post your chicken coop pictures here!

[sunnysideup2]

The Sunnyside Up chicken retreat is complete for now. I planted 2 maiden Grass, 3 Ruby Lorepetalum, 2 Tea Olives. There are Wax Myrtles and Hydrangea already growing.

 

[sunnysideup2]

 

[Wildivy2112]

 

[jtbass2756]

Cute coop and beautiful ladies....

 

[bruceha2000]

How high is ideal for roosting bars? Is it ok for nest boxes to be at ground level or should they be a bit off ground even though they should be below roosting height?





MB

There is no IDEAL height for roosts. The birds will go as high as they can get whether it is 6" or 6'. If your birds are like mine, they will spend no time on the roost except at night so you want them well off the ground to give the birds max floor space. You will have nice height in the coop so 4' high along the short wall is doable, just make sure it is minimum 12" from the parallel wall so they aren't crammed up against it. As you might have noted if you read some of my prior posts, I'm not a fan of ramps. They take up space on/near the ground and like horizontal surfaces are poop magnets. Even though you would have the ~2x roost height horizontal distance for coming down on the wing, you could put a bar at 2' high maybe 18" forward of the upper roost. That would given them an easy 2 hop down and a shorter distance up for small/young/'senior citizen' birds. It wouldn't even need to be full width. If the birds want to use it, they will wander down the upper roost to get there. Make sure the roosts are easily removed (brackets on the wall perhaps) so you can take them out when you want to clean them or the floor underneath. You may not need to do it often but I made the mistake of screwing mine in and it is a pain.

As far as the nests go, I put mine 18" up so they don't take any floor space the birds could use. They also stay cleaner that way. The birds scratch the shavings on the floor looking (unsuccessfully I suspect) for things to eat. They can kick that into the nests if they are floor level. It is also easier for we people to see and collect eggs if they aren't in the back of a box on the ground.

Hey guys. I'm just starting out with chickens and this is the start of my coop. Any ideas/suggestions? I know I Need some more nesting boxes and plan to build them onto the side of the coop. any ideas would be appercated.

Looks nice, though given the design I think they need at least one rocking chair on the porch to complete the motif

What is the spacing on the studs 12" or 16"? Either way, they won't be able to use the roost closest to the wall. The next one forward is fine except 2x4 on edge is too narrow for adult chicken feet. The easiest thing to do might be to take the back one off, notch the ends to go around the studs supporting the middle one and building brackets attached to the studs to hold up the ends. The board, now on the flat, can sit atop the existing middle roost giving it great support all the way.

Unless you already have laying hens, there isn't a rush on the nest boxes. Chickens are usually ~5 months or older when they start to lay.
Also, what is the purpose of the large board under the roosts? If it is a poop board, you have a lot to clean. The poop boards I've seen posted on BYC tend to be narrow affairs, not too far below the roosts so the chickens can't use them as extra floor (and thus places to poop) space.

Finally got my zinc put on the roof. Bought paint too but rain is stopping the project....at least my girls are dry now.

Looks like a nice home for your birds, nicely shaded from the tropical sun.
What kind of chicken predators do you have in the Caymans? I'm guessing you don't have to deal with raccoons, coyotes, weasels, etc.
You might want to take the ramps out. The cleats are too far apart to be of much use and the coop door is close enough to the ground for any breed of chicken, large or bantam, to get in and out easily.

Anyway, until then we have made a tractor out of scrap in the garden. It looks like sh*t but looks aren't the priority.

Chicken's don't know sh*t from Shinola. They will be happy.

Bending linoleum up the wall a bit makes it eventually crack and you'll lose the intent of its use. My sister had linoleum on her floors going up the wall a bit and nailed to the wall with metal strips like they always did in 1950's house building and it cracks. She had to re-tile her kitchen, laundry room, and bathroom floors. I don't know that today's linoleums are any better now but something to think about.

I don't know if the OP is using "linoleum" as a generic or specific brand but I know you can get sheet flooring that will flex up the wall without cracking. It won't be a sharp 90 degree turn but the radius can be pretty small. There will be an issue of how to deal with the gap at the corners where the sheet flooring needs to be cut but I really don't think it has to be totally sealed. Should be fine as long as there is a stud on both sides of the corner to nail the flooring to.

BTW, go to a flooring place and see what they have for "remnants" or scrap in the dumpster. Might be able to get what is needed cheap if not free.

Now if you keep your egg boxes level with the floor without a board across the front bottom of the nestboxes the nesting material will be scratched out and the eggs will roll into the rest of the coop to get broken.

Eggs don't roll all that much if there is even a small amount of nesting material around them. But I agree on having a board, at least 3" high across the front so the nest has "depth" and to keep shavings in. Chickens do scratch around in the boxes and the nest material will end up, at least partially, outside the box.

How do you like that for a surface? I have to power wash the new shed and white wash it with BYC Member Pigeon Guys whitewash solution to kill every creepy crawly that shouldn't be in there.. There is a pretty solid little ant infestation in there. Then I was wondering what I should put down on the floor. Glass board, paint, or was even thinking of stall mats.. I remember reading somewhere on here people weighing in on that.

I have stall mats because they were already in the stall I repurposed as much as anything. They do provide a level of moisture protection from the ground and I figured predators wouldn't be able to get in from underneath given how heavy they are. I put 1/2" hardware cloth over the ground and up the wall a foot then put the mats back down when I saw the ermine by the house ~18 months ago. They wouldn't likely chew through the mats but they could certainly come up between them.

Bruce

 

[PairOFWings]

We finally finished our coop last weekend! Getting ready to move them all into it today. I am so proud of how hard my husband worked on this project.. and now that I know he can build things, his Honey-Do list just got longer!!

 

[Curlyginger]

Here is our coop and run, almost complete. The coop is 4x4 and was built by Coops for a Cause in NH. We built the run from a neighbors old, wooden swing set. It is approximately 9x12. We have to add roofing to 1/2 of the run and attach to the coop, and then the Hennies can move in. We have 4 chicks, 5 weeks old, but may wind up with 3, as I believe one is a rooster and we are not able to keep roosters in our town.

 

[vehve]

Here is our coop and run, almost complete. The coop is 4x4 and was built by Coops for a Cause in NH. We built the run from a neighbors old, wooden swing set. It is approximately 9x12. We have to add roofing to 1/2 of the run and attach to the coop, and then the Hennies can move in. We have 4 chicks, 5 weeks old, but may wind up with 3, as I believe one is a rooster and we are not able to keep roosters in our town.

Looks nice, you might want to seal that OSB though, it's going to suck up all the moisture otherwise. Blackjack 57 on the floor and some nice paint on the walls would be good.

 

[Curlyginger]

OSB? The interior wood?

 

[vehve]

OSB? The interior wood?

Oriented Strand Board, the interior stuff that looks like sort of a wooden camo pattern. Basically a cheaper alternative to plywood. It's wood chips pressed together with some glue. Sealing it will not only help protect it (It can fall apart if it gets wet) but also it will lessen the fumes that it puts out. Not really anything to worry about in as well aired space as a chicken coop, but still.