Here are pics of the pens with the wood bark now, instead of grass or nasty mud...so far so good & we just had 10 inches of snow melt.I'm in Delaware, USA, Mid Atlantic, east coast, humid area. We get 100+ degree days in July & lows in the single digits January, also very wet springs & drought in Aug, then an occasional hurricane or tornado to shake things up. For the most part it isn't that bad weatherwise, but when it is, it can be extreme...luckily not for very long.
That being said, my goal is to always provide dry, clean, ventilated shelter that also is safe from constant predators...& I do mean constant. This was their home before I moved here & I have come to appreciate the balance. Foxes, hawks & owls are fantastic rodent control & I witness them working. I'd rather have a yard full of foxes than a yard full of rats! My flock is safe, took some prep to dig down several feet then build rodent proof & predator proof pens, but it is well worth it. No one has even dug holes to attempt having chicken dinner.
In the coop, I use wood flake chips. I've tried other methods, but this stays clean & dry the longest. I do sprinkle some PDZ & some compressed wood pellets 1st & I do scoop poop under night perches, where 99% of the poop is anyway. 20 min of scooping wet poo into the bucket that gets dumped at the compost heap keeps the moisture content down.
Nest boxes...each section has 2 nest boxes with fluffy wood flakes. I tried straw before but they kicked it all out every time. I also had more boxes, but found they mostly use 1 or 2 boxes...the other boxes were ignored.
My Roosters go into the nest boxes sometimes & make the sweetest sounds. My oldest "Old Man" Roo sleeps in one while the hens perch, too funny.
I have sliding windows with screens on all 4 sides of the coop, so I can slide open alot or a little & I take notice of which way the wind blows & adapt. I was going to install more ventilation but so far, this has worked perfectly. 99% of the time weather blows in from the west. Unless we have a bad storm forecast, I can pretty much leave the windows cracked open as they are & not worry. I never get rain or snow blowing in.
The pens...well, I was doing sod & it worked great til July heat killed it, then Aug & Sept I had dirt pens, & would lay more sod in Oct or Nov. Muddy pens are bad, I don't want my flock getting bumblefoot & I don't like busting my butt slipping. This past October, I got bags of large natural pine bark chip mulch & so far so good. We've had rain & a foot of snow. I did need to add more bark where I have 20 chickens, but I expected that.
This spring I'm going to add a few raised beds with chickweed & other delicious things to peck at & cover with screen they can stand on & peck what grows through, but not tear up roots. I did this as an experiment on the ground & it did very well last year, so I will build larger ones in April.
Boredom busters...hanging cabbage, corn on cob & the seed mealworm cakes. They enjoy pecking at the mural flowers I painted inside & some enjoy making music on the xylophone.
Each section has a Roo & his hens. I know I have too many Roos, but they are all very sweet & lovable. I can hug each Roo! Even the grumpy Barred Rock...he gives me stink eye, but once on my lap he actually purrs in contentment & closes his eyes. So...yeah, my 1st coop...quickly became 1 of 2, & the #2 coop is a 12x20 with sections, so each Roo has his own "mini coop" for privacy. As I was still fairly new to the poultry world, even I was surprised how well my design has worked out. The only revision needed...don't provide even a few inches of a window sill...someone will undoubtedly be acrobatic enough to perch up there at night & proceed to poop! Note to self...no window sills inside chicken area Lol.
Heat...I thought I may need to heat the coop a bit when it dips down into the teens, or at least have their water heated so it won't freeze solid. I keep water inside the coop & I've used large jugs. I do add outside waterers, but they freeze in winter & I find they need daily bleach cleaning in summer. The main waterers inside the coop are elevated so they don't get dirty or get wood flakes. Even as cold as it gets in winter, I have found that the chickens put off heat. It is enough to actually heat the coop to the point that their water jugs have not frozen! If I lived further north or a higher elevation, I may need water heaters, but so far I haven't. I did buy a few, just in case...only set 1 up outside a few winters ago. Well, it's there if I need it.
So far so good, I really enjoy my flock. I have 40 egg layers, RIR, Barred Rock, Copper Maran, Wyandotte, EEs, Buff Orpington, ISA Brown & a few Mixed...love them ALL & no, I'll never eat them, they'll die of old age. They bring me very much joy & laughter, hatch adorable chicks, make me breakfast, nourish my garden soil, eat bad bugs & I sell their gorgeous eggs. Can't imagine life without them!