Thinking About a Large Pole-Barn Coop in DFW — Need Opinions!

[jahidul]

Hi everyone,

I’m in the DFW / Northeast Texas area and thinking about building a large pole-barn style chicken coop. I saw this older article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-pole-barn-coop.75352/

Since it’s about 5 years old, I want to know if anyone has tried something similar recently and how it’s holding up — especially in Texas heat, winters, storms, and heavy rain.

What I’m looking for:​

• Is pole-barn construction still a good idea for a big coop in our climate?
• Does it stay cool enough in summer?
• Any issues with durability, predators, or drainage?
• Anything you would do differently?

Planning to house a large number of birds, so I want to make the right investment.


Would love to hear your opinions or see your setups. Thanks!

 

[cavemanrich]

Post some pictures of your pole barn, with dimensions. Also post your idea of the run area they may be using,,
And finally,, an IDEA on the number of chickens you are desiring to raise. Also type: layers, or broilers, or both.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[jahidul]

Post some pictures of your pole barn, with dimensions. Also post your idea of the run area they may be using,,
And finally,, an IDEA on the number of chickens you are desiring to raise. Also type: layers, or broilers, or both.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

Thank you for the reply @cavemanrich — here’s a bit more detail about my plan:


I don’t have a pole barn yet. I’m planning to build one soon.
My initial size idea is 24×24 ft, with the goal to expand to 24×40+ ft as the flock grows. I prefer building in phases so the structure can scale over time.


Right now I have 15–20 birds that free-range safely on my 1-acre yard. I also have a fenced run area of about 27 ft × 175 ft, which I’ll start using more as my flock grows so they don’t take over the entire yard. I plan to add duck space as well. For aerial predators, I’m thinking of using poultry netting or bird netting for the larger run. So far we haven’t seen any predator issues during free-range time.


As for how many birds I’m aiming for:
My long-term goal is to raise enough layers and ducks to meet our family’s egg and meat needs for the year, and eventually sell extra eggs and some meat birds to offset feed costs. I’m thinking roughly 80–100 layers plus another 80–100 meat birds, though not commercial broilers — more of the medium-hard meat breeds. I’m fairly new to this, so I’m planning the infrastructure now so it supports future scaling.


I’m also checking if I need a permit. I live in Collin County, outside city limits on unrestricted land, but I’ve seen notes saying anything over 200 sq ft may require a permit. Still trying to confirm.


I enjoy building myself — I previously built a 12×10 cattle-panel hoop coop, but that design isn’t scalable, and fixed installations for water/feeding are harder. A pole-barn structure would give a stronger, more weather-resistant home for winter, allow better cleaning setups, fixed feeders/waterers, and space for storage or even a couple of goats if I ever add them.


I appreciate any advice.

 

[Nksg75]

Hi everyone,

I’m in the DFW / Northeast Texas area and thinking about building a large pole-barn style chicken coop. I saw this older article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-pole-barn-coop.75352/

Since it’s about 5 years old, I want to know if anyone has tried something similar recently and how it’s holding up — especially in Texas heat, winters, storms, and heavy rain.

What I’m looking for:​

• Is pole-barn construction still a good idea for a big coop in our climate?
• Does it stay cool enough in summer?
• Any issues with durability, predators, or drainage?
• Anything you would do differently?

Planning to house a large number of birds, so I want to make the right investment.


Would love to hear your opinions or see your setups. Thanks!

Hey there, yes thats my coop in Southern Texas!
I love the space we have for the girls, yet wish I had built a dedicated room(think concrete floors/solid wall for feed storage) Right now i use large trash cans to store all the feed, but of course the chickens roost on them every night and I love picking up the lids and sometimes getting a nasty surprise on my hands!
As far as the temp goes, I do have about 4 fans going in the summer time. The front and back wall are completely open, so I did take that in mind when I planned on summer breeze.
I do wish I had maybe another foot of overhang in the front.Sometimes when we get heavy rain, it tends to rain into the coop about 3 feet in. Luckily, i have auto waterers set up right there, so no big deal.
The drainage is great, so no complaints about that.
Hmm, anything else i am missing?

 

[jahidul]

Hey there, yes thats my coop in Southern Texas!
I love the space we have for the girls, yet wish I had built a dedicated room(think concrete floors/solid wall for feed storage) Right now i use large trash cans to store all the feed, but of course the chickens roost on them every night and I love picking up the lids and sometimes getting a nasty surprise on my hands!
As far as the temp goes, I do have about 4 fans going in the summer time. The front and back wall are completely open, so I did take that in mind when I planned on summer breeze.
I do wish I had maybe another foot of overhang in the front.Sometimes when we get heavy rain, it tends to rain into the coop about 3 feet in. Luckily, i have auto waterers set up right there, so no big deal.
The drainage is great, so no complaints about that.
Hmm, anything else i am missing?

Thank you very much. So it does provide you good service. That’s very inspiring. Do you set any additional heating unit when it gets freezing for few days during winter? In other words what kind of prep do you do for winter?
I know you are in different county. Still asking, did you have to get some permits from county?

 

[Nksg75]

Hi there as far as the winter goes all I do is I put a tarp over the front because that’s where most of the wind and the cold comes in and I only put it down maybe one or two days out of the entire winter, it doesn’t get that cold here.
I don’t ever put any heat source of any kind because of fear of fire. The only thing I have as far as heat is for the chicks and that’s a sweeter heater so that’s pretty safe but no I don’t use a heat source of any kind.

As far as permits, we never applied for one. We just started building it.
Now, if you’re using a company that may be a different situation for you because they may be required to get their permits before they start construction, but since it was just family members, we just started building it.
I’m not sure how if you sell the eggs or not but remember to let the appraisal district know that it is a chicken coop that way you will not be taxed on the building.

 

[Nksg75]

Couple more things…
Knowing that the hardware cloth was a great dust collector, i might think about the 1”x1” wire for the top area only.
I have to dust it off weekly. The less i dust it, the more the fans need to be dusted.