The last of the kids just for college and "empty nest" is fantastic. Oddly enough it only took a year for me to get an itch to take on a outdoor project. A few of our neighbors have free range chickens on their property so I started researching chicken coops and BYC came up in almost every search I did. I am a first time chicken farmer. Well, my son and I did 4H broilers one year but that was over before we knew it.
Living in Texas, the heat and humidity can get pretty unbearable in the summer and then turn around and get down in the teens in winter (never for very long though). It seemed most of the coops designs were built around cold winters so I took ideas from here and there and came up with a site plan that best suited our weather.
I could not wait for the typical hatching period of Spring so I bit the bullet and ordered in the middle of January on a nice Spring like day from Ideal. The post office called me at 5am to tell me the chicks had arrived. It was 18 degrees outside when they arrived. All but one made it though. One little Ameracauna (sp?) managed to flap out of the holding area outside of the brooder lights and couldn't handle the cold.
I wanted layers so after my research I ordered a pair each of Barred Rock, Red Island Red, New Hampshire Red and Ameracaunas, all pullets. They are 8 weeks old today and my new favorite part of the day is to sit in a lawn chair about an hour before sunset with a fat cigar and watch them peck, run, play keep away, fluff up, take sand baths....the entertainment is non stop.
My coop is in a constant state of modification. I can't begin to tell you the tweaks I have made in the run and the coop to make life comfortable for them. Some of the mods are quite ingenious if I do say so but it's trial and error. One design feature I added was a large 2'x2' window on the southwest side. Our prevailing summer breeze is from the southwest but it's also the hot side of the house. the window is a large flap type door that is hinged at the top and props open and creates it's own shade in the afternoon. I installed a 6' long roosting pole parallel to that wall and even with the bottom of the window so they can look out and also catch some evening breeze in the summer. It's a 6' wide wall with a 2' window and I immediately found out that all 8 hens try and pack into that 2' of roost right in front of the window every evening. They would cackle and flap while jockeying for position. Well, this past weekend I closed them out of the coop for a few hours and installed a second identical window right next to the original one. It took a couple of days for them to start using the new one but they are now spreading out.
I would love to post some pics but I think I have to post 10 times before it will let me.
Stay tuned and thanks for having this site
Gary
Living in Texas, the heat and humidity can get pretty unbearable in the summer and then turn around and get down in the teens in winter (never for very long though). It seemed most of the coops designs were built around cold winters so I took ideas from here and there and came up with a site plan that best suited our weather.
I could not wait for the typical hatching period of Spring so I bit the bullet and ordered in the middle of January on a nice Spring like day from Ideal. The post office called me at 5am to tell me the chicks had arrived. It was 18 degrees outside when they arrived. All but one made it though. One little Ameracauna (sp?) managed to flap out of the holding area outside of the brooder lights and couldn't handle the cold.
I wanted layers so after my research I ordered a pair each of Barred Rock, Red Island Red, New Hampshire Red and Ameracaunas, all pullets. They are 8 weeks old today and my new favorite part of the day is to sit in a lawn chair about an hour before sunset with a fat cigar and watch them peck, run, play keep away, fluff up, take sand baths....the entertainment is non stop.
My coop is in a constant state of modification. I can't begin to tell you the tweaks I have made in the run and the coop to make life comfortable for them. Some of the mods are quite ingenious if I do say so but it's trial and error. One design feature I added was a large 2'x2' window on the southwest side. Our prevailing summer breeze is from the southwest but it's also the hot side of the house. the window is a large flap type door that is hinged at the top and props open and creates it's own shade in the afternoon. I installed a 6' long roosting pole parallel to that wall and even with the bottom of the window so they can look out and also catch some evening breeze in the summer. It's a 6' wide wall with a 2' window and I immediately found out that all 8 hens try and pack into that 2' of roost right in front of the window every evening. They would cackle and flap while jockeying for position. Well, this past weekend I closed them out of the coop for a few hours and installed a second identical window right next to the original one. It took a couple of days for them to start using the new one but they are now spreading out.
I would love to post some pics but I think I have to post 10 times before it will let me.
Stay tuned and thanks for having this site
Gary
