raising chickens in a tropical climate

Date sort Score sort
honduran chicken

honduran chicken

Hatching
8 Years
Nov 12, 2011
8
0
7
We live on Roatan, a small island in Honduras. I want to start raising chickens but I'm not sure what is necessary in a very hot climate. There are few predators here except snakes so is a coop really necessary? I was thinking of a roofed structure with no walls to put the roosts in and have free standing nesting boxes placed around the run area. We have to keep the chickens penned as there are dogs in the area that roam free and would love some free chicken dinners.
How big of a run will I need to build for 10 hens and how high should the fence be?
 
i've been to roatan several times. you have a beautiful island.
if you go on the breed section in this site it will identify several chickens that are tolerant of heat. most are smaller birds. there is a breed called java that is bigger, but it's challenging to get some. i haven't been able to yet.
i think your fence needs to be tall enought the dogs can't climb it (or the top has sharp points that inhibit climbing) or tall enough they can't jump it.
i think your ideas for tropical are good ones. the raised roost areas & nest boxes could perhaps have something on the legs that inhibit snakes from crawling up. i really like your nest boxes idea. i bet that will work great, especially if they are up off the ground.

i have 9 chickens & they have a large run about 20x30. they use the whole space. it keeps conflict to a minimum & gives them room to do their scratching, dust bathing, grazing thing. they could do with less, but my idea is to give them as much room as can be managed.

p.s. i was in roatan once when a storm came through. i was at west bay beach. i was snorkling a few feet off shore & a 7 foot shark cruised past. i didn't see him until he had already passed behind me. i could have reached out and touched him. SCARED ME TO DEATH - I WALKED ON WATER GETTING OUT OF THERE. turns out it was a nurse shark. lol at the time to me, a shark is a shark is a shark.
 
Thank you so much for your ideas. I'm not sure what type of chickens that they have here...they seem to do OK in the heat so I'm just going to get a few local birds. The island is lovely. I would LOVE to see a shark while snorkelling. They are not very common even for divers so you were very lucky!!
 

Similar threads

sonstoffie
PVC Chicken tractor with shadecloth
Replies
5
Views
988
sonstoffie
sonstoffie
C
48” electric netted fence with no roof
Replies
4
Views
636
Mother of Chaos
Mother of Chaos
C
    • Like
Turning an old shed into a coop
Replies
1
Views
722
rosemarythyme
rosemarythyme
Mother of Chaos
Crun? Roop? For unconventional coops, where does coop end and run begin?
2
Replies
10
Views
715
Mother of Chaos
Mother of Chaos
A
Goat House to Chicken Coop. We doing ok?
Replies
8
Views
875
rosemarythyme
rosemarythyme

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom