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

[christy777]

We are super close! We used to live in Dunbar, but now live in Culloden. I know how it is worrying about animals when you are new to raising some. It's our first year with rabbits, and I was worried when we wound up with a couple of litters of newborn bunnies last month during a cold snap with near zero temps. We were a little too late getting our males separated from the females and didn't intend to have bunnies then. They were fine though! I just stuffed extra straw around them, and the moms pull fur to surround them with. I did lots of online reading and found people raising bunnies all winter in areas much colder than ours. You learn a lot through experience.

As far as chickens go, only chicks need to be kept warm, and if hatched out by a hen, she'll keep them warm. I'm sure you'll do great with chickens! They're a lot of fun to have around and easy to care for.

 

[centrarchid]

The emphasis of the thread appears to be on the cold although I have never lost a bird to cold. Heat is a very different matter. Therefore the open air coop should also take into consideration how excessive heat is moderated. This heat issue can be of concern especially between the hours of 1200 to 1600 and in some locations as late as 1700. Locations with maritime climates or very low humidity will not be as problematic.

 

[duluthralphie]

The emphasis of the thread appears to be on the cold although I have never lost a bird to cold. Heat is a very different matter. Therefore the open air coop should also take into consideration how excessive heat is moderated. This heat issue can be of concern especially between the hours of 1200 to 1600 and in some locations as late as 1700. Locations with maritime climates or very low humidity will not be as problematic.

Aye X2,, Heat is way worse than cold for me, making my coop not able to dissipate heat fast enough forces me to run a fan in summer,

 

[Bushmansbliss]

X2 too, heat concerns are the reason I did open coop designs for my mature birds. My brooder box for chicks I hatch is a closed design to take advantage of traped heat.

 

[WVduckchick]

Also from WV here. Didn't get to read the entire thread and can't right now, but am very interested, so just skip this post of me bookmarking

 

[Kutschka]

We are super close! We used to live in Dunbar, but now live in Culloden. I know how it is worrying about animals when you are new to raising some. It's our first year with rabbits, and I was worried when we wound up with a couple of litters of newborn bunnies last month during a cold snap with near zero temps. We were a little too late getting our males separated from the females and didn't intend to have bunnies then. They were fine though! I just stuffed extra straw around them, and the moms pull fur to surround them with. I did lots of online reading and found people raising bunnies all winter in areas much colder than ours. You learn a lot through experience.

As far as chickens go, only chicks need to be kept warm, and if hatched out by a hen, she'll keep them warm. I'm sure you'll do great with chickens! They're a lot of fun to have around and easy to care for.

Also from WV here. Didn't get to read the entire thread and can't right now, but am very interested, so just skip this post of me bookmarking

Hey, you two. I've been hungering for a localish chicken community, for mutual learning and other stuff. Depending on where WVduckchick lives, maybe we could try to start something, getting together a few times a year to ogle each other's setups and trade knowledge of local resources. I loathe the practice of shipping chicks through the mail -- my major motivation for raising chickens is reducing cruelty and suffering, and buying shipped chicks would feel like a rotten start -- and I wish there were a local network of people to sell fertilized eggs and chicks. My ideal would be to get started by buying a broody hen sitting on a dozen fertilized eggs. I doubt that's going to happen, but I'd like to be part of making local birds available, especially to people just getting started. I'd also like a community with whom to trade birds, and/or arrange "play dates" between boys and girls, to help keep the gene pool fresh.

Any other Charleston-area folks out there?

I appreciate the input from others about heat management. My coop will be in the shade in the summer, so that's not something I think I'll have to worry about much, but I might be surprised, especially since I'll be using deep litter. Anyway, it's a good thing to keep in mind, starting out.

 

[WVduckchick]

Hey, you two.  I've been hungering for a localish chicken community, for mutual learning and other stuff.  Depending on where WVduckchick lives, maybe we could try to start something, getting together a few times a year to ogle each other's setups and trade knowledge of local resources.  I loathe the practice of shipping chicks through the mail -- my major motivation for raising chickens is reducing cruelty and suffering, and buying shipped chicks would feel like a rotten start -- and I wish there were a local network of people to sell fertilized eggs and chicks.  My ideal would be to get started by buying a broody hen sitting on a dozen fertilized eggs.  I doubt that's going to happen, but I'd like to be part of making local birds available, especially to people just getting started.  I'd also like a community with whom to trade birds, and/or arrange "play dates" between boys and girls, to help keep the gene pool fresh.

Any other Charleston-area folks out there?

I appreciate the input from others about heat management.  My coop will be in the shade in the summer, so that's not something I think I'll have to worry about much, but I might be surprised, especially since I'll be using deep litter.  Anyway, it's a good thing to keep in mind, starting out.

Hi! I moved from the Charleston area (So. Chas and St. Albans) a couple of years ago. Currently in Parkersburg. My chicks/ducks are at my camp in Mason Co. We go there most weekends and many times throughout the week. I have a sister-in-law in Lincoln Co that I would suspect would be happy to trade some with you. I'm just starting a flock so I don't have much to offer yet...but would be interested in trading ideas and sharing experiences, for sure. My SIL has chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys (well, no turkeys right now, I don't think), goats, horses,... I believe that covers it lol. She got me started, and I am currently awaiting hatch of 5 chicks in my incubator (on day 22 now) with 14 ducks and 4 turkey eggs ready to go in asap.
I bet we can work something out to help each other out!

 

[christy777]

A great way to get local birds is to check the Ad Bulletin, which comes out every Tuesday and is for sale in most gas stations. They have a livestock section and there are people who sell chickens and other birds of all ages, including chicks. You can also find already laying hens there. I always love meeting more homestead minded folks, too!

I've never had any issues with heat, either since we have so much ventilation.

 

[iski123]

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I'm working on some open coop designs and what I have come up with so far is pretty much exactly what you describe here. I like the idea of a shed roof as it is far easier (and cheaper) to build than the woods or tolman designs with multi pitch roofs and more complex framing.

Originally I was thinking the south/open side would be the high side but with that configuration any warm air trapped inside would rise up to the front where the birds would not be able to take advantage of it. I am now leaning towards the roost/north side being the high point so the warm air gets trapped back where the chickens will be actually spending time. I think with an orientation facing SE and a large window on the SW wall as well as on the SE above the open screens there should be lots of light and solar heating available inside the coop.

The other thing I'm considering is building a separate summer shelter on the other side of the garden, for one thing it will make it easier to rotate the chickens between different pastures throughout the year and It should be fairly simple and inexpensive to build just being four posts and a roof to keep them dry, all covered in hardware cloth to keep them safe from predators of course.

The other advantage of two coups would be when building the winter coop I can have larger fixed windows to maximize solar gain in the winter yet not have to worry about overheating in the summer.

 

[JackE]

I'm working on some open coop designs and what I have come up with so far is pretty much exactly what you describe here. I like the idea of a shed roof as it is far easier (and cheaper) to build than the woods or tolman designs with multi pitch roofs and more complex framing.

Originally I was thinking the south/open side would be the high side but with that configuration any warm air trapped inside would rise up to the front where the birds would not be able to take advantage of it. I am now leaning towards the roost/north side being the high point so the warm air gets trapped back where the chickens will be actually spending time. I think with an orientation facing SE and a large window on the SW wall as well as on the SE above the open screens there should be lots of light and solar heating available inside the coop.

The other thing I'm considering is building a separate summer shelter on the other side of the garden, for one thing it will make it easier to rotate the chickens between different pastures throughout the year and It should be fairly simple and inexpensive to build just being four posts and a roof to keep them dry, all covered in hardware cloth to keep them safe from predators of course.

The other advantage of two coups would be when building the winter coop I can have larger fixed windows to maximize solar gain in the winter yet not have to worry about overheating in the summer.

There is nothing complex about framing up a Wood's coop. It's basically just two sheds, of different heights hooked together, easy. Your winter coop design, with the idea of trapping warmth over the roosting area. Would instead, trap a bunch of humidity, and probably lead to frostbitten birds. And you can probably add respiratory problems to the list too. There is a reason the roof is slanted the way it is, in a Wood's coop. What you are talking about, is not a good idea. You would HAVE to add some vents to the high part over the roosts. And if you do that, with your design, you would subject your birds to a nice windtunnel in the winter. Read up more on open-air coops, and the hows and whys of the design.

As far as building your chickens two different coops, for different seasons. If the chickens can see the first coop they have lived in, they are going to go back to it. They are not just going to be moved into something other than that coop, and just accept it. If you put up fences, they are either going to go over, or wander back and forth along them, trying to get back to THEIR coop.

I don't see any advantage with two coops, at all. Just more expense. I have one coop (A proven 100yr old design), with plenty of window/ventilation openings, that can be open and shut with the different seasons. So I don't worry at all about how cold, or hot it gets. If I gave any thought to rotating pastures, I could throw a couple of skids under my coop, and drag it to where ever I wanted it.