What features do you wish your small (2-6 bird)coop had?

[Beekissed]

Thanks!

 

[farmguycitygirl]

In this case, radiant barrier would be anything shiny - anything that reflects heat well radiates heat badly, and anything that absorbs heat well radiates heat well...

This is why a black roof gets very hot and gives off a lot of that heat, but a white roof gets less hot, and takes a long time to shed that heat.

It's now common practice to put a shiny "radiant barrier" in the attic, to stop the radiant heat from the roof from getting into your home. The coop equivalent would be as simple as sticking/gluing aluminum foil, shiny side out, to the roof and sun-facing walls of the coop. As another upside, it also really helps with cleaning

A coop that has radiant barrier behaves differently - it takes longer to heat up, AND to cool down. In midwinter, you can also go down from a 100W to a 50W heat lamp, as the radiant barrier keeps the heat in as well as it keeps it out

 

[CuckooNest]

I used emergency blankets (aka space blankets) for radiant barrier. They are made of mylar and cost a couple bucks. My 4'x4' required 3 of them.





and yes my coop also has 1.5" of foam insulation all the way around in Arkansas

 

[perchie.girl]

High desert here so I get snow in winter for about 72 hours total but gawd the windchill is murder Summer days can be 110 summer nights can dip to 80. I use the heaviest duty Silver coated shade tarp I can find. They are not cheap since my coop space is 24 x 24 feet. I have one solid wall of plywood along the prevailing wind side. and a half wall of plywood on the Sun side or south side of the coop. The rest is chain-link or chain-link with hardware cloth around the perimeter. I would love to do a wood shed style roof but cant climb a ladder...... but I can throw a rope and those shade cloths come 24 x 30 Yep it does poof up when the wind gets whooping. But I can guarantee I have good ventilation and the temps in there in the summer are a good 20 degrees cooler than direct sun.


deb

 

[hemet dennis]

An example of a radiant barrier would be?

Can be as easy as planting a tree.

 

[Beekissed]

Can be as easy as planting a tree.

Until it gets some size on it, them chickens would sure enough fry, wouldn't they?

Anybody have any other things they would like to see on a backyard mini coop?

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:

True ..... LOL.... need something while the tree grows up.... hee hee. Mine took about ten years to get six foot tall trunks.

deb

 

[hemet dennis]

True ..... LOL.... need something while the tree grows up.... hee hee. Mine took about ten years to get six foot tall trunks.

deb

Plant different trees fruitless mulberries are real good for shade and don't need a lot of water after the first year.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
All joking aside Mulberry trees would be an excellent choice. And I wouldn't go with Fruitless because the fruit is good for jams and the chickens can eat them too. Might be a good replacement for the Three my goats Girdled the past couple of years.

Do they handle freeze? I am thinking they do because they are deciduous.

deb

 

[hemet dennis]

All joking aside Mulberry trees would be an excellent choice. And I wouldn't go with Fruitless because the fruit is good for jams and the chickens can eat them too. Might be a good replacement for the Three my goats Girdled the past couple of years.

Do they handle freeze? I am thinking they do because they are deciduous.

deb

The fruit gets tracked everywhere and will stain anything. They do handle the freeze. They drop all the leafs in one week rake them in to the compost pile once trim them every 2 or 3 years. They let the sun through in the winter.