Is this a good idea?

[cmcanallen]

I'm in the planning phase of starting my flock and wanted to get so expert advice before Ispend a lot of money and then realize my coop design won't work. I'm in northeast Texas and know I have to deal with heat and lots of predators. My plan right now is to fence in an area that's 30'x10' and put 4 small (4 chicks) coops and a large (20 chicks) coop in there under two large bushes. I'm hopeful that the bushes will help keep the coops cooler. The chickens will free-range my garden and yard so I'm not worried about space for them.

Do any of ya'll have any advice/opinions/views?

 

[stevetone]

My first reaction was why the separate coops?

My second reaction was that you could probably just use reflective roofing, insulation and massive ventilation and get more of a cooling effect than a bush would provide. They could always hangout under the bush during the day if they preferred it.

What kind of predators?

 

[cmcanallen]

It's seperate coops because the bushes are already established in the area I want to fence in and they're huge. 12 feet tall and covering the whole 32 x 10. foot run area and I'm fitting the coops amongst the trunks. The coops I'm planning on buying have several ventilation windows and are well insulated. I'm considering installing misters.

As for predators, we have hawks, bobcat, coyotes, raccoons, snakes and oppossums. I think that's all we have to deal with. The dogs will run off the bobcats, racoons and coyotes.

 

[cmcanallen]

This is where I'm planning on building my chicken run with coops inside. 3 coops under the trees/bushes and then two more opposite them. At least that's the plan right now.

If I can afford it, I may have a custom coop built with the bush trunks as part of the floor support.

 

[chfite]

Economically, building a large coop will be cheaper per square foot than building several small ones. Even if you wanted to subdivide inside for flock mixing, it would be cheaper to build a large structure. It will be simpler to provide food and water to one coop.

300 square feet of run is a tad small for 36 chickens, if they need to hang out in the run due to some oddball reason. It would not cost much more to make the run 30x20.

I'm sure your chickens will like hanging out under those bushes while they trim off the lower 18 inches.

Good luck,

Chris

 

[cmcanallen]

Unfortunately, I don't have the space for that large of a run. I plan on free ranging most of the time but the other half of the yard is taken by a playhouse and my orchard. The area those bushes are in is in my garden so spaced is limited there too. I may have to reconsider the amount of chickens I keep.