About $700 and some salvage for the materials. Too many hours.
this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2026
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There are two vents, both high enough above chicken heads to vent out without creating a problem.
Don't underestimate the insulative power of wood.
I have to go back in a few days. I'll be bringing an IR thermometer with me to check the inside temp at different heights.
R value for 3/4" plywood sheathing is 0.94 according to this. Sorry for PDF and Google link my phone is stupid
So, although green houses technically do the thing where infrared light can make it in and is then emitted at a wavelength that doesn't make it out, much more of the 'greenhouse effect' is simply trapping the air that gets heated from escaping through convection. Even though the inside of that box will be shaded, without enough ventilation the air inside will just keep getting hotter and hotter as the sun shines on it.
Correct. Which is why I installed vents.
The plans I based this on had a considerably smaller vent. One. Making matters worse it had windows. Glass windows. An absolute nightmare of cleaning and heating waiting to happen. I quickly nixed the windows and instead of just one vent on one side I put in two larger vents, one on each side. I also reduced the depth of the roost by about 40% to save on materials. This also means that the larger vents I installed are way more effective than they need to be. In fact I might have to build vent covers for extreme winter night lowes but that is for another day.
The only time hens will be in there are
Bonus: the original plans had insulated walls with foam board. The combination of tiny vent, two windows and insulation would have cooked everything inside.
TL:DR The hotter (less dense) air will rise. It will leave via the vents or get tapped up much higher than the birds or the vents. I'm not worried at all. Adding more vents would be trivial but are ultimately unnecessary.