N. Texas chicken run and torrential rain

[LynnTXchickenmom]

We are new to chickens and will raise them in our Dallas-Ft. Worth suburban backyard. We’ve had chicks in a brooder on our deep front porch for three weeks now. It has been hot (highs of 104-5) and very dry, no problem. Heat lamp only needed at night for lows of 85-80. Coop is built but chicks aren’t in it yet. Just yesterday, torrential rain hit and we had 9 inches in 24 hours. This is a record but some years have flood seasons with constant rain, so not too unusual. Our coop is elevated 15 in off the ground—so it stayed high and dry—and there’s a French drain in the run, but our entire yard was a lake. Waters have receded, but this makes me think about when the chickens are in the coop:
—Do we need water and food in the coop? No way chickens could have accessed it in the run for about 24 hours—too flooded.
—We likely need to cull our flock. Hatchery sent us extra chicks. Our coop is 40 sq feet with a 600 sq ft run. What’s the max number of birds we can house in it? Most of the time the run will be useable except for floods like this. We are ok with slaughtering and eating the overflow—we have to do that with the roosters that were sent anyhow. One of my kids processes chickens at school, so that is not an issue. But we also want to provide all our own eggs and we eat a lot! 8 doz/week.

Also—Winters here are mild, very rarely snow, an ice storm maybe 1 or 2x. Lows in the 20s sometimes. Usually temps are 30-45. My coop is designed for hot summers—a large open wall above the nest boxes, open area between roof and wall open on two other sides (all covered in hardcloth.) The roof overhangs a foot over the open areas. How enclosed does it need to be for winters like this? We have Rhode Island Reds. Can we leave it as is, or do we need to close up some of the hardcloth open sides? And then there’s the polar vortex of Feb 2021 and the record low of -3. Would they tolerate that at all?
Thanks for your advice!

 

[raingarden]

8 doz/week.

= almost five thousand eggs per year!

RIR reds might lay 240 eggs per year. So, you'd need about 21 hens. The rule of thumb around here is 4 square feet of coop per bird x 21 birds = 84 square feet in the coop. Half of them need to camp out. You have a really big run though and can pretend it is a warm climate open-air coop by adding extra roosting bars and a spot to get out of the rain.

Weather is what it is. These days it is impossible to plan for the worst case scenario because we can no longer imagine the worst case. But, you and the chickens can probably survive anything (with extra effort and ingenuity) if it only lasts a few days.

 

[Becks Chicks]

I’m new as well so don’t have any advice but wanted to share what I have in mind if our place floods. Our coop is elevated and they’ll stay in there. I have small portable feed and water I can put in the coop if it floods and I added an extra roost.

Also I bought a silo type feeder for the run that is elevated off the ground. Basically, elevate and really lock in place if you can. Hanging off the ground would work too. And think through the material too. Metal feeders may not be the best choice unless you go out and remove if it floods.

 

[3KillerBs]

—We likely need to cull our flock. Hatchery sent us extra chicks. Our coop is 40 sq feet with a 600 sq ft run. What’s the max number of birds we can house in it?

40 square feet is appropriate for about 10 chickens. 600 square feet is appropriate for some 60 chickens. Is all or part of the run covered? Photos, please?

If your setup permits you to treat all or part of the run along with the coop as an Open Air coop system you can accommodate more then 10. Showing up photos of the coop and run from several angles will help us help you.

Also—Winters here are mild, very rarely snow, an ice storm maybe 1 or 2x. Lows in the 20s sometimes. Usually temps are 30-45. My coop is designed for hot summers—a large open wall above the nest boxes, open area between roof and wall open on two other sides (all covered in hardcloth.) The roof overhangs a foot over the open areas. How enclosed does it need to be for winters like this?

Not enclosed at all, really.

An Open Air coop is, essentially, a roofed wire box with a 3-sided shelter on one end. You can see mine in my hot climate article:

And this is what it looked like after the worst storm of a relatively bad-for-central-NC winter: https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/25324962

For a true extreme storm I'd have tarped more of the walls.

—Do we need water and food in the coop? No way chickens could have accessed it in the run for about 24 hours—too flooded.

That's a good idea in emergency situations. When we had an ice storm last year and I knew that it could be a couple days before I could get out there to them I made sure that they had multiple days' worth of food and water -- adding extra containers as well as the usual feeders/waterers.

As for flooding, some people put pallets on the ground to give the chickens something to stand on during especially wet times.

 

[LynnTXchickenmom]

Thank you. I'll try to get pictures done--its raining again here. Our chickens will be free range during the day with the coop for sleeping. We have three areas for them. 1) The coop with a pop door that opens automatically with dawn and closes automatically at night. It is 40 sq feet with 16 linear feet of roosts. Nesting boxes are off the side; my son built a lot of them (6 measuring 12x12x14). 2) The run enclosed with chicken fencing (but not overhead other than the trees that cover the whole area). Part of the run is under the coop. I thought the total square footage was 600, but my son says more like 400. So 400 sq ft. in an uncovered run. They would be in there if we don't let them out into the third area. 3) The big backyard. Our yard has a large back area. We have two other yards -- one with our driveway with an electric gate and a side yard with a patio. But the large back part of the yard is separated from these paved areas with a 6' fence--no chicken poop on our pavement. We are hoping to let the chickens free range in the large yard most of the time, which has a large forested area to provide tons of shade in the heat, and then let them have the coop at night and the smaller run for when we are not at home. We are home almost all the time.
And our weather? Mostly dry and hot or dry and mild. Some uber rainy seasons; some heavy winds and nasty thunderstorms (why my son anchored the coop deep into the ground so it doesn't blow over). They wouldn't need to be confined to the coop during the day except for a few instances of ice storms or torrential rain. My friend said her chickens sheltered themselves during the 9 inches in 24 hours and then were out again in the light rain.

Sound ok? Can we get away with less space in the coop per chicken given these conditions? Thanks.

 

[3KillerBs]

They wouldn't need to be confined to the coop during the day except for a few instances of ice storms or torrential rain. My friend said her chickens sheltered themselves during the 9 inches in 24 hours and then were out again in the light rain.

*nods*

For the most part, chickens know how to be chickens and fully-feathered adults can be trusted to know how wet they want to be (silkies and frizzles excepted since they're feathers aren't as weather-resistant).

 

[LynnTXchickenmom]

Here are pictures of what we have in the works. My teen

son built the coop out of mostly free materials. Summer project. Hot climate. In winter, we can board up the front window and half the soffit vent so it’smore above the roosting bar. Necessary? Mild winters w/ rare snow, 1-2 ice storms, normal temps 30-45 and some 20 deg nights. Summers—100 + deg. and dry. This is after unusual torrential rains in Aug after 67 days w/o rain. Lots of ppl I know have chickens here, so they tolerate the heat OK. My chicks have been on a shaded porch in 105 since hatching until it cooled to 75 on Sun.

 

[3KillerBs]

Looks very well suited to a hot climate.

You must be proud of your son for having done such a good job!

 

[Coops Dad]

We had around 70 chickens at the time of the big freeze. Many were large-combed types and the only injury any of them suffered was one rooster got a little frostbite on his comb. He was massive, and his comb was the size of my hand. The biggest issue we had was keeping the waterers ice-free. Most of the chickens didn't really venture out in the snow but, as soon as bare patches appeared, everyone went scratching in the mud.

Our flock was about half Ameraucanas with the balance made up of RIRs, New Hampshires, white leghorns, Ayam Cemanis, Black Copper Marans, a legbar, and a smattering of other oddballs.

Chickens are like any other animal; some will reveal in mud and water and some will avoid it like it was lava. I have a few low-lying areas that gather water and many of our chickens go wading for worms and whatever bugs climb the pasture grass to escape the flood.

 

[LynnTXchickenmom]

We had around 70 chickens at the time of the big freeze. Many were large-combed types and the only injury any of them suffered was one rooster got a little frostbite on his comb. He was massive, and his comb was the size of my hand. The biggest issue we had was keeping the waterers ice-free. Most of the chickens didn't really venture out in the snow but, as soon as bare patches appeared, everyone went scratching in the mud.

Our flock was about half Ameraucanas with the balance made up of RIRs, New Hampshires, white leghorns, Ayam Cemanis, Black Copper Marans, a legbar, and a smattering of other oddballs.

Chickens are like any other animal; some will reveal in mud and water and some will avoid it like it was lava. I have a few low-lying areas that gather water and many of our chickens go wading for worms and whatever bugs climb the pasture grass to escape the flood.

Good to know. How did your flock do with our record days of 100+ temps in June and July (esp. the 108-110 range)? Did you need to do anything special besides provide them with shade and water? What kind of coop do you have? Thanks.