I am a new chicken mom and have 4 girls that are 1 1/2 years old. While I live on 5 acres of undeveloped land, we are on family land of 172 acres in rural America. That being said, we have every type of preditor you can think of. So free ranging is just not an option for me.
That being said, I bought large 6 X 6 X 5 coop that sits off the ground and bought an extra 8 X 14 run that attaches it as a kit. All in it was abour $2300.00, so not too bad. This summer has been brutal here in GA with the heat. My coop /run is in the shade half the day (evening)but it is still super hot. I have taken measure to try to keep them cool, with water, several fans, frozen food and fruits, watering doent the run, Etc. The coop is next to our home. We have a large 48 foot covered deck that sits about 6 ft off the ground, so you can walk under it. The access to go under our house is in this area. I clean my run daily, so we really don't have any smell. Sowe have spent this week hardwiring the whole area under the deck, adding another 400 sq ft for them to roam and forage and connected it to the exisitng run. I learned that I can open the access door going under our house and cool air just poors out. So we are almost done. I need to make a wire screen to cover the door so they can't get under the house, but I am putting a fan there to blow out even more cool air for my girls. We are close to being done opening this area for them. I can't wait to see how they love it. Happy chickening.
That being said, I bought large 6 X 6 X 5 coop that sits off the ground and bought an extra 8 X 14 run that attaches it as a kit. All in it was abour $2300.00, so not too bad. This summer has been brutal here in GA with the heat. My coop /run is in the shade half the day (evening)but it is still super hot. I have taken measure to try to keep them cool, with water, several fans, frozen food and fruits, watering doent the run, Etc. The coop is next to our home. We have a large 48 foot covered deck that sits about 6 ft off the ground, so you can walk under it. The access to go under our house is in this area. I clean my run daily, so we really don't have any smell. Sowe have spent this week hardwiring the whole area under the deck, adding another 400 sq ft for them to roam and forage and connected it to the exisitng run. I learned that I can open the access door going under our house and cool air just poors out. So we are almost done. I need to make a wire screen to cover the door so they can't get under the house, but I am putting a fan there to blow out even more cool air for my girls. We are close to being done opening this area for them. I can't wait to see how they love it. Happy chickening.
