Texas

[jab2you]

Wooden, open air a-frames.  Ours have to be moved with a vehicle (tractor, riding mower, truck).  Our large ones run 8x10 ft with a peak over 6 feet tall so we can stand up inside them.  Even our small 3 foot tall a-frames for single male housing does well.  The wide base gives it a lot more wind resistance.

Do you have a pic? Trying to picture it. Wait is it like a chicken tractor just larger?

 

[bnjrob]

Quote:
All of our pens are mobile but you don't have to make them mobile if it doesn't suit your use. An a-frame will always be better at wind resistance than a square built coop. We have a number of square built coops. They have never blown over because they are very heavy. But we found that the open air a-frames were not only cheaper to build, but also faster, and easier to work in and the chickens do well in them during all seasons.

The top photos are the large a-frames we started building a couple of years ago. They are situated so that the 3 solid plywood walls are toward the north and west to help break winter wind and summer sun.

Back of a-frame showing the storm flap down for the winter. The flap is raised up with chains when it is warm and provides late afternoon/evening shade from the western sun while allowing air movement through the pen. This is a grow-out/cockerel pen without a nest box. A-frames that hold females have a nest box that hangs off the back, above the hinged storm flap, with the inside of the nest box insulated with foam insulation for heat resistance and also have ventilation holes.
Inside of an a-frame showing the loft apartment and roost area. Feeders and nipple water buckets are hung from eye-screws in the ridge beam, you can see the rope for the feeder.

Front of the a-frame. Back and side walls are treated plywood. Run portion with welded wire and chicken wire or hardware cloth layered on top of each other. Have had dog attacks that bent wire and left teeth marks in the wood but did not get in to the chickens with the double wire setup. There is a double layer of shade cloth for shade, raised up 2 feet from the ground to allow air flow, otherwise it gets too hot. You can see the tarp over the top for winter rain protection. Size on this runs 8x10 ft and roughly 7 ft tall at the top of the peak. Door is 3 ft wide.



This is the small a-frames we use to house single roosters and the occasional double rooster if they get along. Can also work for a few females if you add a nest box. Size is either 4x8 or 4x10 ft and are approx. 3 feet tall. Back wall is plywood. Solid side is made of rafters with cross pieces with 1 inch thick foam on them to make the wall, covered in hardware cloth. Then the plastic roofing panels are applied on top of that.

 

[RoosterCogburn7]

If the same birds are Easter Eggers, it is definitely possible for them to all lay different color eggs.

 

[JustSomeGuy83]

Coolioolio. I'm pretty sure just one of them is laying then. Thanks for confirming my thoughts!

 

[hippiestink]

All of our pens are mobile but you don't have to make them mobile if it doesn't suit your use. An a-frame will always be better at wind resistance than a square built coop. We have a number of square built coops. They have never blown over because they are very heavy. But we found that the open air a-frames were not only cheaper to build, but also faster, and easier to work in and the chickens do well in them during all seasons.

The top photos are the large a-frames we started building a couple of years ago. They are situated so that the 3 solid plywood walls are toward the north and west to help break winter wind and summer sun.

Back of a-frame showing the storm flap down for the winter. The flap is raised up with chains when it is warm and provides late afternoon/evening shade from the western sun while allowing air movement through the pen. This is a grow-out/cockerel pen without a nest box. A-frames that hold females have a nest box that hangs off the back, above the hinged storm flap, with the inside of the nest box insulated with foam insulation for heat resistance and also have ventilation holes.
Inside of an a-frame showing the loft apartment and roost area. Feeders and nipple water buckets are hung from eye-screws in the ridge beam, you can see the rope for the feeder.

Front of the a-frame. Back and side walls are treated plywood. Run portion with welded wire and chicken wire or hardware cloth layered on top of each other. Have had dog attacks that bent wire and left teeth marks in the wood but did not get in to the chickens with the double wire setup. There is a double layer of shade cloth for shade, raised up 2 feet from the ground to allow air flow, otherwise it gets too hot. You can see the tarp over the top for winter rain protection. Size on this runs 8x10 ft and roughly 7 ft tall at the top of the peak. Door is 3 ft wide.



This is the small a-frames we use to house single roosters and the occasional double rooster if they get along. Can also work for a few females if you add a nest box. Size is either 4x8 or 4x10 ft and are approx. 3 feet tall. Back wall is plywood. Solid side is made of rafters with cross pieces with 1 inch thick foam on them to make the wall, covered in hardware cloth. Then the plastic roofing panels are applied on top of that.

Nice coops! Been thinking about an A-frame coop for our run, since it's in a windy sideyard. I have some pallets that would work really well for the purpose, just haven't built the dang thing yet. How many hens do you have in one six-foot?

 

[bnjrob]

Nice coops! Been thinking about an A-frame coop for our run, since it's in a windy sideyard. I have some pallets that would work really well for the purpose, just haven't built the dang thing yet. How many hens do you have in one six-foot?

I try to keep a minimum of 10 square feet per bird in each pen, more if possible. If they are able to free range every day, then more birds per coop do fine but if they are penned and only allowed out when I can watch them, then I keep lower numbers in those pens. With our large 8x10 ft a-frames that have an upstairs apartment too, 8-9 full size large fowl hens do fine and if they are still young birds and smaller, then I can double that number of birds in the pen until they are adult sized.

 

[hippiestink]

I try to keep a minimum of 10 square feet per bird in each pen, more if possible. If they are able to free range every day, then more birds per coop do fine but if they are penned and only allowed out when I can watch them, then I keep lower numbers in those pens. With our large 8x10 ft a-frames that have an upstairs apartment too, 8-9 full size large fowl hens do fine and if they are still young birds and smaller, then I can double that number of birds in the pen until they are adult sized.

Those are some roomy pens! I have eight hens, I was thinking of making two smaller A-frames raised off the ground because we get a lot of rain and the run gets muddy pretty quick. Our girls have a massive run but even so our tiny prefab doesn't cut it. Especially since the red mites moved in and the whole thing began falling apart.

 

[bnjrob]

Those are some roomy pens! I have eight hens, I was thinking of making two smaller A-frames raised off the ground because we get a lot of rain and the run gets muddy pretty quick. Our girls have a massive run but even so our tiny prefab doesn't cut it. Especially since the red mites moved in and the whole thing began falling apart.

Sounds like some small houses set up in the big run would work just fine.

We've been dealing with way too much rain most of last year and still continuing now. It was miserably muddy for the birds this time last yearr but I finally got an idea to try hay. So when the mud got bad again in November, we started getting hay and pulled off flakes of hay to set into the pens like floor tile. It has been terrific to get the chickens out of the mud. If you have access to hay, that might be something for you to try in your location.

 

[hippiestink]

Sounds like some small houses set up in the big run would work just fine.

We've been dealing with way too much rain most of last year and still continuing now. It was miserably muddy for the birds this time last yearr but I finally got an idea to try hay. So when the mud got bad again in November, we started getting hay and pulled off flakes of hay to set into the pens like floor tile. It has been terrific to get the chickens out of the mud. If you have access to hay, that might be something for you to try in your location.

That's what I've been doing. I was gone for a while (visiting family back in Texas) and our chicken sitters only fed and watered. I just bought a big bale of alfalfa hay so once our rain lets up I'll break up the bale and let the girls spread it out.

 

[bnjrob]

That's what I've been doing. I was gone for a while (visiting family back in Texas) and our chicken sitters only fed and watered. I just bought a big bale of alfalfa hay so once our rain lets up I'll break up the bale and let the girls spread it out.

Funny how you don't pay so much attention to rain and mud until you have outdoor animals to take care of. I felt so bad for our chickens last year, they are much happier with their hay carpets.