open air coops

[CoyoteMagic]

Only time my birds haven't come out of the coop this winter was when we had a bit of snow on the ground. They have been out in the cold, wet, windy, on days when I didn't want to leave the house.

THere are a couple of tractor over at this thread that ya'll may be interested in as an open air coop.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=123536&p=1

 

[TXmom]

Quote:
Awwww...you're a good chicken mama! You just want to make sure your girls are warm and safe, and that's a good thing! They will really appreciate a dry place to go when it's raining.

We have the occasional hurricane here too, that's one reason we'll have a large "door" to cover the front opening when the winds get high. I will post new pics this afternoon.

 

[TXmom]

We didn't get as much done this weekend as I hoped, but here are some new pics. We still have to finish the roof with the corrugated metal stuff, with approx a foot of overhang on all sides....well maybe less on the back so I can still get into the egg doors easily. And we still have to put on the front door/flap thing (love my technical terms?). It'll be hinged at the top, so when it's propped up (90% of the time) there will be a covered entrance area to provide more shade in our hot summer months. We also need to finish painting the kids' mural with flowers and butterflies.

It'll be so purrrrrrrty!

 

[Henrik Petersson]

Thanks for clearing it out, Pat!

By the way, do you think it would be okay if I leave the chicken door open at night? It's about a foot by a foot in size, and is situated underneath the nestboxes, who in turn are situated underneath the roost, so no air will blow directly at the chickens.

The temperature will drop down into the teens tonight, but I think the extra ventilation might be worth the slight decrease in warmth. If i keep the chicken door closed, the coop smells like poo in the morning. There are two rather small (5 by 5 inches maybe) vents in the coop, one high up and one at floor level. The coop is almost completely insulated.

 

[patandchickens]

Sure, if you need the ventilation, leave the pophole door open. Would be a good idea to add more ventilation though as soon as you have a chance!

Have fun,

Pat

 

[J.R. Richards]

I will give my two cents here on open air houses. After my youngest Daughter and I decided to raise chickens for egg's and meat, we had to decide on what type of coop we would house them in. We looked at the coop's that were posted on this forum and gained some really good insight on the subject. We did more research and found a plan out of a 1940 advertisement of Woods open air coop's. It was of the same type in the link that tdgill posted. Our coop is 24' by 22' and we have had 72 hens in this for three years now, with the weather going down as low as 17 below zero. For the winter season, you can put old bath towels up to hang over the window opening as we do, or use other methods just as long as it breaths through. never had a problem with combs or any other parts of the chickens getting frost bite. I use about a foot of wood shavings that I buy at Tractor Supply for around $5.00 a bag. Each spring I change this out with new and the old goes to my mulch pile to sit for a year, it is used in my garden after that. My coop is clean and the wood shavings in the coop give off some heat as it starts to compost down over winter. I use a spray product to keep oder down and the microbes in this nuetralize any amonia. I spray the coup about every other month withy this product, not sure what it is called off the top of my head, but it cost about $42.00 in concentrated bottle that will last for years. If you decide that an open air house is for you, remember to place the open side oposite from the prevailing winds. We also started out with 125 Roosters for our meat and found the plans here for our tractor coop's.

 

[tdgill]

wow thanks for the info...

I use a mix of vinegar and water whenever one of the cats has a spot on the carpet. works good for amonia. wonder if the product you use has vinegar in it?

also some kinda pet spray that i believe has like yeast or something in it. supposed to eat the odor causing bacteria.

i guess that DE is supposed to cut down on odor as well? is it just by keeping it dryer

i have no experience whatsoever with any of this so this is just pondering.

but does sound like the number one way to deal with odor etc. is plenty of ventilation

makes sense about prevailing winds - but at the moment my shed opens to the south and i like that idea because i get the most sun during the winter and winds are from the west usually...i will have to monitor inside the shed and see how much is blowing from where. maybe i will construct a 3 sided box inside my coop pen to ensure that they are blocked from any real drafts or wind.

i have read that deep litter aids in keeping birds warm, but wasn't really considering the chemical breakdown and release of heat. neato!

 

[terri1nd]

I live in central North Dakota (rural area). We have already seen -20*F this winter, and North Dakota can get to 35*F. I really thought we had everything squared away for the chickens to be warm & safe through the winter, but now I'm not so sure. I found out about the ventilation issues while searching for solutions because the walls starting to get frost on the inside of the building I have the coop in. So, as I've learned, that means there is too much moisture in the coop area, now I'm worried about my chickens. I have since opened a window about 3 inches (at least for one night) after coming upon the information here about the ventilation.

The snow is now deep & we do have predators nearby, including fox, coyote, skunks, raccoons & minks & was told today a neighbor saw a weasel near our property.

Even though the big sliding doors are shut, snow still drifts in because the doors are not real snug.

I'm not sure at this point what I should do at this point short of making them all little jackets

.
DH does NOT want me cutting anymore holes in his garage. I did cut a small door for the chickens to go out, but that was where I am thinking of adding the permanent coop this spring & the door to the coop will be where the window & little chicken door now is.

I have some clear plastic sheeting separating the chicken area from the area we store tools & our wood supply, and then snow fencing over the plastic, maybe I should take down part of the clear plastic for more airflow?

I could really use some advice from those who live in areas that get into the serious MINUS temps in the winter. -35 is no fun
Here is a link to photos of my winter chicken coop, which is actually temporary.
http://windyacres98.webng.com/2010coop.html

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Not so fast! Nothing in this thread or anything I've ever read anywhere else dispels the idea that it is absolutely critical to provide shelter to your chickens from the rain, because a wet chicken loses the insulating properties of its feathers and can chill very quickly. In the winter, a wet chicken can very quickly become a dead chicken.

A closed coop will provide protection from wind and resulting wind chill, too. So your husband's work was not in vain after all.

 

[elmo]

I've seen a couple of posts in this thread to the effect that "I live in the city, we don't have many predators to worry about." I live within the city limits of Dallas in a quite urban environment, and we have plenty of predators including the dreaded raccoon. They're numerous enough so that I've seen the actual critters myself, as well as commiserated with local chicken keeping friends who've lost birds to raccoons. They, too, thought they didn't have to worry much about predators in the city, so they didn't take predator deterrence into account when building their chicken housing. Most of them used chicken wire....

Please be aware that raccoons are pretty much everywhere, even in cities. You may not realize it until they find your chickens.