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 Our chickens are kept in open air coops. This means that they have roofs, but the walls are minimal and mostly made of screens or wire. We believe that allowing fresh air in the coops during all seasons is the best option in our situation and more specifically our climate. There is a LOT of controvery as to the safety of such a setup, but we, and as far as we can tell, our birds, have enjoyed this arrangement for 4 years now.
If you are considering an open air coop, please do consider your climate, ours is very mild, with only a couple of total weeks below freezing each year. We DO make adjustments in the winter time to better accommodate the birds. For instance, frost free electric water bowls, lots of straw in the coops, woodchips and straw in nest boxes and additional wind breaks are provided. We have experimented with sleeping boxes and more confinement at bed time, but they do just as well without the added effort and restrictions.
The photo is our Hen House (left) and 1st Stall (right) which we added after completing the hen house back in 2008. They can be opened up to each other or separated for breeding season to create two areas.
I wanted to take some time out and give you a tour of each of our coops. I think the saying that “You can NEVER have enough room to keep chickens” is certainly true and should be carefully considered when your planning your first coop. You’ll hear my story over and over again if you keep reading... “... after we finished with the first coop and moved the chicks in, I thought OH NO, it’s NOT big enough” and so the story goes, and we continue to build!
Formerly naming the coops is not an easy task, and so we continue to use nicknames here for the structures, or often refer to them by whomever is occupying them at the time.
I don’t have an information page on each one yet, but I will... just give me some time. If the coop is highlighted, you can click on it for more information:
Hen House
Stalls 1, 2 & 3
Small Coop/Roosters’ Coop
4 Post Coop
Mini Coop/Single Coop
Bantam Barn
Brooder(s)
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