Coop design tips for a hot, wet climate?

[Rasputin66]

Hi yall,
I am designing a coop for my hens. I intend to keep about 3-5 hens in my smallish yard here in New Orleans. It's extremely hot and wet here, so this poses some unique challenges. I want adequate ventilation, but I also want to keep my birds dry. Does anybody have any advice on this? A plus side is that it usually only dips below freezing 2 or 3 nights a year.

I am lucky enough to have a very high wall at the south side of the yard, so I plan to put the coop there in the shade. I think that raising it up will allow some air flow underneath as well as hopefully keeping my birds from drowning if it floods again. I have been thinking about making the back wall of the coop (the one facing the wall) out of hardware cloth and leaving it open to the elements most of the time, with a detachable wall I can put up over this when it rains really hard. Does this sound like a good idea? Are there any good design elements I should keep in mind for my coop?

 

[aart]

Sounds good.
Large roof overhangs all around to deal with the rain.
Could probably have all walls HC, adding something to block prevailing winds in winter.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! aart has it right, and also make sure drainage is good, because chickens don't manage wet bedding, and don't swim. A raised coop would be good, if that's what it takes. Make it all as large as possible! Mary

 

[Fairview01]

Consider what you'll be using for nest boxes and where they will be located during the design stage not as an after thought.

 

[Cajun_MikeR]

Lafayette area here. Big overhangs and large side doors that have large "windows" of hardware cloth. When we started, we had 6 "hens" (1 was actually a late blooming roo) and I built a 3ft x 6ft coop that was 2ft off the ground. That coop is attached to a 6ft W x 20ft L x 6ft H dog kennel that is converted to a chicken run (pass through goes through the fencing and a ramp leads down into the kennel).

The side windows (on the doors) were 2ft tall and the full width of the door. On the high side (4ft tall side up next to the kennel that we use as a run) of the coop, I put 3 vents up high. On the low side (3ft tall side away from the kennel) there are no vents (that's where we put our nesting boxes).

We've since gone up to nearly 3 dozen birds (between 2 pens, a 8ft x 12ft hoop house, and 2 breeder A frames), so I had to make larger ones (5ft x 7ft footprint), but the concept stays the same...2ft tall legs to keep it off the ground, large side doors that have windows that are 2ft tall and the width of the door, guarded vents up on the high side, and at least 6-8in of overhang on the sides and back (low side of the coop). I have solid covers I can put over the windows if it gets really cold, but they are usually off or blocked open.

 

[Teila]

Hi

We live in far North Queensland, Australia [tropical] and also have heat, high humidity and rain to contend with.

I definitely agree with the raised coop. We have solid walls on the coop itself but they do not go all the way to the top which is wired to allow ventilation.

The run is completely covered to help keep them dry during torrential rain which can go on for days.

One tip not mentioned is the flooring in the coop. We opted for a slide out, slatted timber design. Not only does this provide further ventilation, it also makes for easy cleaning in a raised coop; just pull it out, wash it and pop back in again:

Because of our climate, the chickens only really go into the coop to lay eggs and sleep so coop floor bedding is not required.

 

[beela]

Hey there! We're in New Orleans also! Over in Algiers. We got 8 birds last spring and had much the same ideas as you have. I will tell you what I wish I had done differently after this super rainy summer.
We raised our coop, probably about 18". That's not high enough. It is a PAIN to get under there, (oh hello injured chicken hiding from me 8 feet away in undercoop) if you build it raised, build it up higher than that. With that in mind, and taking into account how much rain we got this summer (record breaking btw!), I would have built a walk-in coop with plenty of perch space and a deep litter method to build up the ground/promote drainage and minimize flooding. I actually did start doing deep litter in their enclosed run, and with the exception of a rain event when the pumps were malfunctioning, the girls have been high and dry.
I would worry less about the cold, and more about the heat. My girls actually started sleeping in the run this summer.
If you have the option to cover the run, I would go for it. We had just chicken wire over the top of the run, to prevent flying predators, and now it is covered with vines and leaves. Great for shade, terrible at keeping the rain out. As a result it takes longer to dry out the ground. We are going to put in a corrugated roof over the run this year and just added a fenced yard for them to have sunny space.
I'll see if I can get some pictures to attach.

 

[Rasputin66]

Yeah, I have zero concerns about the cold. I will be making sure that I only get breeds that are heat-tolerant. I also got a covered pen for them with a tarp-like roof thingie.

I found some louvered doors in the trash! They are like shutters, but a whole door. I've decided to use them for ventilation and make one or two of the coop walls out of this.