Do all coops struggle with heat in the summer?

[Raubkatze]

I currently have 5 birds in a Nestera coop. The last two days we were at 90 degrees during the day and barely getting down to the 70s by very early morning hours. The first night my chickens were overheating in their coop despite having the vents open and the coop being shaded by trees and the tarp on the run for most of the day. The only time it gets direct sunlight is late afternoon and we added another tarp along the west side of the run to keep the coop out of the sun during those hours as well. The second night I planned ahead and kept the access door on the nesting box off so the coops was very ventilated. This worked fine, but then the chickens were entering and exiting the coop through the nesting box as well as generally just hanging out in there.

Husband and I have been talking about getting a different style of coop. We are limited to pre-fab. By the time we invested in the tools we needed to build a coop we would already be $300 deep into the project.

There are a few people in my area that build coops like this or similar to this:

But the more I look at this the more I wonder if this would really help us with our chicken overheating issue, or if we just need to figure out how to work with what we have.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Some people love love love nesteras. I haven’t had one so I can’t say from personal experience. What I can tell you from personal experience is that inadequate ventilation will cause the coop to be too warm even if it’s in the shade. My coop is in a very shady spot but it has great ventilation so when it’s warm I have two huge windows to open in addition to open vents under the roof. So it’s basically two open walls and then vents on top if I want. It’s the most ventilation I’ve had on a coop and so far it’s doing better than any of my other coops

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Color plays a lot too. Darker colored roofs and walls will trap heat easier than lighter colors

 

[DonyaQuick]

The pictures I've seen of Nestera coops are mostly black. If yours is that color, is there any way you can paint it white? Black is a bad color for heating up if it's getting any sun. I have some wooden prefabs with iffy ventillation I had to work on; one is white and the other is natural wood colored. They stay basically outdoor temp even though the trees that used to give them shade were cut down a while ago. If you have shade of course, moving the coop there would also help.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My prefabricated have black roofs. One has some ventilation already built in. The other 3 I leave the nest box door ajar so a breeze can flow through and out into the run. Of course, I shut it at night though.

 

[ChaosMom]

I currently have 5 birds in a Nestera coop. The last two days we were at 90 degrees during the day and barely getting down to the 70s by very early morning hours. The first night my chickens were overheating in their coop despite having the vents open and the coop being shaded by trees and the tarp on the run for most of the day. The only time it gets direct sunlight is late afternoon and we added another tarp along the west side of the run to keep the coop out of the sun during those hours as well. The second night I planned ahead and kept the access door on the nesting box off so the coops was very ventilated. This worked fine, but then the chickens were entering and exiting the coop through the nesting box as well as generally just hanging out in there.

Husband and I have been talking about getting a different style of coop. We are limited to pre-fab. By the time we invested in the tools we needed to build a coop we would already be $300 deep into the project.

There are a few people in my area that build coops like this or similar to this:

View attachment 4125698

But the more I look at this the more I wonder if this would really help us with our chicken overheating issue, or if we just need to figure out how to work with what we have.

With a design like this, I would want to see a 1’ or higher gap covered in hardware cloth between the walls and the roof. Just a big strip of ventilation all around the top. Looks like there’s a big screened opening in back for intake air, but it needs a place higher up for the air to flow out.

 

[nuthatched]

Are you up for cutting more vents?

 

[Raubkatze]

Are you up for cutting more vents?

It has crossed our mind, but we also need a way to make them winter proof.

 

[nuthatched]

It has crossed our mind, but we also need a way to make them winter proof.

You need the vents in winter as well. You could have 1 sq foot of permanent vents pet bird.

 

[FrostRanger]

Coops like nestras and omlets are really bad in hot climates due to poor ventilation as you found out. What you might consider is an open air coop which rather than having 4 solid walls, one or more of the walls are covered with hardware cloth. They work especially well in very hot climates (still keep it in deep shade though) I have an open air coop and love it