Waterproofing our new coop??

[Chick3nLover]

Hello, we built a new coop from scratch last year, and we went with an open roosted run space and an enclosed nesting box space, the thing is, however, most of my hens sleep in the open roosted run (as in only hardware cloth) and when it rains I have to use tapes and staples to weather proof them in. The thing is, tarps get dirty and old and when’s it’s hot I need to rip them off agian and then throw back up real soon for our inconsistent weather cycles. I have some ideas on how to make this better, shutters, clear plastic I can easily roll up and button down, ect. But I was just curious on what anyone else may have done in to weather proof their coops, thank you.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Why not just partially cover it with wood and call it a day, instead of putting tarps up and down? Sounds like you want an open air coop but even with that you still should have some solid walls, or much larger roof overhangs to deal with rain and winds.

 

[MarlaMac]

Hello, we built a new coop from scratch last year, and we went with an open roosted run space and an enclosed nesting box space, the thing is, however, most of my hens sleep in the open roosted run (as in only hardware cloth) and when it rains I have to use tapes and staples to weather proof them in. The thing is, tarps get dirty and old and when’s it’s hot I need to rip them off agian and then throw back up real soon for our inconsistent weather cycles. I have some ideas on how to make this better, shutters, clear plastic I can easily roll up and button down, ect. But I was just curious on what anyone else may have done in to weather proof their coops, thank you.

We had this same problem - built a coop for open window concept b/c of our very hot summers in Texas - 4 large open windows covered in hardware cloth and screen. The first big storm we had let in so much water we had an inch of it standing in the coop.

We went with plexiglass. we drilled 3 holes in each side so they can be completely lowered, up mid-way and up fully (with about 4 inches of vent on top when "fully" closed. If you enlarge the photo you can see the plexiglass is fully lowered. We did this in a hurry, so it is only 1/2 way done - we will finish by trimming it out in wood and screwing the plexiglass to the trim for more stability.