Heat kills a lot more chickens than cold, even a lot further north than Texas. Heat is your enemy, not cold. You can keep chickens inside but you need to provide shade and good ventilation. If you are building from scratch having one wall nothing but wire would work where you are.
From your other thread those chickens are broilers or the parents or grandparents of the broilers. They should not roost as I tried to explain in your other post. I just posted there so you probably have not seen it yet.
You can use that building. It should make a very nice coop. The thing is that you need to cut some more holes in it to help ventilation. That power vent will help a lot and may be enough especially if you cut a hole down lower to draw air in, but I like extra passive ventilation too in case of a power failure.
I don’t know what that building looks like but it probably doesn’t have any overhang. One way to get a lot of ventilation without letting a lot of rainwater blow in is to open it up under overhang. Gable vents with rain protection are also a great way to do it. Adding a cupola up top can help a lot too but that may be a bit of a challenge with that metal building. I would not expect the roof to be real strong.
Your windows can really help but something else that can help is to have an opening down even lower. Hot air rises. Having an opening down low to let cooler air in, especially from the shaded side, can really help move a lot of air even with your power vent turned off.
I’d suggest a smaller door to the run. We call those pop doors. Mine is 12” x 12” and I had a midget white tom turkey use it so it will work even with your broiler hens. The advantage of a smaller door is that it lets in less rain when it is opened.
I’d also build the run high enough so you can walk in there without bumping your head. The chickens don’t need it that high but you do.
Good luck with it.
From your other thread those chickens are broilers or the parents or grandparents of the broilers. They should not roost as I tried to explain in your other post. I just posted there so you probably have not seen it yet.
You can use that building. It should make a very nice coop. The thing is that you need to cut some more holes in it to help ventilation. That power vent will help a lot and may be enough especially if you cut a hole down lower to draw air in, but I like extra passive ventilation too in case of a power failure.
I don’t know what that building looks like but it probably doesn’t have any overhang. One way to get a lot of ventilation without letting a lot of rainwater blow in is to open it up under overhang. Gable vents with rain protection are also a great way to do it. Adding a cupola up top can help a lot too but that may be a bit of a challenge with that metal building. I would not expect the roof to be real strong.
Your windows can really help but something else that can help is to have an opening down even lower. Hot air rises. Having an opening down low to let cooler air in, especially from the shaded side, can really help move a lot of air even with your power vent turned off.
I’d suggest a smaller door to the run. We call those pop doors. Mine is 12” x 12” and I had a midget white tom turkey use it so it will work even with your broiler hens. The advantage of a smaller door is that it lets in less rain when it is opened.
I’d also build the run high enough so you can walk in there without bumping your head. The chickens don’t need it that high but you do.
Good luck with it.
