Small Flock House
The most serious objection which can be made against the
average small flock or colony house is that they are
improperly ventilated, especially while the stock is on
the roost at night.
Chicken Coop Ideas
Most of the trouble which comes in raising young stock,
particularly in maturing pullets quickly comes thru
faulty ventilation of the roosting quarters during hot
weather. In like measure, disease is most prevalent
during the damp days of fall and winter in these small
poultry houses. In severe cold weather most of the
trouble arising from frosted combs and from dampness can
be eliminated, if the house is properly ventilated.
Chicken Coop Blueprints
We have, we think, solved this problem in large measure
in our small flock house. Our ventilating device is very
simple, is built right into the building and it has
given us excellent satisfaction now in all kinds of
weather. For an experiment, the litter was allowed to
remain on the floor for more than six months. At the end
of that time, it was of course very dirty, but it was
just as dry as the day we put it in, proving that our
house was properly ventilated at all times, regardless
of the outside weather.
Blueprints For A Chicken Coop
The plan can be adapted to any house, large or small,
but it is most effective in the small flock house or the
colony house intended for growing stock. The system
consists of two large openings on the south side which
are covered with muslin-covered frames. These frames
open outward, as shown in the picture for the reason
that in this position they tend to keep rains and storms
from beating in and soiling the litter. Likewise, in
summer, they shade the interior of the house to a large
extent, at the same time admitting plenty of air. The
windows also provide light and may be opened outward in
warm weather. Taken in itself this plan is not new nor
out of the ordinary and it would not give the results
mentioned, even in a small flock house. But to it we
have combined an open ventilator in the rear, which,
when used in conjunction with a double-walled roosting
board makes it impossible for draughts to reach the
stock while on the roosts, but at the same time,
provides a constant circulation of air, even on the
warmest nights.
 Backyard Chicken Coop Designs
The diagram shows, by the course of the arrows, how the
air enters this open dead-air space and follows it down
below the roosting board and the nests and comes out
into the house under the place where the stock is
roosting. If the fronts are open, the air passes out
thru them, because they are higher and heated air always
rises to a higher level than fresh air.
Chicken Coop Design
On cold, windy days, the opening at the rear is closed,
by means of the hinged board shown in the diagram and
this prevents draughts coming down upon the hens while
they are on the floor. If the air is coming from the
other direction, we adjust the muslin frames to admit
the amount necessary and cut off the draught.
This gives us dry litter the year around, and healthy,
contented and comfortable stock at all seasons. During
the past summer two dozen hens were confined in one of
the pens, of which this house has two, and they were
cool and comfortable even in the hottest weather.
This house, 10 x 12 feet in size will provide roosting
quarters for fifty matured Leghorns, and used as a
colony coop on runners it would accommodate a great many
more than this number of growing chicks. |
