Hello from Ormond Beach, FL!

Hi ya'll! I am new on this site as well as new to chickens, my husband just finished my little coop yesterday and I plan on having about 4-5 in my flock. I will be raising for eggs not meat. I would appreciate any live and learns and what breeds are easiest to raise for egg laying.
My biggest fear is predators, and l am going to take every precaution to keep my feathered friends alive! We deal with a variety of predators here but my biggest concern is the raccoons. They are so wiley. We have set the coop on paver blocks which is on top of buried cinder blocks and then anchored down the coop to the cinder blocks with metal in 6 places. We also have installed better hinges and hooks. I have purchased padlocks to go on the hooks as well. The mesh on the the bottom of the coop seems kind of sturdy, however we have also purchased sturdier hardware cloth that I could to staple gun to the wood inside the run. I am also going to install a bigger run for them when I am not home during the day, and when I am home they will be out free ranging.
It is nice to meet ya'll and I will see you around the forums!
Wendy

Welcome to BYC!

Your coop looks great.

The best breeds for eggs are hybrids, especially Goldlines.
Rhode island Reds are good purebred layers too.

It'll be great to see you around

Hi and - its good to see you being proactive in terms of preventing predation, rather than reactive - hopefully you'll be able to hang on to your girls that way. I'd suggest looking through the "breeds" section here at BYC to give you an idea of what breeds you may wish to shortlist.

The Learning Centre is a great resource, even for experienced chicken keepers - loads of info on anything chicken. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Joining your state thread will put you in touch with other BYC members in your area, which can be helpful (just type the name of your state in the search box).

All the best
CT

Welcome to Backyard chickens. You may want to visit the predator threads for more information on preventing attacks. If you put "Florida thread," in the search box it will come up- you can get suggestions from BYCers in your area regarding best laying breeds that can handle the climate. The Learning Center is a treasure trove of information.

Always nice to see another Floridian, come say hi on our state thread!

I've had a mix of breeds and the ones that seem to tolerate the heat the best have been the Black Australorps and the Easter Egger. The others (red sex link, Rhode Island Red, Barred Rock, Speckled Sussex) have done ok with the extra steps I have taken to keep them comfortable in the summer. So far (knock on wood), I haven't lost any to the heat.

Extra things like as much shade as possible (natural and man-made), extra waterers with frozen water bottles inside them, large shallow pan they can stand in, wetting down the run a few times a day to keep their feet cooler, LOTS of coop ventilation (replace doors and windows with hardware cloth, also run a box fan). The girls enjoy their cooler treats in the summer too, like watermelon, grapes, etc. Since they have a large (300 sq. feet) run mostly covered with shade cloth, it's cooler in there than outside so I restrict their range time to early morning and early evening.

Hope some of that helps. Thanks for joining us!

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!