Anyone using the open coop method?

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I'm in Texas and have posted pics a couple of times of what I have my chickens in. It's just a 6ft dog run covered with chicken wire so pretty secure. It has a concrete floor so nothing can dig in either. I have a rabbit hutch at one end with their nesting boxes in that is sided with tinted currigated panels for privacy and weather and at the other end are 2 dog igloos for additional shelter. It is positioned under a tree. There are plants around the edges for color & some shade and also a vine to hopefully grow up over the top for more of a "roof" look once it takes off. My only complaint is during the rainy season (which come few and far between in Texas) the hay gets pretty nasty and wet needing to be switched out (but works wonders in my gardens). I usually keep bedding hay in the igloos but it gets kicked out to the main area so will get wet. Other than that it's been great and birds are healthy and happy.
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Many folks here in AZ use open coops.

One kind I have seen a lot of is: one back wall. One quarter wall on one side and one quarter wall on the other side.... the hardware the rest of the way around and a roof over the entire thing. They put nest boxes on the sides and a roost along the back wall.

I have a traditional coop but I wish I would have put a window with a screen in my coop door.
 
I live south of Houston and my husband built this coop modified off of a plan he found roaming the internet. Two sides are slats, one side is hardware cloth, and the back short side is plywood with various doors. the only things mostly enclosed are the nesting boxes. We're also going to attempt to combat the heat with a green roof.

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I don't have chickens in there yet, but wanted to give folks another warm weather, open air idea.
 
txbioteacher... Wow, thats very eye appeasing and looks effective in combating the heat issues. Great job.
imtc...Like how you made use of the dog houses and run. Thinking of using dog runs myself.
 
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More use of dog runs/houses (my dog is just visiting in this pic).... I'm really pleased with the whole set up. The hen house + run for nightime lockup is under the eve from our shed but everything else is open. We always have grass, very little mud.
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I was curious about this as well. It seems to me that once they're completely feathered, does the coop need to closed up at night? It's getting pretty hot here in Idaho now. But will it be ok to leave the coop open in the winter? We get very cold temps. My chicks are 5 weeks old and I still have the brooder lamp on at night because several of my chicks are not totally feathered out yet.
 
i use a open air pen here for all my birds

i have 4 pens and all open air except for their sleeping areas

all have a roof on them but 2 sides are open with just wire on them

they seem to love it

too bad they cant tell me that
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I have an 8x8x8 roofed utility building with siding on two sides and hardware cloth on the other two sides. My run is a 10x10x4 chain link dog pen. The bottom has chicken wire around it to keep smaller birds in and predators from pulling birds out. The top is a pen panel used to make a roof with chicken wire to make the top full coverage.
Sorry for the poor quality photo.

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They are closed up in the coop at night and turned out in the run in the morning. They are always lined up and ready to go out. The whole set-up is in the shade with occasional sunny patches. It stays fairly cool. Even in NC.

BTW, I use recycle bins for nest boxes. Although the pullets are too young, I bet they'll work well.

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