Anyone ever read this?

[Miss Lydia]

Someone shared this and I thought it was very interesting, any comments?
http://www.nortoncreekpress.com/fresh_air_poultry_houses.html

 

[kuntrygirl]

I haven't read it before but I do agree. I have open air coops and I love them. It makes cleaning so much easier and really no smell at all.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
I have been interested in this idea since I read it, we worry so much about our chickens getting cold in winter but looks like we might be doing them more harm than good by closing the coop all up. I even took off the solid wood door on my coop since we already had a hardware cloth door also to give them more air circulating. plus the 3 windows. Thanks for your imput. What are your temps like in dead of winter? do you close up at all?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Louisiana is not as cold as other states but we still get cold. I too was afraid of the low temps. We have had temps that were 19 degrees. I tossed and turned all night worrying about my chickens on those cold nights. On those cold nights, (please dont' laugh at me

) I have outside fireplaces for my chickens that are strategically placed near the coops. There is never an issue as far as smoke blowing on them in any way.

I do close up every single night. I don't miss a night of not closing up.

I think open air cops work for some but it depends on the temps as you have pointed out. I think if the temps are constantly low temps, then open air coops may not be the best choice for a person's chickens. A chicken could freeze to death. What are the low temps in your area?

Here are a few pics of my open air/raised coops:

The doors are open air on these chicken stalls/breeding pens.

Open Air Peafowl Aviary

 

[7L Farm]

My coops are big & heavily ventilated but I don't live in Alaska either. My coops well two of them I will post a picture so you can see how open they are. Its really paid off through this heat wave that's for sure. Before I build any coop I determine the best spot by prevailing winds & the dreaded north & northwest wind which I try to block off. Winds from the north & northwest & straight west here where I live are usually very cold & strong so they need to be blocked. Winds from the southeast which is our prevailing winds are normally welcome & this is the direction I use to point the run into as to cool the birds off during the heat of

the summer. If you will look you can see the flag blowing from the east southeast in the picture but you also notice its blowing straight into the coop & this picture was just taken so its the dead of summer.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Both of ya'll have nice coops and nice an open. We live in the mts. of N.C. and we can get temps down below 0 which with wind chill can be pretty drastic. we have also gotten alot of snow the last 2 winters. I always keep my windows in the coop open at the top for ventalation and we have vents in the top of our coop. So far the coldest it's been in the coop is 20* and with the body heat they produce I haven't seen anyone suffering. One of my roos got a little frost bite on his comb. But they all come out even on the coldest days. except my cochin bantams they usually hang out inside on the worse days. [they don't like the snow and ice much] I guess ya'll really have to worry more about the heat than cold. Our highs so far this summer has been 89* which is extremely hot for us. usually mid 80's. I keep fans running in my duck side and chickens side. Like you said Kuntry girl it all depends on where you live as to how much open space you can have. I like your platform 7L what is that for?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
I love your setup. It looks very secure and very cool.

Good Job!

I also wondered about the platform. That's cool! A look out for predators?

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Both of ya'll have nice coops and nice an open. We live in the mts. of N.C. and we can get temps down below 0 which with wind chill can be pretty drastic. we have also gotten alot of snow the last 2 winters. I always keep my windows in the coop open at the top for ventalation and we have vents in the top of our coop. So far the coldest it's been in the coop is 20* and with the body heat they produce I haven't seen anyone suffering. One of my roos got a little frost bite on his comb. But they all come out even on the coldest days. except my cochin bantams they usually hang out inside on the worse days. [they don't like the snow and ice much] I guess ya'll really have to worry more about the heat than cold. Our highs so far this summer has been 89* which is extremely hot for us. usually mid 80's. I keep fans running in my duck side and chickens side. Like you said Kuntry girl it all depends on where you live as to how much open space you can have. I like your platform 7L what is that for?

Thanks

And yes, we do have to worry about the heat. Just this week, we had a heat index of 112! I was a nervous wreck driving home not knowing what I would drive up and see in the chicken yard. Luckily, everyone was ok. I have so many trees and so many places that they can go and hide, one being under the raised coop, it helps out as far as shade. I try to make sure that I keep a LOT of waterers around in different places under the shade trees.

I have had a few who had frost bite on their comb, but as you said, there is never any suffering, so that is always a good thing.

 

[tiki244]

Oh kuntrygirl you have the best coops and made from recycled pallets!!!

I *discovered* a couple of great threads on here last winter about the open air coops and I am planning on converting my coop into one this fall when the weather is decent to work in. There is also an online book that anyone can access for free. It is dated but makes it all the more charming. I copyed the whole thing and am using for personal use.

My coop is 12 ft by 16 ft and has two windows in the south facing direction. I want to take the south wall down and add an 6 or 8 ft by 16 ft (length of coop) *porch* in which I will have the ventilation portion of it. With some other details. Ventilation in back and top and extra door and window.

We had at least 2 months that were sub zero weather here last winter. I kept the windows open almost every day.

 

[tiki244]

online book:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=488600



This is how I want my coop to look. I already have the back part. I just want to change the pitch of the roof, already have a place and the windows for the top and then add on the porch. Its the Woods open air design. Just love it. I have only heard positive information about these.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=445004