Hello,
I've never had chickens in my life, but we are currently living on a large rural property and it seems ideal, and something I'd like to do, but I have a few questions.
1. We have tons of space (150 Acres) and no neighbors really, so I could let them just free range without a run, but we do have several predators (Cats, coyotes, hawks, foxes, the occasional car) and they would be unsupervised during the day, so I would probably still need to construct and keep them in a run I would guess?
2. Where I live our coldest night ever in the winter is about 28F, it never snows here. In the summer it can get as hot as 104F in July for a few days. Do I need to put insulation in the walls of the coup?
3. I had planned to use a light sensor to open and close the coop door for them automatically, but if they are confined to a run, does the coop even need a door to lock them in?
4. I see a lot of coops with windows in them, is this just for aesthetics? Are they better off with lots of light? My original plan was just to install some vents.
Thanks for the help.
I've never had chickens in my life, but we are currently living on a large rural property and it seems ideal, and something I'd like to do, but I have a few questions.
1. We have tons of space (150 Acres) and no neighbors really, so I could let them just free range without a run, but we do have several predators (Cats, coyotes, hawks, foxes, the occasional car) and they would be unsupervised during the day, so I would probably still need to construct and keep them in a run I would guess?
2. Where I live our coldest night ever in the winter is about 28F, it never snows here. In the summer it can get as hot as 104F in July for a few days. Do I need to put insulation in the walls of the coup?
3. I had planned to use a light sensor to open and close the coop door for them automatically, but if they are confined to a run, does the coop even need a door to lock them in?
4. I see a lot of coops with windows in them, is this just for aesthetics? Are they better off with lots of light? My original plan was just to install some vents.
Thanks for the help.