Extra room needed for hot temps?

[amazonsuzi]

Happy New Year Y'all! This is my 1st post
I don't have any chickens - YET! However, my fiancé & I are working as fast as we can to get 5+ acres. We are doing as much research as we can before we get the property so (hopefully) things will run pretty smooth. I have seen over and over the minimum spacing of 4 sq. foot in the coop & 10 sq. foot in the run per bird. My question is: Since I live in South Texas, where the temps regularly reach 100+ degrees for several/many weeks in the summer, do I need to give the girls extra room inside the coop??

Thanks for your help!! Reading these forum posts has been very helpful.

 

[chikkenfriend]

No. 1 question is how will you keep them? I have 5 Barred Rocks (dual purpose and great layers!). I don't need that much coop space because my girls are free range. Coop is only for sleeping and laying. My girls are very happy! They all lay 1 egg a day rain, sleet, snow or ice! We've gotten an egg a day from every one since they started laying. So, free range? Or cooped? We have 2 acres but we're surrounded by grazing land. My girls have 50 acres of land but they only use about 4.

These are their living quarters:

 

[chikkenfriend]

No. 2 is look here for the right chicken: http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

It's a chart of chicken specs. It'll help you in choosing the type, breed, etc..

 

[chikkenfriend]

No. 3 Happy New Year! Welcome to BYC and best of luck in all you do!

 

[chikkenfriend]

P.S. The bigger house is a tractor house ( meaning it's on wheels and I move it every other day so they have a nice clean floor ALWAYS!). Oh, how I love these! And my girls stay healthy!

 

[amazonsuzi]

I would like about 15-25 birds - Black Australops (sp?) & Speckled Sussex.... possibly some Welsummers??? I would like them to free range as much as possible (when we are home) or hang out in the run (when we are at work). I am looking for dual purpose birds. I would prefer them to free range as much as possible when they are old enough.

 

[chikkenfriend]

You mention all cold hardy, average egg production breeds. Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Naked Neck are heat tolerant with above average egg production. You might want to look into these, as well.

And I think you're giving them a great home! It sounds like you're on the right track with the space you're planning. Going free range will keep them very happy.

Best of luck to you

 

[amazonsuzi]

According to https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...cken-guide-to-picking-backyard-chicken-breeds the Australorps & Sussex are both cold/heat tolerant. I'm also looking for docile breeds. My fiancé has a 6 year old daughter who will be visiting several times a month.

 

[LindaB220]

Living in NW La outside of Shreveport I plan to build something with lots of screens Floor to ceiling hardware cloth and will close it off in winter with clear shower curtains taped to walls. A simple 10 x 10' room with slanted slightly roof of vinyl panels will be cheap and contain 25 birds. To save money I think I will put 4' or 5' 2x4" welded wire fencing around the bottom with 18" extending out as a skirt for predator protection. Regular 1" chicken wire will do for the bottom around the fencing with hardwire above. I saw one built like this on youtube but can't find it. Looked like an easy build. Good luck

Edited: I don't have my chickens yet either. I'm buying Delawares and Light Sussex. The light ones are larger and lay more eggs. But I love the speckled too.

 

[LindaB220]

Here's the Youtube video I was talking about. "Building a Chicken Coop From Scratch" by Allen Smith. Put that into youtube Search and it might be what you are looking for. Good luck.