I live in south Texas, near San Antonio, and it’s hot here almost all year. I knew ventilation would be the name of the game and after seeing a few open air coop designs online I said “how about ALL ventilation then?” So that’s what I did! It doesn’t rain often, but it’s possible to get a pretty good downpour now and then and we do get down to freezing temps for maybe one week a year, so you can see below the add-ons I have for bad weather. But mostly it’s open air.
Here’s the coop in it’s final form, though it spent about a year without that smaller section in the front. I’ll get to that later.
I’m also eager to use whatever materials we already have, so when one of my kids decided they no longer wanted a loft bed, I said, “I bet I can build a coop off of that!” and lo and behold I did and I love it. It has a built-in storage area where the bed used to go and the roosting bars go underneath with a droppings board.
So I started with a wooden loft bed in the middle of my yard. (Also notice the shade trees for maximum cooling. Who am I kidding though, it’s hot as heck here even in the shade.)
I decided to just use the natural dirt and my abundant supply of fallen leaves for the floor of the run. So for the foundation I simply put in a layer of bricks to make sure the structure would be level.
Next came the base. I used a 10-foot 2x4 on each of the long edges and the short edges were measured according to the length of the loft bed, approximately 6.5 feet.
The loft bed provided vertical support already on the far end, so I built two more supports out of 2x4s on the closer edge. I don’t need much of a slope for the roof, but I wanted enough to collect rain water, so I made one side about 1 foot higher than the other.
Then I added the top supports, mirroring the base. I also added vertical and horizontal supports on the walls. The wall with the horizontal bracer/support faces the house and I did that because I wanted a more open viewing “window” into the coop, for my own entertainment.
The back wall has a vertical support since I knew I’d be attaching a feeder to it.
I made the door myself to fit the exact dimensions, roof slope and all. I covered everything in ½” black hardware cloth using a staple gun. (Some of the staples have come out over time, but I just give it a refresher now and then.)
For the roof, I added 2x4s lying vertically about every 18 inches and attached them with hurricane ties. We don’t get much in the way of hurricanes or tornadoes, but it was a simple, secure way to attach them. Then I attached some 1x3 boards going the other way about every 2 feet for more support.
I have a local metal roof panel supplier that can make custom, small orders for less than the price in the stores, so I picked up 4 panels, size 8’x2.5’ and attached them with self-drilling roofing screws. That size allowed a bit of overhang to help keep wetness out on rainy days. My husband was nervous with me up there all afternoon, but I rocked it and didn’t fall off even once.
My chicks were ready to move out there at this point, so I popped them in there while still building the roof and attached the metal panels over their heads right before the first rain.
The final touch for the roof was a gutter, installed on the lower edge of the roof at a slant, with a rain barrel underneath. The water gets dirty enough from the tree debris that I don’t use it for chicken drinking water, but it’s great for my garden.
I had previously removed the ladder rungs from the outside of the loft bed and now reattached them on the inside as supports for the roosting bars and dropping board.
I installed 2 2x4s under the bed/storage area for roosting bars.
I used a large sheet of plywood with a little edging attached (1x2s) for the dropping board. I did not create quite enough support for it underneath to keep it from sagging, but chickens have been jumping up and down on it for over a year now and it’s doing fine. I cover the dropping board with Sweet PDZ so I can easily rake up the poops every morning and dump them in my compost.
This coop was designed for 6 chickens, but it is on the smaller side so I wanted to keep the food and water footprint to a minimum. I installed a PVC pipe with 3 cup waterers to the wall and attached that with a short hose to a 5 gallon bucket just outside the coop. I used a 3 inch PVC pipe, cut in half and attached to elbows for the feeders. They are attached to support posts with zip ties.
I wanted there to be some optional protection for bad weather. I got some 2’ by 4’ plywood boards that I store in the shed during good weather. If a heavy rain is expected or colder weather is coming in and I want to block the wind some, I put up the boards. I have a rail along the bottom of the wall and a wooden latch at the top to keep them in place. I might prefer them to be a little taller to block a little more wind, but it’s been okay.
When we got down to freezing temps for a week or two, I got a 10’ by 20’ tarp and stapled it up around the roosting area of the coop to really block the wind better. The chickens were slightly miffed by the cold and stayed huddled a good bit of the day, but they all came through it just fine. Then I took it down when things warmed up again.
This spring one of our 6 chickens died right in the middle of chick season. So I decided to get 3 chicks to replace her because… chicken math. However, I knew this coop/run might be a little too small for 8 chickens plus I knew I’d need a way to integrate the babies with the adults slowly.
So I build a chick add-on. (It can also serve as a spot for a sick chicken if the need arises.) It’s 3’x5’.
I moved the door to the other side of the wall since I didn’t want to walk around the attachment to get to the door. I laid another brick foundation, base of boards, support beams, and top boards. The roof is smaller and lower, so I did go as heavy-duty with the roof supports. I used stacked 1x2s to create a gentle slope that ends in a gutter and rain bucket (even though it looks like it would flow into the coop).
I built a slide-in gate to go between the big run and the little one. It started completely closed, then I wedged it high enough for the babies to go through but not adults so the babies could have a safe refuge, then I removed it completely when they were ready for full-time mingling.
I also made the far outer wall a sliding door. It fits pretty snugly, so it works fine as a wall most of the time, but now I can access the add-on it without having to go through the main coop.
(In this pic, the inner gate is resting on top of the roof since I had just removed it. The baby feeder/waterer are still in there, but were removed soon after.)
I finished the main section in May 2024 and I still love it. I built the small add-on in April 2025 and it’s worked just as I hoped and my 3 new babies are happily integrated now.
My nesting box was an old cupboard without doors that a neighbor was throwing away. I left it out in the rain before putting it in there, so it didn’t hold up more than a year, so now I am using two milk cartons. Some people might not like having to go into the coop to get eggs or bending down under the droppings board, but it’s worked very well for me.
I keep boards across the front of the storage area since some of the girls would like to fly up there to sleep and I don’t want them pooping on the girls below through the slats. Right now I use the storage area for the dropping board supplies, a jar of scratch, some baby chick supplies between uses, and my bag of oyster shell. I don’t keep the feed up there because I buy it in 50 lb bags and that’s a lot to lift over my head, plus weather etc.
This is kind of a coop/run combo. I’m not entirely sure what to call it. The girls use all the space all day long. They have about 80 sq ft of floor space, plus 18 feet of dropping board that they enjoy hopping onto, strolling around, and even napping on, plus the roosts that they use during the day as well as at night.
Right now I have 5 easter eggers, 2 golden stars, and one golden-laced wyandotte living here. And they seem pretty happy about it!
Here’s the coop in it’s final form, though it spent about a year without that smaller section in the front. I’ll get to that later.
I’m also eager to use whatever materials we already have, so when one of my kids decided they no longer wanted a loft bed, I said, “I bet I can build a coop off of that!” and lo and behold I did and I love it. It has a built-in storage area where the bed used to go and the roosting bars go underneath with a droppings board.
So I started with a wooden loft bed in the middle of my yard. (Also notice the shade trees for maximum cooling. Who am I kidding though, it’s hot as heck here even in the shade.)
I decided to just use the natural dirt and my abundant supply of fallen leaves for the floor of the run. So for the foundation I simply put in a layer of bricks to make sure the structure would be level.
Next came the base. I used a 10-foot 2x4 on each of the long edges and the short edges were measured according to the length of the loft bed, approximately 6.5 feet.
The loft bed provided vertical support already on the far end, so I built two more supports out of 2x4s on the closer edge. I don’t need much of a slope for the roof, but I wanted enough to collect rain water, so I made one side about 1 foot higher than the other.
Then I added the top supports, mirroring the base. I also added vertical and horizontal supports on the walls. The wall with the horizontal bracer/support faces the house and I did that because I wanted a more open viewing “window” into the coop, for my own entertainment.
The back wall has a vertical support since I knew I’d be attaching a feeder to it.I made the door myself to fit the exact dimensions, roof slope and all. I covered everything in ½” black hardware cloth using a staple gun. (Some of the staples have come out over time, but I just give it a refresher now and then.)
For the roof, I added 2x4s lying vertically about every 18 inches and attached them with hurricane ties. We don’t get much in the way of hurricanes or tornadoes, but it was a simple, secure way to attach them. Then I attached some 1x3 boards going the other way about every 2 feet for more support.
I have a local metal roof panel supplier that can make custom, small orders for less than the price in the stores, so I picked up 4 panels, size 8’x2.5’ and attached them with self-drilling roofing screws. That size allowed a bit of overhang to help keep wetness out on rainy days. My husband was nervous with me up there all afternoon, but I rocked it and didn’t fall off even once.
My chicks were ready to move out there at this point, so I popped them in there while still building the roof and attached the metal panels over their heads right before the first rain.
The final touch for the roof was a gutter, installed on the lower edge of the roof at a slant, with a rain barrel underneath. The water gets dirty enough from the tree debris that I don’t use it for chicken drinking water, but it’s great for my garden.
I had previously removed the ladder rungs from the outside of the loft bed and now reattached them on the inside as supports for the roosting bars and dropping board.
I installed 2 2x4s under the bed/storage area for roosting bars.
I used a large sheet of plywood with a little edging attached (1x2s) for the dropping board. I did not create quite enough support for it underneath to keep it from sagging, but chickens have been jumping up and down on it for over a year now and it’s doing fine. I cover the dropping board with Sweet PDZ so I can easily rake up the poops every morning and dump them in my compost.
This coop was designed for 6 chickens, but it is on the smaller side so I wanted to keep the food and water footprint to a minimum. I installed a PVC pipe with 3 cup waterers to the wall and attached that with a short hose to a 5 gallon bucket just outside the coop. I used a 3 inch PVC pipe, cut in half and attached to elbows for the feeders. They are attached to support posts with zip ties.
I wanted there to be some optional protection for bad weather. I got some 2’ by 4’ plywood boards that I store in the shed during good weather. If a heavy rain is expected or colder weather is coming in and I want to block the wind some, I put up the boards. I have a rail along the bottom of the wall and a wooden latch at the top to keep them in place. I might prefer them to be a little taller to block a little more wind, but it’s been okay.
When we got down to freezing temps for a week or two, I got a 10’ by 20’ tarp and stapled it up around the roosting area of the coop to really block the wind better. The chickens were slightly miffed by the cold and stayed huddled a good bit of the day, but they all came through it just fine. Then I took it down when things warmed up again.
This spring one of our 6 chickens died right in the middle of chick season. So I decided to get 3 chicks to replace her because… chicken math. However, I knew this coop/run might be a little too small for 8 chickens plus I knew I’d need a way to integrate the babies with the adults slowly.
So I build a chick add-on. (It can also serve as a spot for a sick chicken if the need arises.) It’s 3’x5’.
I moved the door to the other side of the wall since I didn’t want to walk around the attachment to get to the door. I laid another brick foundation, base of boards, support beams, and top boards. The roof is smaller and lower, so I did go as heavy-duty with the roof supports. I used stacked 1x2s to create a gentle slope that ends in a gutter and rain bucket (even though it looks like it would flow into the coop).
I built a slide-in gate to go between the big run and the little one. It started completely closed, then I wedged it high enough for the babies to go through but not adults so the babies could have a safe refuge, then I removed it completely when they were ready for full-time mingling.
I also made the far outer wall a sliding door. It fits pretty snugly, so it works fine as a wall most of the time, but now I can access the add-on it without having to go through the main coop.
(In this pic, the inner gate is resting on top of the roof since I had just removed it. The baby feeder/waterer are still in there, but were removed soon after.)
I finished the main section in May 2024 and I still love it. I built the small add-on in April 2025 and it’s worked just as I hoped and my 3 new babies are happily integrated now.
My nesting box was an old cupboard without doors that a neighbor was throwing away. I left it out in the rain before putting it in there, so it didn’t hold up more than a year, so now I am using two milk cartons. Some people might not like having to go into the coop to get eggs or bending down under the droppings board, but it’s worked very well for me.
I keep boards across the front of the storage area since some of the girls would like to fly up there to sleep and I don’t want them pooping on the girls below through the slats. Right now I use the storage area for the dropping board supplies, a jar of scratch, some baby chick supplies between uses, and my bag of oyster shell. I don’t keep the feed up there because I buy it in 50 lb bags and that’s a lot to lift over my head, plus weather etc.
This is kind of a coop/run combo. I’m not entirely sure what to call it. The girls use all the space all day long. They have about 80 sq ft of floor space, plus 18 feet of dropping board that they enjoy hopping onto, strolling around, and even napping on, plus the roosts that they use during the day as well as at night.
Right now I have 5 easter eggers, 2 golden stars, and one golden-laced wyandotte living here. And they seem pretty happy about it!
