Thinking Of Keeping Our Flock Outside All Summer In An Enclosed Chicken Yard--Coop Too Small And Hot

[mizjones]

View of chicken yard from front corner. Separate baby yard also.


View of chicken yard from the rear.

Hi All, We have 24 chickens--4 different breeds-- and a very large, fully enclosed chicken yard (even buried hardware cloth 10 inches down around the base).

Our coop however is very small and it's not well ventilated. As the heat increases I'm beginning to worry that the little solar fans we installed are definitely not adequate which brings on potential moisture as well as heat worries. No time to make new fans right now because we'd have to tear out some of the coop to fix this problem (poor husband).

So what if I lock all the birds outside from June through August and don't allow anyone access to the coop? This means of course we'll have to make some adjustments for nesting and so forth but...

Our hens don't free range because of the hawk, raccoon, rat problems out here in South Carolina. They have to stay in a protected environment for now. But the yard is really large and has some shade as well as sunlight. I'm worried. What if it turns out I'm a bad chicken mother?

Need advice, opinions, ideas, anything. Thanks.

 

[meetthebubus]

Here's a video of what I do, of course I live in 120 degree desert summer, but I also do ice bottles, you can do a lean to, a open type stable for shade, I call mine the mansion