Anyone from AZ with coop advice?

[yoursobain]

Mine actually chase them away when they are out of the run. I've never had squirrels try to get in the run or coops either, even with feeders in the run.

oh good, they are hard to get rid of!

 

[Indoroowet]

the lowest the temp has gotten I believe is 30 degrees. I have been looking at the open air coups and I like what I am seeing we can make wood fittings for winter proofing if needed and for monsoon season.

do ground squirrels bother chickens?

*I believe*, probably means, *once in a blue moon* ?
If so, I would not even worry about the water supply freezing.
I still would create something that ensures a constant water supply !

*Open air* coops, may still need a *door* ?
Winter proofing ... Just need to get the wind stopped.
I have heard of people using shower curtains ...
(You get the right ones, you may even like looking at it ...

)
They need a draft free area, even without heat !!!
Monsoon --- an overhanging roof that keeps the coop dry would be sufficient.
I have clear plastic tarp, over 70% of my long narrow run.
During rain, the chickens still run around underneath the tarp.

If ground squirrels feed at night, then they *may* go for the food supply ...

 

[yoursobain]

*I believe*, probably means, *once in a blue moon* ?
If so, I would not even worry about the water supply freezing.
I still would create something that ensures a constant water supply !

*Open air* coops, may still need a *door* ?
Winter proofing ... Just need to get the wind stopped.
I have heard of people using shower curtains ...
(You get the right ones, you may even like looking at it ...

)
They need a draft free area, even without heat !!!
Monsoon --- an overhanging roof that keeps the coop dry would be sufficient.
I have clear plastic tarp, over 70% of my long narrow run.
During rain, the chickens still run around underneath the tarp.

If ground squirrels feed at night, then they *may* go for the food supply ...

ok so this is a bad example but my husband is going to build something similar. the roof will be slightly slanted for rain with a over hang,... we are going to use 4" roost and configure the roost and nest boxes differently. we are going to do a automatic waterer and a low profile feeder. it will open directly into the side yard "run".
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/grd/4746496015.html

yea it usually is just a few days a year that we have a "freeze" or "frost" warning and even those nights don't always get below 35. I like the shower curtain idea! I wonder if my girls would like polk-a-dots!

 

[SunkenRoadFarms]

That looks great, they'll definitely love it. I will mention, it never hurts to go bigger than you need. Chickens are addictive, I started with 4 and now have 15!

 

[yoursobain]

That looks great, they'll definitely love it. I will mention, it never hurts to go bigger than you need. Chickens are addictive, I started with 4 and now have 15!

It would be gigantic if I had my way but my husband is a smart man and is limiting me to 3.5x5.5. so its bigger than the minimum but just shy of letting me get another bird :-/

 

[SunkenRoadFarms]

Lol, but hey, bantams are half the size so only need half the space!

 

[yoursobain]

Lol, but hey, bantams are half the size so only need half the space!

hahaha dont tempt me! I have seen some pretty cute ones!!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

First of all,

If you haven't already found us, drop by the BYC Arizona thread, look around and say hello, we'd love to have you. In general, you'll want to have lots of ventilation and shade. Consider having at least one entire wall open and covered with wire. Make sure you use hardware cloth or welded wire, chicken wire will not hold up to the predators that will try to get at your birds. Even though you haven't yet seen the coyotes in your yard, they will be as soon as you get chickens (along with bobcats, raccoons and a variety of other things that will want to eat them). You can see pictures of my AZ coop here.

 

[Indoroowet]

All I can say is *Wow* !!
Reading the building story of the Tucson coop was good.
Most of us struggle with extreme cold issues.
This *report* has all the answers about keeping chickens in extreme heat areas !

 

[OScarlet]

We are in San Diego so our weather is cooler than yours, but it sounds like similar lows... we get a light frost maybe once a year. I have a completely open coop with hardware cloth sides. Our roost is up in the roof which overhangs to keep the wet and direct wind off them. It is also orientated so the sun doesn't hit it. We also have a solar panel connected to a 9v car fan which blows towards the roost on very hot days and they will sit and let it ruffle their feathers. The coop is 18" off the ground which gives them a really dark cool spot to hang out and on 100+ days (rare here) I throw frozen large soda bottles under there to cool it down, one of my birds really likes it under the coop. The only time my birds have ever had the sides of their coop covered is when we have had a nasty rain storm with a lot of wind coming through, other than that they stay nice and toasty in their open coop.

We have a low covered travel coop and given the choice between the two they choose the higher open coop.