Am I insane?!

[Zoopathy]

I live in eastern San Diego. Chickens (up to 25) are legal pets here, and I hope to acquire a small flock soon. I've been doing lots of research on coop design, but I have a small (to maybe insurmountable) problem. In order to abide by the "50 feet away from houses" part of the law, I would need to build my coop on a south-facing hillside at the back of my home. Schlepping all the construction materials up there would be a pain, but would be doable. What worries me is the summer heat--we have temps in excess of 90 degrees throughout August and well into September. I don't want to roast my hens! Can I build a predator-proof coop that is also super airy? The property will be surrounded by wood and/or chainlink, so I'm hoping that will be a big deterrent to potential predators (the only things my neighbors have noticed are the occasional coyotes).

 

[Imp]

Zoopathy,
First off

No shade out there? Is it possible to plant something to provide shade?
If neighbors don't mind could you get a variance? or build some sort of "non-permanent" coop

in a better area?
And yes I've seen pix here of airy coops. Try searching in the coop forum.
Course you could go illegal too.

Good luck,

Imp- I don't think this is insurmountable

 

[Zoopathy]

I've planted a few (okay, several) fruit trees up on the hill--the coop would probably end up behind what is now a tiny pomegranate. Don't know how long it will take for the tree to grow large enough to provide real shade, but it's there!

 

[GardeNerd]

Here is my neighbor's coop. The only spot she had available was in full sun. She ended up putting hardware cloth on three sides with a shade cloth over the hardware cloth. It helps to keep a little cooler than just plain hardware cloth. We did have a couple of days we hit 100 here a month or two ago. She kept the temp down extra by hosing down the dirt inside in the afternoon. She also has since planted sun flowers on the West side in hopes of some fast growing shade for summer. She also has a tree near by that she just planted, but it will be a number of years before it shades enough.

 

[Zahboo]

You can buy some shade cloth like they use on greenhouses, or make a leanto over their run. Make windows that are reinforced with hardware cloth or something and they should do well

Oh and everyone on this forum is insane, don't worry.

 

[Judy]

You might find this thread useful:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=163417

Might consider renting a small backhoe or front end loader for a weekend.

 

[Big C]

We own a garden center and our coops are made of greenhouses which we bought from another competitor who was going out of business. We use 53% shade cloth and it works just fine.
Temps here in our part of Texas can get up to 115 in the Summer. We have already had over 105 this year. All are doing well.

 

[sugar pants]

How soon is soon?

Find the biggest, fastest growing tree you can that will thrive in your climate, and plant it now. We have one in our backyard that was tiny 3 years ago...now it's a pretty respectable tree and does provide a shady spot to move our coop to (we move it around).

 

[Sillystunt]

where in san diego are you? Cause i will tell you right now that Spring Valley you can just build and they will never care! To many tweekers and crime to worry about chicken coops and where they are placed!!!

Now if you have a *&^*& neighbor, different story cause it will be the phone calls that have them come out!!

I wouldn't worry about it~ But that sun screen sure does help! Plant some banana trees...they grow fast for shade!

 

[SoCalChick]

I live in San Diego too!

but more inland and it gets in the 100's easy. I have built a heat friendly coop for my fabulous feathered friends. I built (actually my husband built ) that is 8x8 that they are securely locked in at night - then it has two large double doors which open the coop up during the day into a 16 foot run. I used chicken wire and Shader Screen (from home depot) to create shade and it doesnt attract heat. I can send pictures if my words dont create a good picture.