New chicken owner and coop question

[JPHJPH]

So today I built a wood frame around the bottom, added 44 12' cement blocks and 2.5" of sand .... Happy happy chicken behavior .. Woohoo !!!! And thanks everyone who helped!

 

[JPHJPH]

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[JPHJPH]

 

[informative]

I moved the coop and tractor next to a tree so it gets some partial shade all day but in Texas temps still reach 101 in the top coop portion and in the grass below it goes up to 95. I expected the chickens to figure out that it was 6-7 degrees cooler below in the grass but they tend to stay in the coop at 4 PM panting and looking like they are getting heat stroke so after a couple days I brought them back inside to their old brooder box to have some relief. Are my chickens just dumber than usual? Some reason they are afraid to go up and down the ramp into the grass during the early afternoon?

My batch of six chickens are mixed breeds australorps, langshans and red star comet sex link all about 4-5 weeks old

I read somewhere that a good way to help with this is to freeze 2 liter bottles of water and stick those in the coop on hot days to act as chicken air conditioning

 

[Mrs Rebecca]

So today I built a wood frame around the bottom, added 44 12' cement blocks and 2.5" of sand .... Happy happy chicken behavior .. Woohoo !!!! And thanks everyone who helped!

Yay!

 

[Mrs Rebecca]

I moved the coop and tractor next to a tree so it gets some partial shade all day but in Texas temps still reach 101 in the top coop portion and in the grass below it goes up to 95. I expected the chickens to figure out that it was 6-7 degrees cooler below in the grass but they tend to stay in the coop at 4 PM panting and looking like they are getting heat stroke so after a couple days I brought them back inside to their old brooder box to have some relief. Are my chickens just dumber than usual? Some reason they are afraid to go up and down the ramp into the grass during the early afternoon?

My batch of six chickens are mixed breeds australorps, langshans and red star comet sex link all about 4-5 weeks old

I read somewhere that a good way to help with this is to freeze 2 liter bottles of water and stick those in the coop on hot days to act as chicken air conditioning

I have used frozen gallon jugs in the coop and in the run. I also toss a handful of ice cubes into their water, and freeze their favorite treats. I have a homemade shade cloth that is attached to the side of my run and I put it down during the hottest part of the day. Your chickens are pretty young, as long as you provide what they need in your run, they will learn to spend more time there.

 

[aart]

Sand looks good!
Now to think of how you will make that tarped run roof hold up to the snow load.

 

[JPHJPH]

Sand looks good!
Now to think of how you will make that tarped run roof hold up to the snow load.

Yeah that's temporary for some rain this weekend... I'm going to do a corrugated roof with posts In the ground

 

[aart]

Yeah that's temporary for some rain this weekend... I'm going to do a corrugated roof with posts In the ground

Great Idea!

 

[informative]

I have used frozen gallon jugs in the coop and in the run. I also toss a handful of ice cubes into their water, and freeze their favorite treats. I have a homemade shade cloth that is attached to the side of my run and I put it down during the hottest part of the day. Your chickens are pretty young, as long as you provide what they need in your run, they will learn to spend more time there.

Shade cloth might be a way to go sort of a makeshift tent over the mobile run and mini coop to double the shade effect. Hmm good thinking