Open Air Coop - Hot Dry Summers, Cool Wet Winters

[impr3]

We're currently in the planning phase for an open air coop/run combo on our rural Northern California homestead. I've spent the last week reading through every open air coop and Woods coop thread I can find on BYC and am so grateful for the amazing examples and tips everyone has shared! That said, customizing our coop design to our specific climate has brought up a few unanswered questions and I'm hoping some folks here will be able to share your experiences with the following:

~ How open is best in a setting with very hot dry summers and cool (but rarely freezing ) wet winters? Seems like a more enclosed coop like the Woods (https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/woods-style-10-x-16-coop-build.1551532/) would be overkill in Northern California, but a super open option like Jen's Hens (https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/jens-hens-a-southern-texas-coop.75707/) might be too drafty/wet. For reference, summers run 60-110F (16-43C) including night time lows and daytime highs, humidity is 10-50% and there's no rain at all from at least May-September. Winters run 20-70F (-7-21C), humidity 60-100%, and 60-120" of rainfall all crammed into 6-7 months (1.5-3 times the national average annual rainfall for the US). We occasionally get snow but it's rare that it sticks and I've never seen it stay below freezing for a whole day. Winter winds can be viscous and get into the 30-40s mph routinely and 50s mph occasionally.

Our current plan is an 8'x12' stick frame box fully wrapped in hardware cloth with semi-removable wall coverings (rusty old roofing material that we already have) over the hardware cloth. The west end will be fully enclosed on three sides (+/- a few inches of vent at the top), then progressively shorter wall coverings will be attached along the north and east walls until there is little to no covering on the remainder of the south wall (except for the 4' section at the west end that forms part of the three sided western enclosure). I'd rather not have to remove, cut down, and replace the panels at a later time, but it should be possible (hence "semi" removable). Worst comes to worst we could even take some off every summer and add them back in the winter...

~ Do visible predators distress birds in open air coops? We have a coyote pack who like to come close at night and tease our dogs. I'm pretty sure our plan is coyote proof, but I am concerned that having the coyotes staring at them through the wire at night might distress the birds... I'm particularly concerned about the ducks who will likely be sleeping at ground level. I've considered having at least 2' of wall coverings all the way around the coop/run. However, I've also heard that chickens like to be able to see out easily which this would limit. They will be able to get outside to free range during the day though so maybe that is less important.

~ How much roof overhang do folks use on your open air coops in windy places? While several threads mention recommending big overhangs, the only specific measurement I found was to have them be at least 1'. Given the high winds we get in the winter, I am currently thinking 2' overhangs for our coop/run (the whole thing will be covered) with recognition that it's likely some rain will still get in through the sections with shorter or no wall coverings. Last night rain made it 5' back under the 10' overhangs around our barn (admittedly the barn roof is about 14' off the ground instead of the 8' the highest side of the chicken coop will reach, so it's unlikely rain will blow quite so far into the coop). I'm thinking that the birds will be ok so long as the majority of the area is staying dry. What have y'all found?

Thanks everyone for your input! For those who are reading this thread to get ideas for your own open air coop, below are some links to other threads that have been super useful in planning this coop:

Open air coops:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/woods-style-10-x-16-coop-build.1551532/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/8-x-12-woods-coop-design-plan.1221551/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/jens-hens-a-southern-texas-coop.75707/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hot-climate-chicken-housing-and-care.77263/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/large-open-air-coop-in-central-nc.1443812/

Since this will be for both chickens and ducks (and I've never kept ducks before), I also found the following duck coop article particularly helpful:
https://insteading.com/blog/duck-coop/

 

[TXchickmum]

We have an open air coop/run combo. The hubby built it after looking at several different coops and sort of doing a custom variety. It’s perfect for our extremely hot summers and fall. I have bamboo shades that i roll down for wind/rain breaks. I also hang clear shower curtain liner (that is removable) to block the cold wind. Cold is relative here. Mid 20s to 30s.
As far as coyotes go, we have them but they don’t get into the yard (8 ft spiked fence). If they can get to the coop, it might startle the birds if it is mostly open air. -sounds like yours will be sturdy and predator proof. -not sure about how the presence would impact your flock, though.

 

[impr3]

We have an open air coop/run combo. The hubby built it after looking at several different coops and sort of doing a custom variety. It’s perfect for our extremely hot summers and fall. I have bamboo shades that i roll down for wind/rain breaks. I also hang clear shower curtain liner (that is removable) to block the cold wind. Cold is relative here. Mid 20s to 30s.
As far as coyotes go, we have them but they don’t get into the yard (8 ft spiked fence). If they can get to the coop, it might startle the birds if it is mostly open air. -sounds like yours will be sturdy and predator proof. -not sure about how the presence would impact your flock, though.

What a beautiful coop! I particularly love the idea of roll down bamboo shades. So much easier to adjust than my removable metal panel idea!

 

[impr3]

Selections from Prince T Woods' book "Open Air Poultry Houses", pages 73-79.
https://archive.org/details/openairpoultryho00wood_0/page/78/mode/2up?view=theater

"WHEN KEEPING POULTRY in a warm climate it is only a short step from open-front housing to no house at all or to simply a roofed shelter. The open-front house will give excellent service where the summers are hot and the winters are cold or wherever the climatic conditions and variations are such that a house is needed. It has been successfully used in the far north and the far south, but for the south and for tropical or semi-tropical climates a simple roofed shelter or an entirely open cage roost, depending on the frequency of heavy rains, is the most satisfactory method of protecting roosting fowls.
...
Where rain storms are common and the rainfall heavy, some sort of roofed shelter should be provided. All that is necessary are roosts about 18 inches above the ground, enclosed in wire netting and a not too high roof to keep off the rain. See "Stoddard's Bower," Fig. 23.
H. H. Stoddard, of Riviera, Texas, has devised a cage roost that has proved most satisfactory poultry quarters in the warm dry Gulf coast section of Texas. These consist of cages, of one inch mesh poultry netting, containing roosts. These cages may be built any shape or dimensions desired or found most convenient. They should be made easily movable and with as little woodwork as possible.

The cage roost is designed to provide entirely open-air sleeping quarters, there is no roof, and at the same time to protect the fowls from coyotes, owls, and other night marauders.
Mr. Stoddard says that the heat of southwest Texas is steady and prolonged rather than excessively severe. He finds that cage roosts are particularly well suited to the climatic conditions. Long heavy rains are not common.
...
Where heavy rains occur frequently during the "wet season" I should prefer a roost that has a roof to afford some protection from the rain. It may not be absolutely necessary, but it is not contrary to nature. The fowls are confined in the cage roost and they cannot get out to seek shelter when heavy rains come. If they were free to do as they chose, they would in all probability seek a sheltered roost in a thick foliaged tree on the opproach of a heavy rain storm. Occasional heavy rains would do no harm but I should not want to expose my flocks to frequent successive heavy rain storms. It is possible to have too much of a good thing...."

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Thank you so much for these excerpts! I'd been thinking I need to get a copy of his book and you've got me further convinced .

It seems like anything from a Woods Coop to a roofed cage could conceivably work here so I'm thinking I'll do a trial and error method aimed at landing on the least enclosed space that is sufficiently protected for happy chickens. I can start with the roofed hardware cloth cage as originally planned but only cover the walls on the brooder end creating a three sided 8'x4' enclosure. Then wait to add any other wall sections until we see how the chickens do in different weather.

I'll try to remember to post here how it goes!

 

[3KillerBs]

Where heavy rains occur frequently during the "wet season" I should prefer a roost that has a roof to afford some protection from the rain.

I have seen photos of a "coop" in, I think, Louisiana which consisted of a pasture protected by electric netting and livestock guardian dogs, a set of nestboxes conveniently near the gate, and a roost covered by a slanted roost -- like a small picnic pavillion. -- with only one wall towards the winter winds.

This echoes my thoughts exactly. I'm happy to put a thermometer in the roost area of my coop this summer to track temperatures, but your "chimney effect" is exactly correct. The roof above the roosting area is much steeper than the front area and the warm air can exit the monitor windows easily, bringing cooler air in thru the front and side windows.

My coop works that way, though unlike a Woods Coop I have venting at the top of the roost area walls so that air can freely flow under roof at all times.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The Woods coop is specifically designed for cold environments - it looks open but doesn't function like a hot climate open air coop. There is a hotter climate equivalent but I don't know what it looks like. My guess is a 3 sided open air coop would be more suitable in your environment but I don't have one in order to give specific feedback.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm delighted to see that you've looked at my coop thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/large-open-air-coop-in-central-nc.1443812/

Have you seen my Hot Climate article? And my ventilation article?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hot-climate-chicken-housing-and-care.77263/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/repecka-illustrates-coop-ventilation.77659/

Your climate sounds very similar to mine, perhaps drier in the summers. This thread might reassure you about winters with occasional rare snow. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/open-air-coop-in-the-snow.1508695/

My giant roof overhangs were partially due to design and partially due to the size the roofing came in and our desire to not cut metal more than necessary.

I don't know if the coyotes would upset the chickens at night, but if you added electric wires to your coop you could be certain that they'd stay away once they learned their lesson.

 

[saysfaa]

Selections from Prince T Woods' book "Open Air Poultry Houses", pages 73-79.
https://archive.org/details/openairpoultryho00wood_0/page/78/mode/2up?view=theater

"WHEN KEEPING POULTRY in a warm climate it is only a short step from open-front housing to no house at all or to simply a roofed shelter. The open-front house will give excellent service where the summers are hot and the winters are cold or wherever the climatic conditions and variations are such that a house is needed. It has been successfully used in the far north and the far south, but for the south and for tropical or semi-tropical climates a simple roofed shelter or an entirely open cage roost, depending on the frequency of heavy rains, is the most satisfactory method of protecting roosting fowls.
...
Where rain storms are common and the rainfall heavy, some sort of roofed shelter should be provided. All that is necessary are roosts about 18 inches above the ground, enclosed in wire netting and a not too high roof to keep off the rain. See "Stoddard's Bower," Fig. 23.
H. H. Stoddard, of Riviera, Texas, has devised a cage roost that has proved most satisfactory poultry quarters in the warm dry Gulf coast section of Texas. These consist of cages, of one inch mesh poultry netting, containing roosts. These cages may be built any shape or dimensions desired or found most convenient. They should be made easily movable and with as little woodwork as possible.

The cage roost is designed to provide entirely open-air sleeping quarters, there is no roof, and at the same time to protect the fowls from coyotes, owls, and other night marauders.
Mr. Stoddard says that the heat of southwest Texas is steady and prolonged rather than excessively severe. He finds that cage roosts are particularly well suited to the climatic conditions. Long heavy rains are not common.
...
Where heavy rains occur frequently during the "wet season" I should prefer a roost that has a roof to afford some protection from the rain. It may not be absolutely necessary, but it is not contrary to nature. The fowls are confined in the cage roost and they cannot get out to seek shelter when heavy rains come. If they were free to do as they chose, they would in all probability seek a sheltered roost in a thick foliaged tree on the opproach of a heavy rain storm. Occasional heavy rains would do no harm but I should not want to expose my flocks to frequent successive heavy rain storms. It is possible to have too much of a good thing...."

 

[WI chickens]

For northern California, I'd build a standard Woods' Coop or my Woods' inspired coop.

"...The open-front house will give excellent service where the summers are hot and the winters are cold or wherever the climatic conditions and variations are such that a house is needed. It has been successfully used in the far north and the far south,..."

With the monitor open and the side windows open, there is enough ventilation for quite far south. It isn't far from a three-sided box over the just the roosts. If you are still worried about enough air flow in the summer, you can put windows in the back section too.

The book doesn't say but I think the monitor makes a chimney effect that pulls more air through than a typical three sided box would. Ridge vents do that too; I don't think they had ridge vents back in the 1920s; at least not the easy-to-use kind we have available.

Edit to add: I know the monitor or half monitor works very well. It isn't the only thing that works with the concept.

This echoes my thoughts exactly. I'm happy to put a thermometer in the roost area of my coop this summer to track temperatures, but your "chimney effect" is exactly correct. The roof above the roosting area is much steeper than the front area and the warm air can exit the monitor windows easily, bringing cooler air in thru the front and side windows.

 

[CrystalAnon]

We have an open air coop/run combo. The hubby built it after looking at several different coops and sort of doing a custom variety. It’s perfect for our extremely hot summers and fall. I have bamboo shades that i roll down for wind/rain breaks. I also hang clear shower curtain liner (that is removable) to block the cold wind. Cold is relative here. Mid 20s to 30s.
As far as coyotes go, we have them but they don’t get into the yard (8 ft spiked fence). If they can get to the coop, it might startle the birds if it is mostly open air. -sounds like yours will be sturdy and predator proof. -not sure about how the presence would impact your flock, though.

I’m loving the bamboo shades idea too! We’re in Central Florida, so it’s nice to have a very open design for the hot & humid summers, so they can get as much airflow as possible, but to be able to roll those down for wind when it gets nippy in the winter (especially this winter) is really a neat idea!
Absolutely love your coop. Your husband did a fabulous job!