Designing a coop for hot humid weather

[Rooapalooza]

Your coop plans are WAY too small!!! Ten sq. ft. is enough for two birds, or three bantams, and chicken wire will keep them in, but won't keep predators out. Build a coop/ run combination big enough, and predator proof, for your ten or so birds. 400 sq. ft. would be perfect, but slightly small and safer would be best.
Mary

I guess I am confused. My chickens never go into their current coop during the day, except to lay eggs (and even then I have a nest box outside the coop which they sometimes like). I've had them sleeping in a coop I made out of pallets that's about 8'x4' and it just seems like a waste of space. I let them out every morning just before the sun comes out. I won't pretend I haven't lost any chickens by free-ranging, but honestly the biggest problem I've had is keeping them out of the neighbors' lawn, since none of us have real fences. Why do they need more space in the coop? Do you just mean if they are going to live in there? Even the chicken wire/bird net area I have I only use if I'm going to mow or I've seen a stray dog or hawk around or whatever. I may need to keep them in it more often in the future, but I've never had a problem with predators in the daytime other than hawks, and the netting takes care of them.

It's not a problem for me to go bigger if that's what the consensus is, but I see designs for small coops everywhere online, and they seem common enough. Who uses those, if not free-rangers? I would be uncomfortable making more than 2 chickens live in almost any of them, even the larger ones.

Again, thanks everyone for the suggestions! I'm a real dummy when it comes to stuff like this. It's amazing to see how clever people are!

 

[imnukensc]

If I did mine over again I'd do it very similar to the one in the first link of post #3. Basically a 3 sided coop. South or southeast would be the open side for me

 

[rosemarythyme]

It's not a problem for me to go bigger if that's what the consensus is, but I see designs for small coops everywhere online, and they seem common enough. Who uses those, if not free-rangers? I would be uncomfortable making more than 2 chickens live in almost any of them, even the larger ones.

Better to go bigger than you think you need, as that gives you and the chickens more flexibility (think integration, periods of very bad weather, and it's also easier to maintain good air quality and keep bedding clean with more floor space and overall volume of space). I don't see people posting that their spacious coop is causing health or behavioral problems, but we regularly see people posting that a tiny one is causing those issues.

IMO the small coop designs you mentioned are really only a good idea for setups where restrictions won't allow for more space. In many areas zoning doesn't allow for free ranging, or for more than maybe 3 hens, etc. In extreme cases I've seen some really oddball restrictions posted here, like run can't exceed 20 sq ft, coop can't be more than 40" tall, things like that.

 

[BDutch]

I think you can see a coop as a bedroom for chickens if they have nestboxes and sheltered places elsewhere.

If the coop is only to be used for roosting in the night a small coop is possible imo.

Anyway, I have no problem with space in my 2 small coops with a small roofed run in the middle (together A bit less then 3 * 10 feet). The chickens can go outside this coop-combination, as soon as the sun is up. In the run there are a lot of places to shelter and another minicoop I can use e.g. for separating a broody hen. This is okay for my 8 small bantams. For normal size chickens I would recommend double the size.

If we often had severe weather circumstances or snow for a longer period, I would certainly make a bigger walk-in coop.

 

[Rooapalooza]

Lol BDutch, 100F is hot! That's a very nice looking set-up the way, I can see why the chickens would like it .

 

[BDutch]

Up to 100F every summer now. A few summers ago it was less warm. Thanks to climate change the weather has changed a lot already. We have record after record in weather here. Exceptional dry for a long period, exceptional warm, exceptional lots of rain in a short time...

Today I could cycle to town without waring gloves or a shawl which is really strange in december. It feels like autumn not like winter.