Ideally, the chicken coop I’d like to see in my yard looks something like this.
In practice, we have the below:
This is the fifth chicken coop we have built, having moved several times during our married life so far, and we scrimped on a lot of things knowing we’re probably going to move again in a couple of years (not very conductive to homesteading, I know). Our coop is way too drafty (we only get away with this because we live in a warm climate and choose hardy breeds), only partially roofed, has a dirt floor, gaps here and there through which very small chicks can escape, and other inconveniences. We don’t have a run, our roosts need sanding down to keep splinters away, and I could go on and on.
I do hope that someday, we get settled in a more permanent place and build a good, sturdy, convenient, secure and pretty chicken house.
Read more about our chicken housing experiences here:
“A reliable chicken coop is a must if you don’t want your chickens to end up as the dinner of some fox, stray dog or whatever local predator you have in the area. Do yourself a favor and make an initial investment in a chicken house, a real sturdy shed you wouldn’t mind taking shelter in for the night. As we’ve moved house several times, we’ve had to make do with some makeshift coops that caused us a lot of alarm and frustration. We lost a lot of chickens to predators, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t learn from our experience.”
Domestic Felicity 
I heard that hens are better in the cold than the heat. Ours roost in trees in the frost…..
So I think they’ll like the drafts. … you post so much – it makes me feel guilty. I enjoy them all.
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Sam, it does also depend on the breed. Our Brahmas suffer a lot in the heat while Silkies seem to be more cold-sensitive.
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