Trying to finalize plans for coop build

yippee

Songster
7 Years
Aug 25, 2014
16
30
102
Arlington, TX
Hello all. I am trying to finalize my plans for a coop that I plan to build and am trying to get a few details finalized before I start drawing up plans.

I am in Arlington TX so I need a design that will be good for our summers but can also be closed up to some degree for winters. I am hoping to accomplish this by having the appropriate amount of winter ventilation that is permanently attached and then having additional ventilation that can be opened up for summer time so they can have more airflow when it gets hot outside. I guess my question on this is how much ventilation is recommended for cold weather (sub freezing) and how much for weather over 100 degrees? That way I can start planning how much and where to place the ventilation. In the scaled down winter version, is there any ventilation placement that is ideal or considered must haves?

Secondly, are there any pros/cons on different roof styles or a preferred roof style? I was kind of trying to decide between a "lean to" style more like this:
images.jpg

As opposed to a mire traditional roof peak like this:
images-1.jpg

These aren't necessarily the plans I am using, I just quickly searched for a picture of the roof styles I was thinking of. I didn't know if one was heavily preferred over the other or had better advantages than the other or if it was solely personal preference.

Thank you.
 
Hello and welcome to BYC.

The usual guidelines for a coop are as follows,

For each adult, standard-size bird you need:

4 square feet in the coop,
10 square feet in the run,
1 linear foot of roost space,
and, most relevant to your question, 1 square foot of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation -- not counting the pop door that's closed at night and any windows that are closed for the winter.

But my personal way of testing whether there is enough ventilation in the coop is to put my head into it on a hot day. If it's hotter in than out I need more ventilation. :D

I'm in climate zone 8 too and this Texas Coop is one of the inspirations for my new coop.
 
My favorite and easiest form of ventilation is to simply leave the eaves open (wired for protection) and at least one side opening (window). This allows for air circulation without creating a draft.
Side note: if you choose a design such as the upper photo, do not have the access to your exterior nesting boxes be their roof/lid (lift up). Instead hinge the outside wall and sllow the doors to drop down. This eliminates all possibilities for a leak. I designed my coop in this manner and even in thunderstorms with horizontal rain the coop is bone dry.
 
I grew up in Texas, still have family there... but over in the hill country...

And all of the family coops have HUGE eves, front wall all wire, other 3 walls half wire so a breeze is right at perch level.

My grandmother had shutters to close up the half wall wire parts. She did NOT close them in the winter, but did use them for huge freezing sideways rain storms. The front wire wall was never closed.

My baby sis has no way to close hers up. Her birds just get off of the perches, and hunker down on the sheltered floor for the 1 week a year where it gets cold and icy.

Heat is a huge issue down in Texas.

Not sure how much colder your area is than the Hill Country area...

But both coops you showed have VERY little ventilation as well as tiny sized eves.

If you figure out how to extend the roof so there is a huge roofed area over the run, that is great. Then the coop wall under the extended roof can easily be your full wire wall.
 
Trying to find examples of good hot weather coops... this one is good:


Plans for sale on Etsy
SmartSelect_20210223-104345_Samsung Internet.jpg

Nice how they put the slats on the sides for shade, but still lots of airflow. It also makes the wire walls stronger and more predator proof.

Also... this one on BYC. The opening post has great photos of a perfect hot weather coop.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-coop-for-hot-climate-residents-think-desert.111571/

If you want to go the store bought route.. these have lots of ventilation. But no, I do not know anyone that owns one:
Ready built coop
Their web photo:
SmartSelect_20210223-111104_Samsung Internet.jpg
 
Trying to find examples of good hot weather coops... this one is good:


Plans for sale on Etsy
View attachment 2542292
Nice how they put the slats on the sides for shade, but still lots of airflow. It also makes the wire walls stronger and more predator proof.

Also... this one on BYC. The opening post has great photos of a perfect hot weather coop.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-coop-for-hot-climate-residents-think-desert.111571/

If you want to go the store bought route.. these have lots of ventilation. But no, I do not know anyone that owns one:
Ready built coop
Their web photo:
View attachment 2542318

That desert one is another of the inspirations for my new coop.
 
I just want to share my own personal opinion in regards to the overall style. For me personally, I had a coop similar to the first coop in your picture, and it only took me a few times of whacking my skull on the rafters to decide I need to be able to stand up in the coop. The overall coop is too long to simply reach in for cleaning. There were also times I needed in to check on hatching eggs, mama hen, catch chickens for medicine, and so on. Plenty of people use coops that they need to duck to stand in and they don't have any complaints, but I'm young and agile and decided pretty quickly that the extra inconvenience isn't worth it. When we finally had the funds to build our own coop, it was paramount that I be able to stand up. Just something to consider!

As for the roof, I've built structures with a traditional A-frame roof and a lean to roof, and they are both easy styles to accomplish. I personally didn't feel there was a substantial advantage.

If you're at all curious, you can check out my coop page. I talked about my original coop and building the second. Even though I'm not in Texas, the interior of my first coop would reach 120* in the summer easily, so ventilation in the new coop was paramount. The new coop has not endured the test of summer yet, as we just completed it in January days before the first huge snow!
 
Thank you all for the input, it is sincerely appreciated.

Is it generally the consensus that the "open air" style coop is ideal for hot climates? I was originally trying to go with something that has 4 walls with ventilation that can be opened or closed as needed for the current weather, but if the "open air" design checks all the boxes I need, that might be the way to go. I want to pick whatever will be the best for the chickens and am willing to build the design around what will be best for them. Their health and happiness is the main concern.

@Alaskan, to answer your question, I'm not sure how much different our climate is compared to the Hill Country. I would imagine it is pretty similar, with us possibly getting a little warmer here.

Our summers are often in the 100 degree range with many of those days being over 100 and sometimes even over 110. On the opposite side of the spectrum our winters will get down to freezing and sometimes even below. We had an abnormally cold winter storm this year that blew through and our official low was -2 in my area. Although that is very abnormal for us, it is still possible. Those lows are generally few and far between. Normal years I would say we get to freezing and sometimes dips down as low as 20 degrees on occasion. Hovering close to freezing is more typical and generally our winters are pretty short and mild with short cold snaps that dip low but typically rise back up pretty quickly.

If it sounds like the open air design will fit our needs the best, I will start planning around that instead. I am very new to chickens, so I don't have a lot of knowledge about what extremes they can handle. I do believe in doing the research ahead of time so I am as prepared as possible before caring for a living animal.
 
Thank you all for the input, it is sincerely appreciated.

Is it generally the consensus that the "open air" style coop is ideal for hot climates? I was originally trying to go with something that has 4 walls with ventilation that can be opened or closed as needed for the current weather, but if the "open air" design checks all the boxes I need, that might be the way to go. I want to pick whatever will be the best for the chickens and am willing to build the design around what will be best for them. Their health and happiness is the main concern.

@Alaskan, to answer your question, I'm not sure how much different our climate is compared to the Hill Country. I would imagine it is pretty similar, with us possibly getting a little warmer here.

Our summers are often in the 100 degree range with many of those days being over 100 and sometimes even over 110. On the opposite side of the spectrum our winters will get down to freezing and sometimes even below. We had an abnormally cold winter storm this year that blew through and our official low was -2 in my area. Although that is very abnormal for us, it is still possible. Those lows are generally few and far between. Normal years I would say we get to freezing and sometimes dips down as low as 20 degrees on occasion. Hovering close to freezing is more typical and generally our winters are pretty short and mild with short cold snaps that dip low but typically rise back up pretty quickly.

If it sounds like the open air design will fit our needs the best, I will start planning around that instead. I am very new to chickens, so I don't have a lot of knowledge about what extremes they can handle. I do believe in doing the research ahead of time so I am as prepared as possible before caring for a living animal.
If the -2 becomes more common, :idunnothen maybe have plywood shutters so that you can close up three sides...

So more like what my grandmother used.

It snowed out in the Hill Country when I was a kid.. and on occasion there would be ice in the cattle troughs, never lasted for more than a week... Texas... snow one day and boiling the next. Can't remember any more what the highest temps were when I was a kid.

But.... those temps of 100 and higher are WAY more likely to kill chickens than -2 will. Which is why an open air coop is really the way to go. Huge eves for those northers or hurricanes that blow through are also vital. With huge eves you don't have to close anything up.

At -2 it is good to make sure that they do not get wet... so shutters or temporary panels that can be put into place for 3 sides (don't need them for all 4) for any more freak crazy cold snaps might be smart.
 

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