Outdoor roosting only, no enclosed coop

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lunaflacita

lunaflacita

Hatching
11 Years
Sep 2, 2008
9
0
7
Phoenix, AZ
I live in Phoenix AZ,
I am wondering about having outdoor roosting only. They have a large pen that they get enclosed into at night and let out later in the day to free range. But I have a bunch of 3 week old chicks that will need to be incorporated soon and there is not enough room for all of them in the coop. Most have not wanted to roost in the coop anyway. Is it possible to just have a covered space with enough room for all of them to roost and NOT have an enclosed coop? And just have a place for them to lay eggs?
Please let me know if anyone has experience with this.
Thank you so much!
Cheyanne
 
lunaflacita said:
I live in Phoenix AZ,
I am wondering about having outdoor roosting only. They have a large pen that they get enclosed into at night and let out later in the day to free range. But I have a bunch of 3 week old chicks that will need to be incorporated soon and there is not enough room for all of them in the coop. Most have not wanted to roost in the coop anyway. Is it possible to just have a covered space with enough room for all of them to roost and NOT have an enclosed coop? And just have a place for them to lay eggs?
Please let me know if anyone has experience with this.
Thank you so much!
Cheyanne
Click to expand...

An enclosed coop is not necessarily a requirement - but appropriate shelter is - meaning a place that they can get out of wind, sun (especially in your lcoation) and rain (even in your location) as desired by the birds. This could be a three sided/roofed shelter without being an actual 4-sided fully enclosed coop structure or, more challenging in practice - other sufficient cover. This would also be dependent on the enclosure being predator proof to provide the security not offered by a coop in your setup as the time spent at roost is their most vulnerable period and the time of heaviest predator activity.
ETA - predator proof being if you are not open to the loss of birds, if you are not as resistant to the idea of some predation it is less of an issue as many folks maintain a largely free-range setup with no forced enclosing but those people are open to the loss of birds.
 
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I have 2 pens that the roost areas are bars under the overhang of my barn roof and 1 pen that the roost is clothesline style, that is a piece of tin with the roostbar underneath with a wooden T at each end.
My pampered hens that lay the golden eggs are the only ones that have a proper hen house in their pen.
 

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