Designing a New Coop in Texas, Any Advice is Appreciated

[TXbeginner]

I have been reading and looking at coop designs on BYC for a while now. I sketch and start over. Look at CraigsList for inexpensive materials, then back to BYC. Come up with new ideas, start over to fit other things in, change my square footage... Look at CraigsList again, check BYC forums, see something I like... redesign. Pretty well stuck in a cycle.

I was hoping to find out what other members in my area have experienced for what works well in our climate. I am in Montgomery County, Texas, so hot humid summers and fairly mild winters (this last one colder than normal). It seems ventilation is going to be very important, but also solid construction as we have raccoons, skunks, foxes, coyotes and plenty of rat snakes (not to mention to occasional hurricane). We are planning to attend Tradin’ Days to see what is out there (I have never been) and potentially bring home a few chicks (4 or 5). Any insight will be much appreciated.

I’ll post my design when I get something presentable.

Thanks.

 

[Chickenfarmer 1-2-b]

I started building my coop last Fall, got to 90% done then Winter came, too cold to go outside. I finished out the coop just recently when the weather is nice again. I am far from being a professional in construction, but not a complete newbie. My suggestion is give yourself plenty of time to build the coop before you get the chicks, that way you dont have to rush to accomodate those chickens. Best of luck with the coop.

Andy

 

[elmo]

Roofed, open sided housing is probably your best bet. A chain link dog kennel type pen with a corrugated metal or fiberglass panel roof, then add hardware cloth to the bottom two or three feet to stop reach through predation, plus continue the hardare cloth down on the top of the ground outwards as an apron to deter predators who want to dig in. The hardware cloth should have wire spacing of 1/2" by 1/2". Any snakes small enough to go through that are likely to get eaten by your chickens!

You could add a windbreak of some kind at roost level on the side that gets your prevailing wind, although during the heat of summer the chickens will likely enjoy any breeze. In the winter, you can add tarps to the sides or some other kind of panel to block cold drafts.

I have friend here in North Texas that has been using this kind of housing for his chickens successfully for twenty years. When he first started out, he had a traditional design closed coop that almost roasted his laying hens. Then he switched to the open design.

Most breeds of chickens can handle cold quite well but suffer and can even die in extreme heat. It's all that down insulation they come equipped with. So you'll certainly want to put your coop somewhere you have natural shade, and/or plant fast growing vines next to your run. Every little bit of shade helps. There are additional things you can do to help your flock stay cool: misters, pans of water they can stand in to cool off, blocks of ice in the run, ice in their waterers, etc.

Welcome to the wonderful world of chicken keeping!

 

[TXbeginner]

Thanks for the feed back. The plan is evolving... I hope to have refined sketch to post soon.

 

[PunkinPeep]

I live just north of you in San Jacinto County (is that north? sort of). Anyway, we built a traditional little house, with four windows and ventilation by the roof.

I'm glad we did that because of the threat of hurricanes like you mentioned, because during the winter it allows me to easily protect them from cold winds, and because it makes so i can put smaller chicks in it and now they are free from drafts. However, during the summer, i would sure like the open air kind that elmo described. Wow! That would be awesome.

So, i would say, for the best of both worlds, and since you're starting from the beginning and really thinking this through, maybe you could build the open air coop like elmo said - but also build sturdy panels that you can very firmly attach to the sides to make good walls when they're needed.

Since my chickens free range most of the time, i don't worry too much about them in the summer. They hide in the creek bed, under the trees, but their nights would be more pleasant with a better breeze.

Oh, and p.s. definitely make sure it's very predator proof. I have found the best chicken security to be dogs who explore the property and scare off anything that looks funny. I've never had a predator problem when i've had dogs, but i lost a whole flock when i didn't.

p.s.s. Welcome to BYC!

 

[gritsar]

When designing our coop we took our cue from the commercial houses that are prevelant around here; used to have two on this farm as a matter of fact.
Solid wood construction, with insulation between the exterior and interior walls - insulation keeps heat out as well as cold. The north and south sides both have large "windows" N = 4 ft.H x 8 ft. long, S= 4ft.H x approx. 5ft. L, to allow room for the human door. We covered the windows in hardware cloth. Then we took the wood leftover from cutting out the windows and created shutters that fold down that I can close over the windows in bad weather. Unless it's really stormy out or the temps. fall below 40 degrees, I never close the shutters. Between the cross breeze and the insulation it's always cool in the coop; even in August. We also located it as close as possible to some trees for shade over the coop and the chicken yard.
It's working well for us.
Keep in mind that if you buy chicks now, you'll want to get the coop done in a hurry. They grow alot faster than you can imagine.

 

[BankerJohn]

I live in Florida on the Gulf side, north of Tampa. We have humid summers and mild winters too. Like you, I researched, read, drew homemade plans, scratched them, looked on Craiglist, local HomeDepot/Lowe's, drew more plans, talked to a builder... and on. Then, my chicks got to where they were ready to fly out of the 55 gallon aquarium they were being kept until they feathered out.

I learned that a chicken can live in cold weather and do well, provided they are out of direct draft/wind. Also, because of the deluge of thunderstorms we get, moisture & drainage can be an issue. Keeping the birds in an aquarium, I learned how messy they are (pooping in their own water). From all this, I came up with this:

Solid north face to protect against a northern wind and cold front. Predominant sea breeze in non winter months is Southwest. Therefore, North face will have a small vent for cross venting. Entire South end is open and north end is under cover and not having a traditional coop like many have. Started with a cinder block frame set on chicken wire to line the floor of the run. Then filled the run with 1/4" screened rock to level to the top of the cinder blocks. Topped the rocks with landscape fabric then added another 3-4 inches of sand. The flooring will prevent predators from digging under and with rock/sand will allow for excellent drainage. The sand makes clean up a dream and smells are not present. The watering system is a homemade auto waterer using those nipple waterers everyone raves about (I'm a raving fan, too). Feeder is homemade and hung from a pulley to allow for an adjustable height. Here are some pics:

Here you can see the open end (south end) and closed end (north)

Here is the North Face with clean out door to get under the roost bars along with egg access. Bucket is the holding tank for watering system.

This is a view looking up into the closed end.

This is from the clean out door looking out toward the open end.

Take pics of your pen. Whatever you build, your chickens will LOVE you for it!

 

[BankerJohn]

forgot to mention that my chickens are mostly in the pen and do not venture out often to free range. The dimensions are 15' X 6.5' outside dimensions at base and 6' high. If I did it again, I would make the width 8' and the sides 8' high. This would give a little more head room for walking inside. After building, I realized that using 2x4x8's would have been economically priced rather than getting 2x4x12's and cutting them to 6' lengths. The extra space would be nice!

 

[equusvilla]

Hi!!!! I live in Grimes County Texas...so we are neighbors! Look at my equusvilla blog and you will see what we are doing. Our coop has screened windows ..one on the North and one on the South. That way I can leave them open all summer and closed in the Winter. WE live on the top of a really big hill, so the wind is always blowing N/S. Also have a wall vent on the West side. Although I do not have one on the East side..it is something that can be added later if I need to. Can't wait to see your plans.

Julie

 

[janetgaddy]

I live in Central Texas, Near Killeen and finished my tractor about 2 months ago. I have 2 red stars and 1 orpington. Each blesses me with 1 egg a day.
I gave them shade and lots of screening for ventilation. So far.. they seem to be ok but it has not reached the normal temps we get in summer in Texas.
Here is a pix of the coop and the girls.

janet