How to protect mesh coop from drafts?

[bluerose]

My girls have a coop and big ol run... coop is octagon, 3 panels solid, the rest mesh (with a palapa over the roof for decoration- looks like a tiki hut from the house!). They're sleeping on the ledge outside of their nest boxes at the moment but we're putting up a roost for them shortly.

My dad (who designed the gorgeous bit of architecture that is the coop in the first place) has proposed pull-down canvas panels over the mesh. I'm not sure from which direction the wind blows. I was thinking something far less glamorous... like thick painters plastic stapled up with some room for ventilation at the top.

Anyone have some suggestions?

 

[CarlaRiggs]

The canvas pull-downs sound kinda cool to me!

I'm not sure how cold it gets down your way, nor how windy.
As long as the hens can be out of the draft, they should be okay. A possibility would be to build a type of protection, or demi-wall, from the wind that's in front of the roost area only. The hens would be warm during the night. And I'm assuming during the day they'd be warm enough, also. It sounds as though your open coop will give them plenty of sunshine during the winter.

Do you have any photographs?

 

[PurpleChicken]

My friends with rabbit use tarps. Lots of tarps.

Our bunnies and chickens have a heated barn. Never drops below 50 or 55.

 

[greenmulberry]

So when I go to this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_San_Diego,_California

It tells me that your average low in January is 48.9 degrees F.

That's downright paradise. I wouldn't worry about drafts at all.

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

Mulberry, San Diego is INDEED paradise!
Weather-wise, it could not be better. Even inland, where the temps get hotter, it's not bad. I actually did live through a freeze once; it got down to 24 degrees one night, and wiped out the citrus and avocado crop!

I lived in Oceanside for a year, and spent just about every spare moment between LaJolla and Mission Beach, and as far northwest as Rancho Bernardo.

IMO, the canvas shade idea is perfect to provide protection from the wind (although the Santa Anas were worse in Orange County than they were in San Diego). The wind in San Diego nearly always comes from the West, although the more inland you go, the more variable the winds can be.

Ahhh, what a nice trip down memory lane! Thanks!