Texas BYC Cafe

[chick-chica]

Can I ask for advice on my coop? I live in San Antonio and we are in the process of building a coop for my babies. We only have 4. You can see the pics below. The coop and run is 7x7 on the bottom. The girls will be allowed to free-range in my yard about 3 times per week under supervision, but otherwise will be confined to the run (which will have wire mesh all around). So the coop part is mostly for sleeping and laying eggs.

1--- Here is my dilemma. As y'all know we live in a hotter than hell place, so most chicken-keepers I have met tell me to err on the side of ventilation for the coop. At the same time, I don't want them to freeze in winter (on those errant 3 nights of winter we get, right?) with the chilly wind. You can see where we have put hardware cloth on the upper sides. But I can't decide what is best for the upper back.

Here are the options:

a) Hardware cloth down to that 2x2 and solid wood below that.

b) Install hardware cloth down halfway past the 2x2 and then use 2 pieces of wood from the 2x2 down, but hinged halfway down so it can be opened during the summer for ventilation.

c) Solid wood down to the 2x2 as shown in pic and hardware mesh below (to ventilate the bottom part of the coop?) except the bottom 8 in. to allow for bedding.


2--- Second question: do you recommend having a lockable chicken door from the coop to the run area? Or is it enough to make a hole they can get in and out of freely?


3--- Third question: do you extend your wire mesh down into the ground to prevent diggers? I live in suburbia and have a 6ft fence all around the property.

Welcome your comments!


Here is the coop portion. The left side has a solid plywood panel where I need to cut a hole for the chicks to come out to the run. The right side is 1/2" mesh on that upside down triangle. The opening below the 2x6 is where we will build "outboard" nest box, so essentially that will be solid wood also.


Left wall, from inside coop. Upper portion ventilated, lower is solid with pop hole.




This is the "back wall" in question. Those two boards at top are temporarily screwed on there. The orange and metal behind is my fence.


This is the coop before we installed any walls.

 

[chickieluver26]

Can I ask for advice on my coop? I live in San Antonio and we are in the process of building a coop for my babies. We only have 4. You can see the pics below. The coop and run is 7x7 on the bottom. The girls will be allowed to free-range in my yard about 3 times per week under supervision, but otherwise will be confined to the run (which will have wire mesh all around). So the coop part is mostly for sleeping and laying eggs.

1--- Here is my dilemma. As y'all know we live in a hotter than hell place, so most chicken-keepers I have met tell me to err on the side of ventilation for the coop. At the same time, I don't want them to freeze in winter (on those errant 3 nights of winter we get, right?) with the chilly wind. You can see where we have put hardware cloth on the upper sides. But I can't decide what is best for the upper back.

Here are the options:

a) Hardware cloth down to that 2x2 and solid wood below that.

b) Install hardware cloth down halfway past the 2x2 and then use 2 pieces of wood from the 2x2 down, but hinged halfway down so it can be opened during the summer for ventilation.

c) Solid wood down to the 2x2 as shown in pic and hardware mesh below (to ventilate the bottom part of the coop?) except the bottom 8 in. to allow for bedding.


2--- Second question: do you recommend having a lockable chicken door from the coop to the run area? Or is it enough to make a hole they can get in and out of freely?


3--- Third question: do you extend your wire mesh down into the ground to prevent diggers? I live in suburbia and have a 6ft fence all around the property.

Welcome your comments!


Here is the coop portion. The left side has a solid plywood panel where I need to cut a hole for the chicks to come out to the run. The right side is 1/2" mesh on that upside down triangle. The opening below the 2x6 is where we will build "outboard" nest box, so essentially that will be solid wood also.


Left wall, from inside coop. Upper portion ventilated, lower is solid with pop hole.




This is the "back wall" in question. Those two boards at top are temporarily screwed on there. The orange and metal behind is my fence.


This is the coop before we installed any walls.

The thing we do is we went ahead and used a 4 wall structure that are about 7 feet tall and partially open with a fully closed roof. with wood pillars up to 4 feet then chicken wire, in the winter we cover the walls with tarps and put in a small heater, in summer we put in a small fan with no tarps, any other time, unless some extreme weather occurs we don't do anything and all of our chickens have lived 7+ years (unless killed by our dogs

)! if you use this method I hope it works as well for you as it does for us!

 

[Ms Jellybean]

Can I ask for advice on my coop? I live in San Antonio and we are in the process of building a coop for my babies. We only have 4. You can see the pics below. The coop and run is 7x7 on the bottom. The girls will be allowed to free-range in my yard about 3 times per week under supervision, but otherwise will be confined to the run (which will have wire mesh all around). So the coop part is mostly for sleeping and laying eggs.

1--- Here is my dilemma. As y'all know we live in a hotter than hell place, so most chicken-keepers I have met tell me to err on the side of ventilation for the coop. At the same time, I don't want them to freeze in winter (on those errant 3 nights of winter we get, right?) with the chilly wind. You can see where we have put hardware cloth on the upper sides. But I can't decide what is best for the upper back.

Here are the options:

a) Hardware cloth down to that 2x2 and solid wood below that.

b) Install hardware cloth down halfway past the 2x2 and then use 2 pieces of wood from the 2x2 down, but hinged halfway down so it can be opened during the summer for ventilation.

c) Solid wood down to the 2x2 as shown in pic and hardware mesh below (to ventilate the bottom part of the coop?) except the bottom 8 in. to allow for bedding.


2--- Second question: do you recommend having a lockable chicken door from the coop to the run area? Or is it enough to make a hole they can get in and out of freely?


3--- Third question: do you extend your wire mesh down into the ground to prevent diggers? I live in suburbia and have a 6ft fence all around the property.

Welcome your comments!


Here is the coop portion. The left side has a solid plywood panel where I need to cut a hole for the chicks to come out to the run. The right side is 1/2" mesh on that upside down triangle. The opening below the 2x6 is where we will build "outboard" nest box, so essentially that will be solid wood also.


Left wall, from inside coop. Upper portion ventilated, lower is solid with pop hole.




This is the "back wall" in question. Those two boards at top are temporarily screwed on there. The orange and metal behind is my fence.


This is the coop before we installed any walls.

Have you had a look through the coop section on here for ideas?

You really won't need to supplement heat here in Texas as long as the birds can get out of the wind. You do need a lot of ventilation though. I was thinking about doing a coop like this but I now have another idea running around in my head. I want to make a third wall (as in 1/3 if the way up) around most of the area and then enclose the coop area for protection. It will have windows I can open in the summer and the top will be open with a cover similar to the link. I will also have part of the run completely open with only hardware cloth and also have a larger fenced in run area. The coop/run will be about 6x12' and the other run will be about the size of a one car garage. I can see it so clearly in my head. Translating it into words and onto paper is another thing though.

You can use a small opening for the chickens to use, but you do need to be able to secure it at night. Everything loves chicken so the coop needs to be predator safe.

 

[Brookshire11]

I switched to Victor dog food. It is made in Mt. Pleasant, Texas and has no corn, soy or wheat. I was feeding them Pedigree, but since switching to Victor, they love it and they POOP LESS!! I think the bag size I buy is 40 pounds and depending on what "flavor" I buy, I have paid from $32 to $26 per bag. Right now I am feeding the blue bag, Select Beef Meal and Brown Rice. They love it, they are healthy, fit, and have shiny coats. Here's a link,

http://www.victordogfood.com/

Do you buy via the website, or at a store?

Can I ask for advice on my coop? I live in San Antonio and we are in the process of building a coop for my babies. We only have 4. You can see the pics below. The coop and run is 7x7 on the bottom. The girls will be allowed to free-range in my yard about 3 times per week under supervision, but otherwise will be confined to the run (which will have wire mesh all around). So the coop part is mostly for sleeping and laying eggs.

1--- Here is my dilemma. As y'all know we live in a hotter than hell place, so most chicken-keepers I have met tell me to err on the side of ventilation for the coop. At the same time, I don't want them to freeze in winter (on those errant 3 nights of winter we get, right?) with the chilly wind. You can see where we have put hardware cloth on the upper sides. But I can't decide what is best for the upper back.

Here are the options:

a) Hardware cloth down to that 2x2 and solid wood below that.

b) Install hardware cloth down halfway past the 2x2 and then use 2 pieces of wood from the 2x2 down, but hinged halfway down so it can be opened during the summer for ventilation.

c) Solid wood down to the 2x2 as shown in pic and hardware mesh below (to ventilate the bottom part of the coop?) except the bottom 8 in. to allow for bedding.


2--- Second question: do you recommend having a lockable chicken door from the coop to the run area? Or is it enough to make a hole they can get in and out of freely?


3--- Third question: do you extend your wire mesh down into the ground to prevent diggers? I live in suburbia and have a 6ft fence all around the property.

Welcome your comments!


Here is the coop portion. The left side has a solid plywood panel where I need to cut a hole for the chicks to come out to the run. The right side is 1/2" mesh on that upside down triangle. The opening below the 2x6 is where we will build "outboard" nest box, so essentially that will be solid wood also.


Left wall, from inside coop. Upper portion ventilated, lower is solid with pop hole.




This is the "back wall" in question. Those two boards at top are temporarily screwed on there. The orange and metal behind is my fence.


This is the coop before we installed any walls.

Hmmmm....I think our summers are a lot more problematic than our winters...
I might do the hardware cloth. I've seen clear plastic or tarps used to shield from the wind and cold in the winter.

As far as the cloth on the ground, it depends. It definitely couldn't hurt, so if you have the resources and time, it might give you an extra piece of mind.
I haven't lived as far west as San Antonio, so I don't know what kind of predators you see on a daily basis.
I'm also in more of a suburb, with the 6ft fence and have had no issues with predators. My girls are able to free range all day, from just before dawn to dusk. It might not always be like that, but they're living it up for now!

Also for the door, if you have a lot of raccoons, I've seen/heard of them being able to open simple locks.
If raccoons (or human predators, that happens too unfortunately) aren't an issue at all, you could get away with the hole, or a sliding door.
Mine slides vertically.

I'm probably not the BEST person for coop advice. I'm just NOW getting my 3, almost 9 month old girls to sleep there.

They got in the bad habit of sneaking into the mudroom. Little squatters...
I'm a little more strict with the newer girls

Regardless, good luck!!

Also you may want to check out the other Texas board.
There's a lady there in San Antonio and may be able to give you more specific advise, based on your region
I'm near Dallas so..big weather difference lol

 

[Baymule]

For the Victor dog food, go to their web site and look or call for dealers. I buy mine locally from a feed store.

Chick-chica, ventilation is the most important of all. I have hardware cloth all around the bottom on my coop one foot high. I also have hardware cloth panels in 3 walls and the door is wood frame with hardware cloth. In the winter, I open up feed sacks and staple over some of the hardware cloth, just enough to keep the wind off. The chickens can do fine in our winters. Last winter we actually got snow twice and an ice storm once. They have a layer of down next to their skin, they fluff up their feathers, trapping heat and they pack close together on the roost. The most important thing is protecting them from heat. If your coop gets real hot, keep milk jugs and freeze water in them. Every day you can give them a frozen jug. Or you can freeze blocks of ice and dump them in a shallow pan. That way as the ice melts, they can get a good cold drink of water. If you have a dirt floor in the coop/run, water them a mudhole every evening or morning and they will enjoy the damp earth. Your coop looks really good!

 

[henless]

Hey everyone, just wanted to let ya'll know I'm still around and kicking.

Been super busy at work, and Mom has some health problems we've been dealing with, so doesn't leave much time to get online.

@chick-chica ~ The more ventilation the better here in Texas. Put up a lot of half inch hardware cloth, and cover with clear tarps/heavy plastic as needed during the winters. This will be my first winter with grown chickens. so I'm still learning. The heat here in Texas is rougher on them than our Winters.


I have an open air coop/run. It's 10' x 20'. Totally open on 3 sides, with a partial wall in the back. I plan on putting up tarps this winter as a wind break.



This is the only side with any type of walls. The wall on the left, in the shadows, goes up to about 2 ft. from the roof. I put up hardware cloth and used that "open" portion for the vent over the roost. My roost runs along the shadowed wall. You can click on "My Coop" under my avatar, and it will take you to the coop construction.




My chickens are doing fine. Laying well, anywhere from 10 to 12 eggs a day. Still have 1 slacker, doubt she'll ever lay! We are very dry thought. Been having to run the sprinklers to keep the fire danger down. DH put out two fires along the side of the road yesterday on the way home. We got a sprinkle today, but not enough to settle the dust. My coop is really dry. I've been watering the DL almost daily to keep down the dust. Still working on the outside run, slow going, but hope to have it finished soon.

 

[chick-chica]

Also you may want to check out the other Texas board.
There's a lady there in San Antonio and may be able to give you more specific advise, based on your region
I'm near Dallas so..big weather difference lol

Wondering what is the "other Texas board" does it have a name? Would love to find it.

 

[henless]

Wondering what is the "other Texas board" does it have a name? Would love to find it.

You can find the other Texas board here. Or, you can look under Where am I? Where are you! and look for "Texas".

 

[Baymule]

This is my hoop run, covered in hardware cloth. I hog ringed in on. The run is 12'x8' and the coop is 8'x7'. The small picture of the coop shows how much hardware cloth I put on the coop. I cut a 12"x9" hole in the bottom wire from the coop to the run. In winter, I staple a open feed sack on the side of the coop to deflect wind.

 

[Brookshire11]

Hey everyone, just wanted to let ya'll know I'm still around and kicking.

Been super busy at work, and Mom has some health problems we've been dealing with, so doesn't leave much time to get online.

@chick-chica ~ The more ventilation the better here in Texas. Put up a lot of half inch hardware cloth, and cover with clear tarps/heavy plastic as needed during the winters. This will be my first winter with grown chickens. so I'm still learning. The heat here in Texas is rougher on them than our Winters.


I have an open air coop/run. It's 10' x 20'. Totally open on 3 sides, with a partial wall in the back. I plan on putting up tarps this winter as a wind break.



This is the only side with any type of walls. The wall on the left, in the shadows, goes up to about 2 ft. from the roof. I put up hardware cloth and used that "open" portion for the vent over the roost. My roost runs along the shadowed wall. You can click on "My Coop" under my avatar, and it will take you to the coop construction.




My chickens are doing fine. Laying well, anywhere from 10 to 12 eggs a day. Still have 1 slacker, doubt she'll ever lay! We are very dry thought. Been having to run the sprinklers to keep the fire danger down. DH put out two fires along the side of the road yesterday on the way home. We got a sprinkle today, but not enough to settle the dust. My coop is really dry. I've been watering the DL almost daily to keep down the dust. Still working on the outside run, slow going, but hope to have it finished soon.

Wow, you have been busy! Hope it slows down soon and you get some rain!


My "Littles" are outgrowing their name!
5 weeks today and I'm really impressed with them!
They've been outside for a little over a week and I think we're going to start them in the coop tonight.
I need to get updated pictures