On being high and dry.......

[Howard E]

Was mowing the yard the other day and found an excellent way to explain where to put your coop and why. Consider this photo........


Shaded area on the left is on the north side of this row of pine trees. On a day when it was about 70 degrees out, it may have been at least 10 degrees cooler in the shade than it was on the right side of the trees in the full sun. Ground in the shade is moist, damp or wet most of the year, and especially so in winter. That is the last place snow and ice will melt and it is exposed to the cold north winds of winter.
By comparison, right side is exposed full on to the winter sun and is high and dry most of the time, far and away warmer all year and protected from the cold north wind by the row of trees.
Two locations, no more than 20 feet apart. One on the right an excellent place to park the chicken house. One on the left a miserable place. If all you had to work with was the shaded one on the left, my recommendation would be "don't bother".

 

[cavemanrich]

You can fine tune this location strategy if your coop is built on runners. (movable). Looks like you have a good stretch of land so you could do it.
Summer, move into shade. Winter and move into sun. Missouri does get toasty in the summer I know. Other option would be to incorporate the shade tree inside your large run. Chickens then could choose where they want to hang out at whatever the temps are.
WISHING YOU BEST......

 

[Howard E]

New photos during winter.........



Snowed about 2 inches +/- on Christmas eve. Has been below freezing since. Elevated location south of the tree line is high, dry and snow was gone within a few days of falling. Location north of tree line remains a frozen tundra. And again, locations are only 20 feet apart. South side would make a decent place to place a coop. North side......cold, wet and eventually, when it does thaw, will become a muddy mess. In short, a cold, wet, nasty death trap.

Again, south side location like this is ideal. North side location? As per the old school books, if this is all you have to work with, don't bother. They will never do well there.

BTW, to clarify, this applies to USDA Zone 6 and colder. If you are farther south, where a really cold day might be 30 degrees, this is not a concern. Summer heat and access to shade will be a far greater concern for you, although high and dry remains a critical component. Never, ever place the chickens in a low, wet location where it gets and stays wet and muddy. Ducks might do OK there, but chickens won't.

 

[PouleChick]

Thank you that is actually really helpful and clear (I love pictures to learn!). I was starting to get panicy about my north side of trees chicken area (it is all set up by previous owners with a fabulous gate, posts and a concrete base for the coop) when reading until I read your comment about zones. My area is under deciduous trees and to the north of hazelnuts so get filtered sun in the winter on the coop and run (and areas of full sun in the day open run) and shade in summer when all the trees have leaves. We have pretty mild winters compared to you guys in north America. It was a very cold winter here last year with a week or 2 down to -12c overnight (which I just converted to 10f) and that is as cold as it ever gets (I think they had -30c about 30 years ago once!). We then have long pleasant springs and autumns with 3 months in the middle that can be stinking hot (over 30c / 100f every day) so as you said in your post I think for us our main concern is the heat really and having a bit of both sun / shade wise. I can't remember when this was taken, maybe spring? What do you think even though it is in your 'don't bother' zone this should work shouldn't it? I can always lob off the hazel that is casting shade over the coop (lots of material for gardening and it grows back like a weed!).

 

[PouleChick]

@Howard E do you think my area is OK before I start major coop building works?

 

[Howard E]

Looks like it should be OK. Shaded areas in the photo would be north, so natural slope looks to be to the south........which is ideal. As long as open front or windows of your coop also face south into the winter sun, they should do well there. Your trees are deciduous, so will lose leaves in winter and not block the sun. Placing coop near summer shade may be a good idea too. Also looks like you have interesting cover plants to play under.

Watched a funny thing play out with my daughter's first flock of birds. They placed their little hoop coop tractor in full sun when the birds were young. They all stayed under the coop in the shade......none of them would go out in the full sun where it was hot. So they moved it to the shade and I began to notice the birds coming out and each of them sought little splotches of sun to bathe in. And so it goes. Good idea to give them access to both and let them decide where to go.

 

[PouleChick]

Thanks for your feedback, hadn't thought about the window on the south side - will make sure I do that!

 

[Howard E]

In temperate climates where it gets cold, having windows facing towards the winter sun is important. Not only does it let light stream in, but sunlight is also a form of radiant heat, warming up and drying out the interior.