Managing Heat

[Love My Chickies]

I live in South Texas. This week my backyard has reached 110°. My babies are currently still in the brooder in my den but we are building a coop right now. My question is...I've read that the chickens need to be in their coop a few days to get familiar with it before we let them in the run. With this heat, I'm not sure how to do that safely. Any suggestions on how to keep them safe?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I've not heard that, and am curious as to the reason offered. Heat management is critically important - I left TX about 18 months ago, remember it well. Chickens are FAR more sensitive to heat than cold. and are you in the hot, drier central (San Antonio/Austin/Waco/Dallas) or west (Midland, Odessa, Lubbock, Amarillo) TX, or the hot humid coast line, aka the Houston, Corpus, Padre arc?

You can do a bit with breed choices - some are better dealing with heat than others. Big, prominent combs help, clean legs help. Light colors, arguably, help. Naked necks, lightly feathered breeds. In theory, smaller chickens do better than larger chickens, due to higher surface/mass ratios, but the differences are quite small, probably not measurable. CornishX are brittle birds, regardless.

The bigger question is coop design. What did you settle on to deal with the TX heat, and help your birds out?? Same query for the run. Flock size, coop and run dimensions, pictures please!

 

[Love My Chickies]

Here is one article about it. https://chickencondos.com/housing-new-coop

I'm south of Houston. Very humid. I'm new to chickens and really have no idea of the breeds. One is a frizzle of some sort.

My fiance is building the coop. It'll be pretty large, 54" wide, 84" long, and 76" tall. It'll have screened windows on top.

I attached a photo. They're between 5 and 6 weeks old. The one on the left is oldest.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Aaah. The article is written in the assumption that chicks are being moved from some place warm (a brooder box with supplemental heat) to someplace cooler (a coop at ambient air temp). That's not at all what your chicks are about to experience. It is, however, the common experience, just not applicable to you.

Your coop dimensions work out as roughly 4.5' x 7' x 6' tall. That's around 30 sq ft, which passes the "thumb rule" for floor space with a flock of four pretty easily - even if its then reduced by feeding stations, nesting boxes, etc.

Windows up high are definitely the preferred location, but be aware that screen provides effectively no predator protection. Hardware cloth is the preference, secured with washers and screws. Staples - even poultry staples - really aren't up to the task.

Would still love to see pictures - or plans - to get a better idea of how you intend to ensure appropriate ventilation in those temperatures. "Open Air" coop designs are very popular in your climate as a solution to the hot and humid problem, but by the mention of windows, I suspect that's not the route you are taking.

 

[Love My Chickies]

Aaah. The article is written in the assumption that chicks are being moved from some place warm (a brooder box with supplemental heat) to someplace cooler (a coop at ambient air temp). That's not at all what your chicks are about to experience. It is, however, the common experience, just not applicable to you.

Your coop dimensions work out as roughly 4.5' x 7' x 6' tall. That's around 30 sq ft, which passes the "thumb rule" for floor space with a flock of four pretty easily - even if its then reduced by feeding stations, nesting boxes, etc.

Windows up high are definitely the preferred location, but be aware that screen provides effectively no predator protection. Hardware cloth is the preference, secured with washers and screws. Staples - even poultry staples - really aren't up to the task.

Would still love to see pictures - or plans - to get a better idea of how you intend to ensure appropriate ventilation in those temperatures. "Open Air" coop designs are very popular in your climate as a solution to the hot and humid problem, but by the mention of windows, I suspect that's not the route you are taking.

Nothing much to take pics of yet. He literally just started today. We are using hardware cloth.

If a coop is open air, what do you do in the winter for protection?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Nothing much to take pics of yet. He literally just started today. We are using hardware cloth.

If a coop is open air, what do you do in the winter for protection?

According to chickens, you don't "have" winters in TX.

Typically, an "open air" coop design is mostly a really big roof, with "walls" of hardware cloth. A mostly solid wall is usually erected on the side that gets your worst weather, seasonally - that's draft and windblown rain protection for the birds. Many open air coops feature partial, not necessarily full height, walls on two other sides, forming a "c" shape from above, giving the birds protection from wind and rain on three sides - and to the extent rain (or your quite rare snows) are blown in at an angle, the birds huddle to one side or another to avoid exposure. The perches/roosting bars generally run from one side of the C to another, and nesting boxes are either internally accessed or externally accessed off one of the walls, at a height below the roosting bars.

i.e.

and of course, you can see how this very practical design encouraged the more attractive (and resource consuming) "coop in run" designs, like these -

 

[3KillerBs]

This is the Texas coop that inspired my own Open Air build. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/jens-hens-a-southern-texas-coop.75707/

And here is useful information about dealing with heat: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

 

[U_Stormcrow]

@aart, you will come to know, is one of the more knowledgeable and respected posters on BYC, always very helpful. Can recommend the read.

Just grabbed your photo (I'm on a cell phone), took a good look.

Lumber prices being what they are, surprised this is getting a floor. The walls you have, plus the long channel, make this very suited for an open air - hardware clothe the whole front, erect a 3/4 wall in the back to offer draft protection at nest and roosting bar height, and you are basically done. Roosts above the nests of course.

How do you plan to deal with rainwater? Looks like its being pointed at the (neighbor's?) fence... and what's the inverted strong tie for on the first rafter?

 

[Love My Chickies]

@aart, you will come to know, is one of the more knowledgeable and respected posters on BYC, always very helpful. Can recommend the read.

Just grabbed your photo (I'm on a cell phone), took a good look.

View attachment 2728971

Lumber prices being what they are, surprised this is getting a floor. The walls you have, plus the long channel, make this very suited for an open air - hardware clothe the whole front, erect a 3/4 wall in the back to offer draft protection at nest and roosting bar height, and you are basically done. Roosts above the nests of course.

How do you plan to deal with rainwater? Looks like its being pointed at the (neighbor's?) fence... and what's the inverted strong tie for on the first rafter?

Not exactly sure what his plan is for rain. The other side of the fence is an alleyway.

That's where two smaller boards are joined. Not sure if he's putting additional blocks. I like the idea of one wall bring all screen (hardware cloth).

Thanks for the great advice!

 

[aart]

I've read that the chickens need to be in their coop a few days to get familiar with it before we let them in the run.

Yes.....

I've not heard that

It's to 'home' them to the coop.

How do you plan to deal with rainwater? Looks like its being pointed at the (neighbor's?) fence

Wondered that too<scratcheshead>
Too bad such nice angle cuts.
Maybe raise both ends of rafter up as high as possible?
Metal or plastic roofing planned.....purlins might take the height over the fence?