open air coops

[bigjohn71]

wwhat climate does a chicken consider okay for open air coops. i live in south georgia but some winter nights still get below freezing ?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I have an relatively open coop in Southern AZ. We get to freezing a few nights a year. I don't think I'll need to, but I could put a heat lamp in it if my birds seem too cold.

 

[arcatamarcia]

I live on the coast in the PNW. We also get to freezing a handful of nights a year, maybe three nights in a row. My neighbors keep chickens in a coop with four wire mesh walls. My understanding is chickens can handle a lot colder than we ever get for a lot longer than we get it. What they don't like, however, is a draft or being wet. So a windbreak and a good roof are musts. Four solid walls, not so much.

 

[Mahonri]

I have a traditional coop and two open air pens. I had to put an AC unit in the regular coop in the summer. They never get cold in the winter here.

If I had it to do over again, I would have gone cheap and built an open air coop.

 

[ducks4you]

All your birds need is protection in the winter from any winds that constantly blow. You should have open-air coops, but put up winter modifications as walls for shelter, because I know that you still get rain and occasionally snow. It is amazing to me how a wind break changes the temperature in my non-heated buildings, EVEN when our temperatures dip well below zero F. You just gotta keep your birds and their food dry.

BTW, it's pretty funny when I see winter pictures of Southerners putting out their coats because it's like, 40 degrees outside.

By the time it's February, we in the North are going out in our long sleeved shirts when it's 40 and sunny.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
We put our coats on at 60 F.

 

[Judy]

I'm in south Georgia, too. Large portions of my coop walls are wire mesh. The roosts are in a corner with solid walls so they can get away from drafts and wind and rain if they want to. The only heat I need is to keep the water liquid, but on really bad nights I turn on a heat lamp over the roosts just to be nice to them. They do NOT crowd together under it.