I don't have any real good pictures of our set up, but here's some.
That's my partner, out tending chickens in the rain. But you can see there's a coop, the red barn-ish structure. It is built on the south side of our garden shed. They don't have access to the shed, but it provides protection and a warm south wall for them in the winter. Their whole area (inside the picket fence) is under the shade of a huge old tree. That works very well, because it is cool and shady in the summer, then in the winter, the tree drops its leaves and they get a lot more sun. In front of the coop and open to it is a wire run to expand the area they have while inside. The little blue tarp in front of Jamie, is over part of that, to give some shade in that area.
Here's the area between the shed and the coop:
The picket fence was really to keep our dogs away from the coop, when the chickens were new and the dogs were going crazy over them. Before we put that up, it wouldn't have taken the dogs too long to destroy the coop. We don't leave the chickens just out inside the picket fence, because they end up out in the yard anyway. They can go over the fence (they do it by flying up on the wire run roof first and from there to the fence).
When it is hot, I freeze a chunk of ice in a bowl and put that in their waterer. Having a big chunk lasts longer and keeps their water cool longer. We also add just a little Gatorade to their water for electrolytes.
Chicken waterer:
You will want to look for heat tolerant breeds when you get your chickens. Some breeds are much hardier for hot summers than others:
https://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2015/02/ ... reeds.html
That’s really terrible. They must have been devastated.
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