We just acquired nine chickens and a four foot by six foot wire coop, We live in the high desert of Ca. so it gets very warm and cold here. What do we need for a coop? Looking for ideas and plans if you have them. We live on two acres of desert with a five foot chain link fence around the property. Thanks for any input you have.
Welcome to BYC! You might try asking over on the NorCal thread or on the Post Your Chicken Coops Here thread. I think @perchie.girl is also high desert and is working on a new coop right now. I'm sure lots of people there will have ideas. In the main, heat is more of an issue than cold, so something that's OPEN AIR for summer (and shaded if possible) is your best bet. You can always put up a tarp or plywood walls during winter if necessary.
We just acquired nine chickens and a four foot by six foot wire coop, We live in the high desert of Ca. so it gets very warm and cold here. What do we need for a coop? Looking for ideas and plans if you have them. We live on two acres of desert with a five foot chain link fence around the property. Thanks for any input you have.
With regard to the coop four by six is 24 square feet divide by four... thats eight chickens... nine or ten if they are friendly....
with each other. My coops are 12 x 6 dog kennels that are six feet tall. I need to walk in there and I really cant be stooping.
Chain-link will help protect your chickens from dogs and coyotes... and its a great start. Just remember bobcats just use chain link like a climbing structure
. Believe me they are there...
I have Mountain lions as well. Usually Mountain lions follow the deer so its a hit or miss in my area... My property is two miles from the Mexican border. They wont bother the horse but they will sure take out a goat.
Mine is a mild desert it only gets up to 105 for about seven days total during the summer... and we do get the occasional 110 degrees. Shade shade shade. I use silver tarps for a roof on my dog kennel coop. OVER a chainlink roof already in place. I would swap it for a tin roof in a nanosecond...
I have some mature umbrella trees that make 100 percent shade... But if you dont have trees it would be good to put shade cloth over the run.
Oh and just because its desert dont think there are not raccoons and foxes. So what ever you use for your main coop any openings should be covered with at least 1/2 inch hardware cloth... Racoons can bite right through chicken wire... and so can dogs... Canids are diggers so if there is needed food to be had on the other side and no way over.... they will go under... Which can be remedied by a skirt of wire around the base of the coop.
I use only two walls on my coop... One solid wood wall for the prevailing winds.... During the winter those shift to another direction and I should put a wall there but I havent yet. So ideally desert coops should have two windbreak walls and one roof and the rest Wire. Air circulation is key... In the winter I may drop the tarp down to make a third wall. or half wall down as far as the perch height. Helps them keep their own heat in. I get snow and yes snow does get in my coop... the birds dont mind.
Cold isnt as much an issue as heat. chickens can handle Alaskan temperatures with pretty much similar protections.
We are fortunate that our hot climates are dry.... The dry air makes your sweat effective in cooling you off because evaporation can cool you down. Unfortunately Chickens dont sweat. They radiate heat through their combs and wattles.... for that... I wont use nipple waterers... Its a bit more work keeping the water clean in a tub but they can get a good long drink out of a water tub and those wattles will hang in the cool water to help them out... You will find your chickens will take a nap in the heat of the day with their wings spread out... keepin cool.
My coops all have dirt floors. Decomposed granite in my area... So having a three gallon tub of water is not messy to dump out right in the coop. it has an added benefit in making the dirt moist and cooling to hot feet. ON my next go round I will provide an area designed to be wetted down in the summer time...
Here is what I use for water.
with a float valve attached
both can be bought at a feed store.
You can hook the float valve to the side of the tub and fasten a water hose to it.... Its very important they never run out of water... Thie same float valve assembly can be used to water rabbits dogs goats and other poultry. I use a larger one for the horse... same float valve but her tub of water is 110 gallons. She drinks 40 gallons a day.
Here is the floor plan of my next poultry adventure:
My curent defunct coop is about Nineteen by twelve with three partitions. I lost all my poultry two years ago through cascade failure.... My well pump died and I had to let the chickens free range to get to the goat water which I was refilling with a water tote. Coyotes got them.
Good luck and enjoy. Oh and if you are very new to chickens you should place the roosts higher than the nest boxes... Keeps Poo off the eggs.
