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Hi there, I'm in G'town. You will definitely need plenty of ventilation, as it gets very hot in August and September. Keep some frozen watermelons for them in those super hot months. I have ventilation on the top of my coop and a window on the side. I keep the top open year round, and cover the window with cardboard during the winter months. If you don't have a shady yard, make sure your run is covered as well. We have a shady yard, so half of the run is covered with galvanized metal and the other half is just hardware cloth. I do have a space to hang a heat lamp in the winter, but I have only turned it on once in 5 years. They seem fine in the cold...they just seem to get closer to one another at night.

Speaking of hardware cloth....make sure you cover every opening with hardware cloth, and bury it around the entire perimeter of your coop and run. Tractor Supply is probably the best place to purchase large rolls. I live right in the middle of town, and I have had raccoons, opossums, foxes, and hawks trying to get at my chickens. I have only lost one (I left the run door open one night and a raccoon was able to get in and grab one of my girls), but there are obvious attempts to dig under the coop on a regular basis. Don't forget to bury some hardware cloth under the door to the run as well. I have not had a problem with snakes getting into the coop, but again, we live in town.
 
Thank you for the tips! I'll try the frozen watermelon when it gets hot. I've almost finished building my coop & run. I trenched the perimeter of the coop down to the caliche, about a foot and a half down. Then I inserted pavers sideways to build an "underground wall" that I then place pavers on top of for my foundation. So a predator trying to dig in will have to dig deep, through caliche and clay and then dig up past the pavers to get inside. I'm using hardware cloth everywhere else.
 
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sabrfencer said:
I'll keep y'all posted on how the self built coop goes.
Click to expand...
I've finished the coop, and in my opinion, it turned out pretty good. I've posted my story about it in the Articles, under small coops. I call it "Fort Clucks". I hope y'all can find it to see the whole story. Here is a small pick of it.

Fort Clucks Finished.jpg
 

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