Not yet got chickens - we're in the planning stage right now.
We live in Melbourne Florida and are zoned where we can keep up to four hens - so here's my concern - since I've never farmed anything outside of water (all my experience is with fish) - what kind of coup or run works best?
My plans are to have four "tamer" hens that the kids can interact with and that I can also let roam around the fenced in yard regularly (under supervision) - but the coup/shelter area has me completely in the dark - not so much as for what the hens need, but what would work for our hot/humid environment.
A bit about our yard - the entire yard is organic and full of native plans, oaks and fruit trees - back and side yard are fenced (where I plan to put the coup) and mostly shaded.
Any advice would be helpful - we were looking at some local farms stock and see that red rocks and barred rocks are popular - and that was what we were going to go with for hens. (we are looking for easy going, gentle birds who can handle the Florida heat and give us some eggs).
We live in Melbourne Florida and are zoned where we can keep up to four hens - so here's my concern - since I've never farmed anything outside of water (all my experience is with fish) - what kind of coup or run works best?
My plans are to have four "tamer" hens that the kids can interact with and that I can also let roam around the fenced in yard regularly (under supervision) - but the coup/shelter area has me completely in the dark - not so much as for what the hens need, but what would work for our hot/humid environment.
A bit about our yard - the entire yard is organic and full of native plans, oaks and fruit trees - back and side yard are fenced (where I plan to put the coup) and mostly shaded.
Any advice would be helpful - we were looking at some local farms stock and see that red rocks and barred rocks are popular - and that was what we were going to go with for hens. (we are looking for easy going, gentle birds who can handle the Florida heat and give us some eggs).