Confused about coop direction

[khorvath]

Looking to build my first coop for my first flock next spring. Trying to do a lot of research first and one thing I am confused about is the orientation.

We live in Chicagoland. It can be very cold (bitter winds) in the winter and pretty hot in the summer with a lot of humidity. The months that are pleasant are not long. (Wait... why do I live here?) My yard is long and narrow with my house facing east with the end of the back yard toward the west.

Anyway, I've read a lot of posts with various articles talking about the best directions for coops. They mention to have it facing one way but as a newbie... I don't know what that means. Are we talking about the pop door? The run? Most likely I will have a coop that looks something similar to the one in the photo with half the coop and half the run.

If someone could be so kind as to give me suggestions on how you'd orient a coop like the one attached given the area I live in, I'd appreciate the advice. I can easily switch the sides of the coop so that the run is on the left instead of the right. Or rotate the coop 90 degrees as well.

Thank you in advance!

 

[TexasWineGuy]

My thoughts are that in Chicago, with the vicious winters, is that the largest opening in the coop should face to the south as to avoid the blue Northerns.

The run, by its very purpose will be more unprotected, but tarps can be used to block some of those north winds also. The coop is going to be the main refuge from the brutal cold.

Others will no doubt add much more than I.

TWG

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Even in Florida we traditionally build our coops to be open to the south and walled on the north end to block the north wind in the wintertime. However we also traditionally don’t use doors or small entryways on our coops either. Usually the south end is left totally open.

My largest coop currently has a door because it is a converted shed. The door faces west and opens so at to block the wind from the north.

 

[khorvath]

My thoughts are that in Chicago, with the vicious winters, is that the largest opening in the coop should face to the south as to avoid the blue Northerns.

The run, by its very purpose will be more unprotected, but tarps can be used to block some of those north winds also. The coop is going to be the main refuge from the brutal cold.

Others will no doubt add much more than I.

TWG

So would you suggest to keep the run south of the coop? I'm not sure what is better... Having the area where they would hang during the day be more southern or the area where they sleep?

 

[21hens-incharge]

I would have the coop on the side with the most wind to block the wind BUT......

It looks like that is the side you would need to access to clean and tend birds.

A lot of people are using the plastic roofing from Home Depot to close in the windy side of the run too. It seems that would be a good idea given your wicked winds.

If that is an option for you then having the coop/run going East West may work better.

I assume you get drifting snow there too.