Drawn idea of coop, etc WOOhoo…

[Saltlifexo95]

Nope.

You don't get cold. OK, you get cold for humans. You do not get cold for CHICKENS. No reason to wrap the coop with an open air design in your climate. At most, you might want a shallow "wall" or wind break on the far side of the run, but that depends entirely on the orientation of your coop and prevailing winds. I try to orient so the coldest, wettest seasonal winds are blocked by walls.

Cold- ok
Heat- Careful
Going with open air design, not fully- but they will have plenty of ventilation/air/space

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Cold- ok
Heat- Careful
Going with open air design, not fully- but they will have plenty of ventilation/air/space

^^^ WISDOM.

 

[Saltlifexo95]

^^^ WISDOM.

Thank you for all of your help. I have followed you

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thank you for all of your help. I have followed you

I'm best in small quantity. Fair warn. and mostly repeat the efforts of others - I started my own chicken journey less than two years ago. There are others whose names you will quickly start to recognize whom I look to as experts.

 

[Saltlifexo95]

I'm best in small quantity. Fair warn. and mostly repeat the efforts of others - I started my own chicken journey less than two years ago. There are others whose names you will quickly start to recognize whom I look to as experts.

Yes I’ve seen a lot and appreciate their feedback. 2 years of more experience than me! Promise not to bug ya.

 

[3KillerBs]

So with open air design, I reckon you would just wrap it in the colder months?? & I know it looks plain, I just kept the open space for suggestions. We plan to spoil them a bit.

Sometimes it does get below 30 but I’m a big baby all of the sudden when it comes to the cold, I’m also from Florida, so..

I didn't wrap my coop for winter, but I did ziptie a tarp to part of the open wall because we can get storm winds from any direction here.

A little snow got in when we had those storms, but it's no big deal in an Open Air coop with a deep litter system.

I'm on the Chromebook so I don't have the ability to put in the pictures right now, but I'll try to remember to put them in tonight.

I asked about a roof, but yeah not much idea on that but we did discuss metal. Would shingles be better? (I know, more expensive) BUT- if it helps with heat it’ll be worth it.

What keeps the heat down is airFLOW -- venting at the top and bottom of the roof slope so that air moves along under the roof, carrying the heat with it.

That's what the clerestory does on my coop. It's in full sun (put yours in the shade if any shade exists), but it's the coolest place in the yard on a hot day because of that airflow.

 

[rosemarythyme]

So with open air design, I reckon you would just wrap it in the colder months?? & I know it looks plain, I just kept the open space for suggestions. We plan to spoil them a bit.

x2 what was said above. In your climate it's unlikely you'll need to wrap the coop or run for cold weather protection.

I get down to maybe low 20s in winter. That's still very tolerable temperatures for chickens. I have never climate protected the run and leave all coop ventilation open including windows flanking the roost, except in very rare occasions where precipitation is blowing sideways and getting into the coop.

 

[3KillerBs]

Sorry, I didn't get to photos last night. Here they are:

You see that the tarp doesn't cover anything like the entire open wall -- it's just a wind block preventing storm winds from blowing directly onto the roosts. I will take it down within a couple weeks. That chunk of metal roofing isn't *really* there for wind shelter -- it's part of the run clutter.

Within the coop there was also an area where, if they felt it necessary, they could have gotten down onto the floor among the run clutter where no wind could penetrate at all.

Snow in an enclosed coop is a problem because an enclosed coop is managed to keep it as dry as possible. In my Open Air system it was just a little moisture to help the litter compost. (The chickens wondered if it was good to eat and otherwise ignored it). Excessive snow would be a problem, but this little bit -- very nearly as much as we would ever see in the worst year of a decade -- wasn't.

 

[ColtHandorf]

So with open air design, I reckon you would just wrap it in the colder months?? & I know it looks plain, I just kept the open space for suggestions. We plan to spoil them a bit.

I have a pole barn divided into three pens for my birds with solid sides, back, and roof. The entire front is open wire. I haven't had any issues from temperatures other than the freak snow storm we got last year and that was more of an issue with a lack of water and how quickly and how long the temperatures were below zero. I wouldn't wrap it at all, but I would make sure that if you get winter winds from the same general direction, the open side is not facing into that wind.

 

[Saltlifexo95]

Sorry, I didn't get to photos last night. Here they are:

View attachment 2995558View attachment 2995559View attachment 2995560View attachment 2995561

You see that the tarp doesn't cover anything like the entire open wall -- it's just a wind block preventing storm winds from blowing directly onto the roosts. I will take it down within a couple weeks. That chunk of metal roofing isn't *really* there for wind shelter -- it's part of the run clutter.

Within the coop there was also an area where, if they felt it necessary, they could have gotten down onto the floor among the run clutter where no wind could penetrate at all.

Snow in an enclosed coop is a problem because an enclosed coop is managed to keep it as dry as possible. In my Open Air system it was just a little moisture to help the litter compost. (The chickens wondered if it was good to eat and otherwise ignored it). Excessive snow would be a problem, but this little bit -- very nearly as much as we would ever see in the worst year of a decade -- wasn't.

I’ve lived in GA for 7-8 years now, have only seen snow once, which was gone the next day! It may flurry a little here & there but nothing like what is in your pics. I’m curious, if you let them free range at all, do they walk around or play in it? Lol