Question about open-air coops

[Straw Hat]

Those of you with open-air coops, how much plywood do you use? Where do you place it? If you don't use any, how do you protect from inclement weather (besides the roof)?

We are building an open air coop in Arizona. It will be 12 x12 without an attached run. We plan to free-range during the day in electrified fencing/netting, but have the coop large enough that we can leave everyone in when we're away for a couple days. In our original plans, we were thinking hardware cloth on all sides, but are now wondering if we should incorporate any ply-wood. Temps are still well-above 100.

 

[BleuSaphir]

For my former coop, plywood was done just for external frames for the walls with chicken wire. The roof was lined entirely with clear PVC roofing panels. The back wall and right side walls are actually wooden fence post dividing my property line.

 

[Ann With A Plan]

Mine has a metal roof (as seen in my avatar). And the sides have plastic/vinyl pieces that come down to open. Just yesterday I put some insulation in between the hardware cloth and the siding that I pulled up to keep closed from now until spring. I still have to do the other side, but I didn't have enough insulation (stuff I saved from food boxes I got in the mail). So I'm going to use a warm packing blanket for the other side.

Then I'm going to use that reflective insulation stuff for the ceiling and about the nesting boxes that protrudes out the backside. Hopefully that will be enough. We don't have severe winters here, but it does snow once in awhile for about a week.

 

[Percheron chick]

Put wood on one side to the prevailing wind.

 

[NatJ]

A solid roof is usually a good thing, to keep off both rain and sun.

For the sides: You want plenty of air movement in hot weather, but in cold weather you want to block some of the wind.

If you have trees near the coop, that might be enough.

You can put plywood on the side that gets the most wind.

You can make plywood removable, and put it up only in the winter.

You can use no plywood at all, but put up a tarp on one or more sides during the worst of the winter.

I've used pens that were just hardware cloth and tarp over a frame, in northern Virginia. The hardware cloth kept out predators, while the tarp kept out sun, rain, snow, and wind. I put on new tarps twice a year: one for the roof in spring/ summer, then a larger one for the winter to cover the roof plus 2 or 3 sides (how many sides depended on the wind patterns--these were movable coops, so they were not always in the same place.)

 

[aart]

More answers here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/planning-my-coop-questions.1413211/

 

[addctd2plnts]

You know, there's a modification to the Wood's Open Air Poultry House that is for Southern locations. It's called the Stoddard House for Southern locations. It's on page 110 of "Fresh-Air Poultry Houses" by Prince T Wood's, M.D. I'm actually thinking of building it for our farm in Missouri, and making panels to put over a few of the extra hardware mesh places. It gets so hot here that heat may be the killing factor here with ducks.

The book is a MUST READ for everyone taking the time to build their own coop. I honestly believe if more people made this style poultry house, there would be less people who leave the hobby. I worked for a practice of small animal vets in High school and college, and can spot a winning idea when I see one.