FLORIDIAN Question-Deep Bedding Method Design...Central Florida Wet Season

[U_Stormcrow]

Please don't forget about ventilation. A prefab coop needs a lot of modification to be ventilated sufficiently for our climate. I'm in Ocala so not too far from you. Our coops are quite open (Hw Cloth) and they need it desperately come summer. Chickens in general have a lot more trouble with heat than cold.

As for breeds to start off with... make sure you are thinking about what eggs you will get. Mixed breed can be fun - but what mix? We were disappointed when we started with Silkies and got small eggs (lol silly us).
I responded to you in the Florida thread about older hens I have available - I do also have some 2 month olds... but whatever you pick, make sure it has traits you actually want. Do you value big eggs? Color of eggs? Docility? Feather colors? If you make a list of your priorities, we can better help you on breed(s). And there are options for sourcing like the big Dunnellon farm swap, and I know a lady who resells from big hatchery orders offering a lot of variety and sexed chicks.

 

[Florida4evr]

Keeping you away is part of disease free. May not be the case, but I would not let you past my gate.

Good to know. She is going to send me video and FaceTime. Learning every day.

 

[Florida4evr]

Thank you for taking the time to respond to me. Yes, I kind of figured that out by looking at the hutch. I bought one that the entire roof is on latches that can swing upwards exposing the entire inside. We planned on keeping it propped open with arms giving it maybe a 6 inch crack opening. This is why we are putting alot of time in reinforcing the galvanized stand in 10 x6 run against predators. We will completely replace the chicken wire with 1/2 inch 16 gage hardwire cloth top to bottom. We will also put a 2 foot apron around the perimeter. The posts will be anchored with concrete. Instead of the tarp roof we will install a corrugated fiber glass roof on it. I'm praying all this will keep predators out, so we can keep the roof cracked open for ventilation.

As for what we want is regular to large brown eggs, docile and friendly hens that can handle the Florida heat. We can't have a rooster.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Look at sheet metal roofing, too - its likely cheaper, definitely lasts longer, and radiant heat really isn't a problem. In some ways its cooler than the Ondura products (a popular used to be fiberglass and asphault brand, now I don't know what they use as reinforcing fiber) because the metal reflects so much light, unlike the darker material colors of other roofing, and because its so thin it has very little thermal mass, so good air movement underneath carries away most of the heat before it can radiate far.

A while a go, I took a thermo probe to my coop. I want to say the roof was 2.5* hotter than the native air underneath in direct sun, on an 80* day. By the time I was 6" from the roof, the difference in temperature was less than half a degree.

Plan to test it again in full summer, full sun on a 95 day.

 

[David61]

Any tree service will have or know where to get wood chip.

 

[alwaystj9]

I often can get a load of chips from my electric company when they are trimming up power lines.

 

[3KillerBs]

From North Carolina.

Here are a couple articles for you:

Hot Climate Chicken Housing and Care

Repecka Illustrates Coop Ventilation

A while a go, I took a thermo probe to my coop. I want to say the roof was 2.5* hotter than the native air underneath in direct sun, on an 80* day. By the time I was 6" from the roof, the difference in temperature was less than half a degree.

Plan to test it again in full summer, full sun on a 95 day.

I just got an outdoor thermometer that I can monitor from inside the house to put into my coop (the one featured in the hot climate article). But it feels like the coolest place in the yard on a hot day.