Anyone from AZ with coop advice?

[OScarlet]

Oh and on hot days I give them a bath which cools them down considerably.

 

[DesertChic]

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.

I just checked out the photos of your coop...WOW! Very impressive. I also live in southern AZ (Green Valley area) and just began my adventure in keeping chickens. Needless to say, your coop design has given me a lot of ideas.

 

[The Lazy L]

ok few! haha I am no carpenter... thats where my husband comes in! we were planning on doing 4x5 so it looks like I will be ok on size... yay!

4' x 5' = 20 square feet.

20 square feet divided by 4 (4 square feet per chicken) = 5 chickens

 

[mcbmaz]

Looks like this thread may have gone dead a while ago, but I didnt realize it before I typed yhis all out so it's getting posted.

I have 6 hens in a 5x5 coop/run combo enclosure. It is also just below fence line at 5' tall. The 3 nesting boxes are off the side and add 3" of space. Adding a landing area up high and a few extra roost bars helped to maximize what looks like a small area.

To deal with the heat, just make sure they have plenty of shade, air flow, and water. During the dryer part of the summer I'm planning on getting one of those twisty misters that stands on its own and attaches to the hose and placing it a few feet away from he enclosur. Also thinking about planting some kind of vine around it to help insulate from the heat.