Florida Coop build advice please

[CVMAKitten]

Hey all!
I live in NW Florida, and am building my shed/coop for my girls based off these plans (https://www.construct101.com/large-chicken-coop-plans-step-step/). The run will have avian netting for the roof, as we don't want a full roof over everything. The girls will have PLENTY of shade for our beautiful Florida weather. I've read a LOT about coops, and plan to add a big "window" (a cutout with hardware cloth screening) for ventilation on each side, and will make shutters from the wood cut-outs that I can close for when the weather gets too bad.
The girls will be close-ish to the house, and I plan on putting mason sand down everywhere inside the house and in the run. We are going to do hardware cloth on the run walls with an apron/skirt of about a foot in length. The husband is CONVINCED that we NEED to put plywood down underneath the metal roof I am going to buy because he thinks the chickens will get too cold. We do not get snow here in the panhandle, and temps will SOMETIMES drop below freezing. We do have light gusts on those days, but nothing like the freaking wind I had to deal with in Nebraska where I could feel my skin on my face crystalize. I feel like we don't need all four walls up on the coop, and that I could do a half wall on the front to allow for more air flow that wouldn't be bad in the winter either. It would give the girls plenty of ventilation, and I believe I could make it to where I can add a plywood sheet on top to close it off in case of a hurricane and still let them have a little chicken door on the bottom.

The shed is 8x8, and the run is pretty much going to sit just inside the marked trees. I have not measured, but it's a pretty large spot (I'm guessing about 20x20 at the very least) and should give my girls and the guinea a decent enough place to roam around and be protected. We had to clear out a decent amount of underbrush (you can see part of the huge pile in the pictures) and cut down two bigger trees to clear it. I still need to finish leveling out the dirt under my concrete blocks. The wood has all been stained and sealed, and as you can see, we are using brackets and mounting joists for longevity. I also plan on using the rubberized roof paint on the plywood floor as I read in a few places that it makes it so much easier to clean the coop out and protect the wood. It will still be able to breath underneath to hopefully prevent wood rot.

Can I get your thoughts/ideas/suggestions please?
<3
KaS

 

[Slocala]

Hi. I'm in Ocala, Fl. So I'm a bit further south than you are. I just built my coop and like you, my concern was heat.. When we have cold weather down here it usually blows in from the east, the Atlantic side. I decided to make that a solid wall. As the sun shifts in the summer it hits the coop on the south side. So that is a solid wall also to keep that sun off the coop. I made walls out of old dog crate panels and covered them with bamboo that grows on my property for air flow. The sand... Well, I have a 16 X 16 area with a covered roof for a secure chicken yard. I put 5 front end buckets of sand in there thinking how clean it will be for the girls not to mention scooping poop. They spent the first week churning up that sand to get to the dirt underneath! Chickens won that one but it's high and dry for them.

 

[CVMAKitten]

We were in our home last winter (Baker, FL), but I was not even remotely sure about chickens at that time, and started reading on them about two months before ordering from my local poultry place. I did not even think of the winds, but thats why I figured I could cut out windows and make shutters of a sort in case I do need to close them off. I also assume that with the lovely coverage we get from the large trees we won't have to worry too much about shade. The girls will have plenty of that. We have really sandy dirt underneath all that leaf litter, so even if the girls get down to it, I don't think it will get too muddy if it rains and they do decide to be jerks and dig down. I really just want that nice gritty sand to help keep their feet cleaner. I saw a lady had made a giant "kitty litter" scoop from a hay rake covered in hardware cloth, and she said it worked wonders to scoop the poop out. if a few bigger rocks get out, it won't be a big deal.
I plan on having a poo bucket or a pile somewhere nearby to allow for composting. I have a bathtub outside right now, but I never remember to turn the stuff in it. I was thinking of deep litter mulching, but the wood is porous and I do fear with the rain we get and the humidity it would just turn into a giant sick-chicken prison if I did that.

 

[PattyRchickymomma]

Hey all!
I live in NW Florida, and am building my shed/coop for my girls based off these plans (https://www.construct101.com/large-chicken-coop-plans-step-step/). The run will have avian netting for the roof, as we don't want a full roof over everything. The girls will have PLENTY of shade for our beautiful Florida weather. I've read a LOT about coops, and plan to add a big "window" (a cutout with hardware cloth screening) for ventilation on each side, and will make shutters from the wood cut-outs that I can close for when the weather gets too bad.
The girls will be close-ish to the house, and I plan on putting mason sand down everywhere inside the house and in the run. We are going to do hardware cloth on the run walls with an apron/skirt of about a foot in length. The husband is CONVINCED that we NEED to put plywood down underneath the metal roof I am going to buy because he thinks the chickens will get too cold. We do not get snow here in the panhandle, and temps will SOMETIMES drop below freezing. We do have light gusts on those days, but nothing like the freaking wind I had to deal with in Nebraska where I could feel my skin on my face crystalize. I feel like we don't need all four walls up on the coop, and that I could do a half wall on the front to allow for more air flow that wouldn't be bad in the winter either. It would give the girls plenty of ventilation, and I believe I could make it to where I can add a plywood sheet on top to close it off in case of a hurricane and still let them have a little chicken door on the bottom.

The shed is 8x8, and the run is pretty much going to sit just inside the marked trees. I have not measured, but it's a pretty large spot (I'm guessing about 20x20 at the very least) and should give my girls and the guinea a decent enough place to roam around and be protected. We had to clear out a decent amount of underbrush (you can see part of the huge pile in the pictures) and cut down two bigger trees to clear it. I still need to finish leveling out the dirt under my concrete blocks. The wood has all been stained and sealed, and as you can see, we are using brackets and mounting joists for longevity. I also plan on using the rubberized roof paint on the plywood floor as I read in a few places that it makes it so much easier to clean the coop out and protect the wood. It will still be able to breath underneath to hopefully prevent wood rot.

Can I get your thoughts/ideas/suggestions please?
<3
KaS

View attachment 2327941View attachment 2327942View attachment 2327962View attachment 2327963

Hey all!
I live in NW Florida, and am building my shed/coop for my girls based off these plans (https://www.construct101.com/large-chicken-coop-plans-step-step/). The run will have avian netting for the roof, as we don't want a full roof over everything. The girls will have PLENTY of shade for our beautiful Florida weather. I've read a LOT about coops, and plan to add a big "window" (a cutout with hardware cloth screening) for ventilation on each side, and will make shutters from the wood cut-outs that I can close for when the weather gets too bad.
The girls will be close-ish to the house, and I plan on putting mason sand down everywhere inside the house and in the run. We are going to do hardware cloth on the run walls with an apron/skirt of about a foot in length. The husband is CONVINCED that we NEED to put plywood down underneath the metal roof I am going to buy because he thinks the chickens will get too cold. We do not get snow here in the panhandle, and temps will SOMETIMES drop below freezing. We do have light gusts on those days, but nothing like the freaking wind I had to deal with in Nebraska where I could feel my skin on my face crystalize. I feel like we don't need all four walls up on the coop, and that I could do a half wall on the front to allow for more air flow that wouldn't be bad in the winter either. It would give the girls plenty of ventilation, and I believe I could make it to where I can add a plywood sheet on top to close it off in case of a hurricane and still let them have a little chicken door on the bottom.

The shed is 8x8, and the run is pretty much going to sit just inside the marked trees. I have not measured, but it's a pretty large spot (I'm guessing about 20x20 at the very least) and should give my girls and the guinea a decent enough place to roam around and be protected. We had to clear out a decent amount of underbrush (you can see part of the huge pile in the pictures) and cut down two bigger trees to clear it. I still need to finish leveling out the dirt under my concrete blocks. The wood has all been stained and sealed, and as you can see, we are using brackets and mounting joists for longevity. I also plan on using the rubberized roof paint on the plywood floor as I read in a few places that it makes it so much easier to clean the coop out and protect the wood. It will still be able to breath underneath to hopefully prevent wood rot.

Can I get your thoughts/ideas/suggestions please?
<3
KaS

View attachment 2327941View attachment 2327942View attachment 2327962View attachment 2327963

Hey all!
I live in NW Florida, and am building my shed/coop for my girls based off these plans (https://www.construct101.com/large-chicken-coop-plans-step-step/). The run will have avian netting for the roof, as we don't want a full roof over everything. The girls will have PLENTY of shade for our beautiful Florida weather. I've read a LOT about coops, and plan to add a big "window" (a cutout with hardware cloth screening) for ventilation on each side, and will make shutters from the wood cut-outs that I can close for when the weather gets too bad.
The girls will be close-ish to the house, and I plan on putting mason sand down everywhere inside the house and in the run. We are going to do hardware cloth on the run walls with an apron/skirt of about a foot in length. The husband is CONVINCED that we NEED to put plywood down underneath the metal roof I am going to buy because he thinks the chickens will get too cold. We do not get snow here in the panhandle, and temps will SOMETIMES drop below freezing. We do have light gusts on those days, but nothing like the freaking wind I had to deal with in Nebraska where I could feel my skin on my face crystalize. I feel like we don't need all four walls up on the coop, and that I could do a half wall on the front to allow for more air flow that wouldn't be bad in the winter either. It would give the girls plenty of ventilation, and I believe I could make it to where I can add a plywood sheet on top to close it off in case of a hurricane and still let them have a little chicken door on the bottom.

The shed is 8x8, and the run is pretty much going to sit just inside the marked trees. I have not measured, but it's a pretty large spot (I'm guessing about 20x20 at the very least) and should give my girls and the guinea a decent enough place to roam around and be protected. We had to clear out a decent amount of underbrush (you can see part of the huge pile in the pictures) and cut down two bigger trees to clear it. I still need to finish leveling out the dirt under my concrete blocks. The wood has all been stained and sealed, and as you can see, we are using brackets and mounting joists for longevity. I also plan on using the rubberized roof paint on the plywood floor as I read in a few places that it makes it so much easier to clean the coop out and protect the wood. It will still be able to breath underneath to hopefully prevent wood rot.

Can I get your thoughts/ideas/suggestions please?
<3
KaS

View attachment 2327941View attachment 2327942View attachment 2327962View attachment 2327963

We live in SW FLA and just started keeping hens In January. I only have 4 girls and we built an 8x8 coop also. We closed in one whole side and half of another and our has a real roof. I wasn’t worried about cold here but I was worried about the rain we get 6 months out of the year. We also used sand for the floor which is fantastic! I have a large kitty steel kitty litter scoop that works great. The sand dries so fast even after a whole day or rain. We used hardware cloth on the whole pen and even used it on the inside to make sure nothing could reach through and grab them. I also buried a foot of the hardware cloth in the ground and skirted the coup with it as well. We also just recently screened the whole coop to keep out As many mosquitos as possible. We let our girls free range all day in the yard.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm also in the Panhandle. No, you don't need plywood under the roof for insulation from the cold. Your birds will find it MUCH easier to deal with the Panhandle cold than the Panhandle heat. Good airflow right under the roof will do a better job of carrying that away (and preventing buildup of unpleasant gasses and moisture in the hen house) than any amount of plywood ceiling you might add. Additionally, if you should have problems with the roof - say, a leak - the plywood will ensure you won't see it until WAY too late to do a fast and easy fix.

You absolutely will want to use tie downs hold your shed to the ground in terrible weather (fingers crossed the Panhandle sees no more Michael-like storms for at least a decade) though the surrounding trees will ensure you have much less wind concerns than most. You will also want to add skirting around the bottom, to keep your birds from going underneath and hiding - who knows what else might decide to lurk down there? snakes and mice/rats are the most likely culprits.

I have no advice regarding leaving walls off. My own coop is walled on all four sides, but its much more exposed, and we've had rains come in from every direction now, not just in accordance with the prevailing trends. By necessity (I have ducks), my house is two level. Underneath, to a height of 3', is a hardware cloth protected house/run using a deep litter method for my ducks. Its open on three sides, though well sheltered on two, and the chickens often hang out there during the hottest part of the day, while the ducks are more often under a shade tarp or playing in a pool I dug.

The second level, raised 3' off the ground, is the hen house proper, with attached, outside access, nesting boxes. Its in the shape of a "U", so when the door is closed (which has a large, hardware cloth protected, hinged-shutter viewing "window"), there is a 4'x4' (approx) "shaft" to the lower level. Cool air is drawn under the house, up the shaft, joins air coming from the open soffits, and escapes through either the roof vent or the large vent at the front peak. It works for me - and since the whole thing is built of pressure treated wood and hardieboard, I could even deep litter up top - though I find my birds mostly pull clean straw from their nesting boxes into the house, crap all over it under their roosts, then kick it "downstairs" for the ducks long before any composting has a chance to happen in the upper deck.

My last suggestion is that, to the extent you are able, you grade the ground away from the house, so when we get our 3"+/hr rain fall summer storms, to don't have periodic flood cycles. If you can't grade it, a few dry ditches to manage and direct water will be your best option.

 

[CVMAKitten]

You have a coop in a coop?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

@CVMAKitten not sure who that question was directed to, but no, i would not describe my coop that way - i have a 2 layer coop in a fenced but not covered run behind my barn, the whole thing set in a goat pasture (no goats yet, sadly), w/i electric fencing.

Was raining until about 10 minutes ago, so the inspection window on the coop door is closed in this picture

 

[CVMAKitten]

I'm also in the Panhandle. No, you don't need plywood under the roof for insulation from the cold. Your birds will find it MUCH easier to deal with the Panhandle cold than the Panhandle heat. Good airflow right under the roof will do a better job of carrying that away (and preventing buildup of unpleasant gasses and moisture in the hen house) than any amount of plywood ceiling you might add. Additionally, if you should have problems with the roof - say, a leak - the plywood will ensure you won't see it until WAY too late to do a fast and easy fix.

You absolutely will want to use tie downs hold your shed to the ground in terrible weather (fingers crossed the Panhandle sees no more Michael-like storms for at least a decade) though the surrounding trees will ensure you have much less wind concerns than most. You will also want to add skirting around the bottom, to keep your birds from going underneath and hiding - who knows what else might decide to lurk down there? snakes and mice/rats are the most likely culprits.

I have no advice regarding leaving walls off. My own coop is walled on all four sides, but its much more exposed, and we've had rains come in from every direction now, not just in accordance with the prevailing trends. By necessity (I have ducks), my house is two level. Underneath, to a height of 3', is a hardware cloth protected house/run using a deep litter method for my ducks. Its open on three sides, though well sheltered on two, and the chickens often hang out there during the hottest part of the day, while the ducks are more often under a shade tarp or playing in a pool I dug.

The second level, raised 3' off the ground, is the hen house proper, with attached, outside access, nesting boxes. Its in the shape of a "U", so when the door is closed (which has a large, hardware cloth protected, hinged-shutter viewing "window"), there is a 4'x4' (approx) "shaft" to the lower level. Cool air is drawn under the house, up the shaft, joins air coming from the open soffits, and escapes through either the roof vent or the large vent at the front peak. It works for me - and since the whole thing is built of pressure treated wood and hardieboard, I could even deep litter up top - though I find my birds mostly pull clean straw from their nesting boxes into the house, crap all over it under their roosts, then kick it "downstairs" for the ducks long before any composting has a chance to happen in the upper deck.

My last suggestion is that, to the extent you are able, you grade the ground away from the house, so when we get our 3"+/hr rain fall summer storms, to don't have periodic flood cycles. If you can't grade it, a few dry ditches to manage and direct water will be your best option.

I will add some tie-down spots on each side of the coop so I can secure it. Thanks for that tip!!
These woods are actually what prevented any damage on the house when Ivan hit. Michael did not come close enough to do a lot of damage thankfully. The previous owners said every other person on our road had roof damage from Ivan but not them.
I found that this spot that does have a slight slope to it so I had to build up some dirt under a few of the bricks to get the coop floor level. The run is the same way and it all washes down towards the coop and down to our driveway. If the washout gets too bad I have a few railroad ties I can bury to create a dam and slow the deterioration.
I do plan on putting a skirt of hardware cloth around the coop because I want to keep both the curious chickens and any other crazy animals from getting under there. We have a rat snake living in our barn who likes the little bathroom out there, we have some trash pandas and a fox that raid our deer feeder, and we actually had a big old coyote run through the front woods when I was out watching the younger girls in their brooder. The plan for the run is hardware cloth and cover it with welded wire fencing for strength to keep everyone out and in their right places.
My original plan was to rip the plywood down to about 6' in height (the walls height will be about 7') and put the hardware cloth around the top of the framing to let all that stinky hot air out, as well as cutting out window areas to let the breeze come through if there is one.
Thank you SO MUCH for all the tips and advice, especially since you are super close to where I am in the states. Gives me warm fuzzies <3

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Six or seven foot tall walls, with the remaining space as hardware cloth for ventilation, is a very popular solution. The general rule of thumb is one square foot of ventilation for each full size bird. I don't know what that's based on, it is simply quoted a lot. By putting the ventilation way up there, and ensuring you have good roof overhang, you make certain there is plenty of air flow without putting a breeze on your poor birds. It also helps mitigate radiant heat off the roof in our summers.
Hope it all works out better than you dreamed, and that the chicken math doesn't bite you too badly.

 

[Slocala]

I look at it as two lines of defense for the chickens. Not only is the chicken house a line of defense, so is the enclosed yard.
My 5 acres boarders a national forest. We have deer, bear, turkey, marsh rabbits, armadillos, turtles, raccoons you name it wonder across the property...
I think I got them all stopped but the bear. He's gonna do what he wants. As a endangered species he has all rights... Thank goodness he goes for deep freezes with ice cream (his Favorite) and trash.