Designing a coop for hot humid weather

[Rooapalooza]

I live in Texas where we hardly ever get cold enough to require supplemental heat for adult chickens (very few days that are below freezing, a few nights hovering in the 20s and 30s, and almost never below 20F). However in the summer (march-october, lol), it is regularly over a 100F with very high humidity, and because of the humidity it doesn't cool down much at night.

I think it's clear that my coop here should look different than when I lived up north. There aren't bears or snow here, for one. When I look at TSC and other retail stores though, all the coops are very one-size-fits-all. Even the designs I see online seem to follow a generic pattern that doesn't account for the climate.

At last to my question! How do I design my coop so that my birds can cool down at night? Should I have a larger hardware cloth run-area where they can sleep with total ventilation? Or should they still sleep in the closed-house portion? If they are sleeping in the inner house, would it help to have extra hardware cloth vents near the roof? What about having a wood wall on one half of the coop, hardware cloth on the other, but no wall between them so that there's lots of ventilation but also protection from the wind and occasional rain?

PS. I've sold two coops now because my chickens kept trying to sleep on top of them, rather than in them, presumably because of either heat or because they like to be up high. They were willing to sleep in a pallet-coop I made for them that was very open, but it was ugly as heck so I'm now trying to design something a little nicer.

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The only reason to have a coop of any kind is to protect from nighttime predation and perhaps shelter from rain. It goes from -20F to 115F here. Cold has never been a problem but heat is. And it is humid here too, year round.
The best thing you can do is have at least one whole wall that is open and just covered with hardware cloth.
Fresh air and unlimited oxygen is the key to chicken health regardless fo climate.
The other key is to have lots of shade. Build your coop under big trees.

You may find something in the following link that fits.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/chicken-coops.12/

You won't find a pre-fab or manufactured coop anywhere that is suitable for chickens.
The builders are barely carpenters and know nothing about what chickens need.

The other critical thing to consider is breed selection. You must choose heat hardy breeds. Anything that did well in cold where you lived would suffer where you are now.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Aim for something open. You want to protect from storms and wind, and have it secure enough to protect from predators, but that doesn't mean you have to have 4 solid walls either.

Depending on how your winds blow and how well you plan your roof to compensate for weather and direct sun, it's possible to have a coop with no solid walls (think of a very secure run with a roost area), 1 or 2 solid walls, some half walls, etc.

Just taking a quick look through other people's coops, here's a few that are open air style. I think the style of the first one would work well in many hotter or moderate climates:
- https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/new-chicken-coop-a-work-in-progress.72070/
- https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coop-evolution.64698/

 

[Rooapalooza]

Wow those are beautiful coops! I'm probably going to be making something quite a bit smaller, since my chickens only sleep in their coop and then travel the world during the day, I feel like that amount of space would be wasted on them. Not to mention if I went that big I would definitely start adding chickens to fill the extra space . I've already got 16 chickens but I'm looking to downsize a bit since I was only planning on 4, lol. I have got to learn how to say no to my silkies' baby mania. Are there any objections to a really tiny coop? I've been playing with the idea of a coop approximately 5' by 2' by 3' tall, which would be light enough for me to move around. What do you think?

Also, what are the biggest objections to the pre-fab coops (since I am DEFINITELY not a carpenter)? Is it just that they are flimsy, cheap materials, and not big enough for chickens to spend the day in but too big for just sleeping?

Thank you guys!

 

[BDutch]

Where I live we don’t have hot weather like you have in Texas. It's max 100F here in summer. But I did build an airy shelter (Summer-coop) for my chickens to be safe and stay out of the rain. I put 2 roosts in it. Meant for resting or a daytime nap.

One side is open to a smal run. One side with hardware cloth. And two sides are partly closed with a wooden panel and a wooden door, where the roosts where. Lower parts with hardware cloth.

The chickens liked it so much that they slept there overnight too, whole summer and autumn. When it got cold I closed 3 sides with plastic and multiplex. The chickens never left the new summer-coop to return to their old one-size fits-none coop.

I’m sure this design is a lot better then a closed coop in a warm climate.
To make it easy to clean I made a poop board and a door for easy access.

I hope this will inspire you to build you're own summer-coop.

p.s. There is room in it for about 8 small bantams. The plastic didn’t last. Later I made a few changes and added an old window on the east side.

 

[123RedBeard]

Atleast one side just hardware cloth ... and big overhangs, which keep rain out, and the sun too!

Like said above, park it in the shade of a big tree, or atleast on the East side of your house to shade it from the hot afternoon sun ...

 

[Folly's place]

Plan for times when your birds can't be free roaming too. Have enough predator proof space for your flock, if they are on lockdown for two or three weeks at a time. Too small a coop will result in bad events if they are too crowded!
Predator visitations, for example, can take some time to resolve. Bad storms too.
A roof and one or two solid walls, or three walls, with at least one open side. Roof overhangs and shade trees and shrubs. Good drainage!
Nobody complains about there coop being too large!!!
Mary

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm probably going to be making something quite a bit smaller, since my chickens only sleep in their coop and then travel the world during the day, I feel like that amount of space would be wasted on them. Not to mention if I went that big I would definitely start adding chickens to fill the extra space . I've already got 16 chickens but I'm looking to downsize a bit since I was only planning on 4, lol. I have got to learn how to say no to my silkies' baby mania. Are there any objections to a really tiny coop? I've been playing with the idea of a coop approximately 5' by 2' by 3' tall, which would be light enough for me to move around. What do you think?

Also, what are the biggest objections to the pre-fab coops (since I am DEFINITELY not a carpenter)? Is it just that they are flimsy, cheap materials, and not big enough for chickens to spend the day in but too big for just sleeping?

Generally prefabs are designed poorly (weird things like more nest boxes than the number of birds it can hold, roosts on floor level, pull out trays that don't really pull out and instead just rust) and the materials are often cheap and poorly fabricated.

Something more DIY friendly and still open air and not too tiny but still manageable would be a hoop coop. Examples:
- https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/permanent-hoop-coop-guide.47818/
- https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/pyxis-hoop-coop.66037/
- https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/what-should-i-do-with-that-old-trampoline.67122/ (this one is a trampoline! but similar idea)

Be realistic with how many birds you're going to keep. If you planned on 4 and ended up with 16, something tells me you should be planning on bigger than you "need" not smaller. 5x2 is pretty small IMO, even for 4 bantams which might be 16 bantams...

 

[Rooapalooza]

My original set up here was the generic $200 TSC coop, inside of a 30' by 50' chicken wire fence which was covered on top with bird net. I was (and am) baffled by the TSC coop, because it was tall without being tall enough to stand in, and had a roost in the run right over the ladder, so if chickens slept there they pooped all over the ladder and the ground. Plus you couldn't have more than two chickens spend any part of the day in it, and even that would make me feel bad. Do people actually make chickens live in those tiny things?

Anyway the whole set up was silly since my chickens mostly free range. So I'm shrinking the chicken wire area a bit and making my own coop. I'm thinking a small hardware cloth coop for sleeping, a 400 sq ft chicken wire area for days when they have to be confined, and free ranging on most days. If hardware cloth wasn't so expensive I would use it for everything. I figure a 2'x5' coop is enough for 9 chickens to sleep in, in case I don't get rid of quite as many babies as I plan.

 

[Folly's place]

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