- Mar 17, 2013
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You need to look at your climate. My climate is netnet subtropical with no freezing and summer highs in the 80s F. We do have very annoying winds in the early summer, and during the rainy season anything made of wood will rot, be eaten by termites, or sprout mold.
Our first coop has a galvanized roof and galvanized roofing on the north and east sides for the prevailing winds, and hardware cloth on the other sides. The framing is (left-over) iron tubing in cement in the ground to about 1 ft above the ground, and then wood with one coat of paint which will not last very long and will need a second coat soon..
I am now building another coop and everything will be galvanized. Project one is 6 foot chain link fence all around for dogs and things, and then 2 coops with galvanized roofs and hardwarecloth walls, again with roofing on the north and east walls. I`m toying with putting chicken wire over the whole think for predators, but that looks like a budget buster for now, although if I can support it with galvanized wire instead of tubing it might be doable. One coop is for layers and the other coop is for nesters and chicks.
The chicken project is a permanent thing to provide eggs and some meat for 2 families with a total number of about 12 people, so I`m splurging a little upfront to avoid maintenance and rebuilds down the road.
If I were still in lo desert AZ I would still do it all in steel. Somewhere along the line I got tired of painting and fixing things and wood is not especially cheap, not to mention the cost of paint. You can add shade cloth or do a double roof for the heat. In a hot climate I would have cross ventilation and definately noon to sundown shade. Actually, in the low desert I would have all.day shade available.
Take a look at your climate. If you have air, water, and shade available in the summer the birds should do fine
Our first coop has a galvanized roof and galvanized roofing on the north and east sides for the prevailing winds, and hardware cloth on the other sides. The framing is (left-over) iron tubing in cement in the ground to about 1 ft above the ground, and then wood with one coat of paint which will not last very long and will need a second coat soon..
I am now building another coop and everything will be galvanized. Project one is 6 foot chain link fence all around for dogs and things, and then 2 coops with galvanized roofs and hardwarecloth walls, again with roofing on the north and east walls. I`m toying with putting chicken wire over the whole think for predators, but that looks like a budget buster for now, although if I can support it with galvanized wire instead of tubing it might be doable. One coop is for layers and the other coop is for nesters and chicks.
The chicken project is a permanent thing to provide eggs and some meat for 2 families with a total number of about 12 people, so I`m splurging a little upfront to avoid maintenance and rebuilds down the road.
If I were still in lo desert AZ I would still do it all in steel. Somewhere along the line I got tired of painting and fixing things and wood is not especially cheap, not to mention the cost of paint. You can add shade cloth or do a double roof for the heat. In a hot climate I would have cross ventilation and definately noon to sundown shade. Actually, in the low desert I would have all.day shade available.
Take a look at your climate. If you have air, water, and shade available in the summer the birds should do fine
