New coop in south Florida!

[chics in the sun]

HI there from St.Pete!

What you have is wonderful looking, but in all honesty, I think you need WAY more ventilation. We don't really need completely enclosed coops in Florida, as chickens are more suseptable to problems related to overheating than they are to the cold. The windows need to be about 4x bigger, and will most likely never be closed.

 

[Lollipop]

West Palm Beach here. Welcome!! Only thing I can see is that you might wanna increase the ventilation quite a bit, like chics in the sun said. Looks like a metal roof and they get way hot. Poultry wire is questionable to protect from predators. With a fenced yard, dogs may not be a problem, but other determined beasts like coon, fox, coyotes, will go over or under your fence and make short work of poultry wire. It`s not a matter of "if" you have predators, just a matter of when they will kill your flock. Very nice work, but like chics in the sun also said, you don`t need a closed coop in FL. Open air is the best. My first fifty years of raising fowl in FL I never had a closed coop. Looks nice though. Just give`m more air...........Pop

 

[cityslickers]

 

[2DogsCoop]

Quote:
Yeah, I am concerned about the heat build up, but my friend that helped me build my coop raises a bunch of chickens and he seems to think with the two windows open along with the door then they will be okay. We are running power to the coop this weekend so if we need to put a fan in the window then that is not a problem. The area where the coop is located is surrounded by a bunch of very large pine trees so it is never in direct sunlight for any more than an hour. I will check the temperature inside the coop when I get home. It has been closed all day and there is not a cloud in the sky with a temp of around 85. But if I need to add more venting then I will it will not be a problem.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Well, you can wait to see just how hot it gets in that coop before you add any more ventilation. I think the birds will spend much of their daytime hours out in the run, and just go in the coop to lay and to sleep. If the doors & windows are open during the day there may not be as much of a heat build-up. You could paint the roof metal white to help reflect the sun's heat. Or maybe put in one of those roof turbines. If there is hardware cloth battened around the window frames then you could even leave the windows open at night.

And if the birds are shut in the coop at night, then the chicken wire may be all the protection you need during the day. You will want to watch out for dogs, if you think they could be a threat then reinforce the wire, especially along the bottom half. I've heard that a determined aggressive dog can plow right through chicken wire.

Have you considered cutting a chicken door alongside the coop door? There are even automatic door openers you can install, that run on a timer and let the chickens out of the coop first thing in the morning.

You still haven't told us where you are in South Florida, we're all curious to know if you're our neighbor!

 

[2DogsCoop]

Quote:
Sorry, I need to supply more information, we don't have any chickens yet, so I have time to get it right, thanks for the information I thought I had enough ventilation as did the individual who helped me build it. I know it looks like it doesn't have much but the windows are 20x20 open and the front door is 30"x7' and all will be open during the day, the main door to the coop is inside the run. My wife is always telling me I don't supply enough information. Our plan is to keep the chickens in the coop at night all locked up and secure, then in the morning open everything up. I'm not worried about dogs, our yard is completely fenced in all 2.5 acres, except my own two, and we plan on working with them around the chickens so hopefully they will eventually maybe protect them.

Click on my website it will take you to my photobucket chicken coop album.

We are in Naples

 

[SqueakyRoseShalom]

wow that looks great! i'm about to start building my run. did you bury the corner fence posts or are they just flush with the ground?

 

[2DogsCoop]

Quote:
The are flush with the ground and the run is attached to the coop with lag bolts so if we ever want to move the coop the run comes off and can be moved also. We don't plan on ever moving it though, so we are planning on digging a trench around the entire coop/run about one foot deep and putting in much stronger wire to prevent anything from digging under to get in. They can not get into the coop without chewing a hole in the wall and we plan on locking them in the coop every night for their safety. Thanks for the comments.

 

[Pidgey104]

looks great can you build me one next

 

[Lollipop]

Quote:
The are flush with the ground.

An idea for ya, 2Dogs. When I put together my chain link dog kennel pen, I used plastic latice split end ways to make 2 X 8` strips. I tucked them under the fence with 1` inside and 1` outside all the way around. That way the chickens could not scratch out holes under the fence and the vast assortment of predators we have in my area could not dig in. After 3 years in this location , on the side of a mountain in the deep woods of middle Georgia, we have had no encroachment of anything. We have coyote, fox, coon, wild dogs, etc, etc. It was a simple and easy installation. Just an idea........Pop