I am trying My hand at chickens again and need a new coop design.

[hdipadova]

My husband built an awesome coop our last time around but we couldn't get through the summer with out loosing the majority. I felt like the coop was not AZ friendly. We need a new design. I figure with the extreme heat it would require open design but what about the monsoons? Help would be greatly appreciated. We just finished our hatch and have 12 silkies and we picked up 1 RIR and 1 Auracauna. We will not be keeping roosters so the numbers will prob be going down.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Modify your existing coop with much more open airways. To aid in beating AZ heat you could install insulation board to the ceiling to reflect that excessive radiant heat. Another thing is shade, move your coop under a tree. Shade for your birds during the day is critical too. I live in northern NH and still lost a black bird this mid summer. Definitely needed more shade for their run and wasn't replenishing the over hot water with fresh cold enough.

 

[hdipadova]

Thank you so much. We are going to hook up an automatic waterer this time. More mesh walls this time too.