Looking for experienced input on a cold-climate open-air coop

[Gardenlady2]

Here is a photo of my coop that is a year and a half old, so I'm on my second winter with it. I'm in Southwest Indiana and our temps get down close to 0 several days each winter - last winter we even had a few nights in the negatives. I don't add any heat. The dimensions are roughly 12ft long by 6ft deep at the base. There is a row of nest boxes that covers a 2ft tall strip along the middle of 3/4 of the "open" side. There is chicken wire along the top, but underneath the nest boxes is completely open 24/7. The dark objects you see blocking the opening to the right of the nest boxes are 2 rot-iron chairs I placed there after an owl attack to provide more security. I planned to eventually attach chicken wire over that opening, but the birds seem to like playing on the chairs so I'm not in a hurry to change that.

The coop is moveable, so in the winter we face the open side southeast to block most of the winter winds. In the summer, we face the open side east so that the inside is completely shaded in the afternoon to help reduce the heat. There is no "human door", but it can be tilted forward and rests on the bottom edge of the nest boxes when we need to have access to the inside.

Last winter there were only 12 chickens in the coop - they hatched the first week of October so they were pretty young through winter. Didn't have any problems with the cold. This winter there's been as many as 35 chickens in the coop, so they should be plenty warm this time around!

My coop is in my front yard/pasture which is fenced with 4ft tall sheep & goat fence with an additional 2ft of electrical wire for a total height of 6ft and an additional electric wire about 6-8 inches above the ground. The bottom 12 inches along the woodline also has a foot of chicken wire. This seems to do a pretty good job of keeping out everything except for hawks and owls, which you can't do anything about except for closing the chickens in a secure run. I've opted to accept the reality of occasional losses in order to let the birds roam free on about 1.5 acres.

(sorry for the grainy photo- it's taken through my window screens)

 

[countrydreamer8]

that is a very cool coop! I don't think I'll need anything that big since I'm thinking I'm never going to have more than 12 hens [no rooster]. If there's no heat in the winter than if I'm understanding correctly there won't be any eggs?

 

[countrydreamer8]

I was just thinking, what about rodent problems with the open air concept, wouldn't this be a major problem?

 

[Gardenlady2]

Egg laying is mainly tied to daylight hours, not temperatures, but maybe extreme cold could affect it...
Yesterday's high was in the mid 20s here, and 16 out of my 19 hens laid an egg. Today I had 12.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Whether it is an open air cop or another type the rodent problem is the same. If you leave openings they can get in. If you cover every opening with hardware cloth with a small mesh they can’t. I leave my pop door open during the day so they can get in if they want to. Doesn’t matter if it is an open air coop or not.

 

[centrarchid]

Egg laying is mainly tied to daylight hours, not temperatures, but maybe extreme cold could affect it...
Yesterday's high was in the mid 20s here, and 16 out of my 19 hens laid an egg. Today I had 12.

Dropping temperatures further and you will the impact even with supplemental lighting.

 

[centrarchid]

I was just thinking, what about rodent problems with the open air concept, wouldn't this be a major problem?

Sometimes the open air concept can help control rodents if you are comfortable with predators getting in close to the coop. Raising coop up free of ground allowing song birds to clean up and also limiting feed accessible to rodents helps greatly as well. Otherwise much of your rodent problems can be a function of what is going on in your surrounding pasture. Currently I am experiencing a plague of voles that eat very little chicken feed yet are easy to find around the pens.

 

[duluthralphie]

Dropping temperatures further and you will the impact even with supplemental lighting.

I can attest to this. I use supplemental lighting, but when the temps went to -15 to -20 for two weeks. my egg production went from 24 a day to 4 a day.

 

[WthrLady]

Well ya....i wouldn't want to stick my fluffy egg laying hiney out in that and lay an egg. I certainly don't expect them to!

Just going out to feed them when we hit -17, i puckered!

Brrrrr.

 

[JCRbrahmas]

This is our set up in N.H.. It is not open air as we keep the window closed but air vents though a gap underneath the roof on both sides. The plan was to allow the crabapple to provide food and shade in the summer. I also planted hops along their pen which is 14 feet by 14 feet, including the 6 by 4 coop.

It all seems to work well but the weather has kept the birds imprisoned in their coop and they seem less happy and healthy as a result. I'm totally fed up with snow and winter. Negative three right now and the wind is blowing 30 mph. I took this picture about 11 days ago and we've had another 3 feet of snow since then.

A friend raises broilers on his farm and is active in local markets. He tells me that one year he experimented with allowing customers to buy chickens that he would raise and help slaughter. One customer got cold feet and the chicken was allowed to escape. It has lived wild in the woods for the last three years. That seems unbelievable but chickens may be more resilient than we give them credit for.