post your chicken coop pictures here!

[perchie.girl]

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Quote:
rollers work both ways

http://www.coloradocoyoterollers.com/

this is a site for research I had bookmarked. YOu most certainly can make your own.... YouTube has several DIY projects....

good illustration

The deal is its a pipe within a pipe with aircraft cable strung inside. If there has to be gaps I would put a smooth vertical post in

this would be for areas where you cant fortify with electric.

deb

 

[Latestarter]

Wow Deb, life's little (& not so little) bumps in the road... Sorry to hear about grandma. Hope it wasn't too severe and that they were able to stop it before any major degradation... Grandma sure has been through an awful lot lately, which of course means that so have you! I know it's difficult, but try not to overly stress... You are just finishing a health issue as well and don't need a recurrence. One way drive is an hour? so the hospital is what, 5 miles away? Could probably walk there faster? (sorry, attempt at levity... you know SOCAL traffic and all that). Hang in there!

 

[gpeters3]

I stayed with my stepson in Harlingen, TX in a chicken friendly neighborhood. It was an older subdivision where the houses were crammed, maybe 1/4 acre or less each and everyone had chickens and roosters. Every morning about 5am i would be awakened by the crescendo of hundreds of roosters competing for loudest crower. I just assumed everyone in Texas had chickens

Im in a neighborhood that ignores illegal pets but i still have to keep them quiet. 40 years ago keeping even one chicken required 3 acres in my township. Havent checked lately but not taking any chances

 

[perchie.girl]

Wow Deb, life's little (& not so little) bumps in the road... Sorry to hear about grandma. Hope it wasn't too severe and that they were able to stop it before any major degradation... Grandma sure has been through an awful lot lately, which of course means that so have you! I know it's difficult, but try not to overly stress... You are just finishing a health issue as well and don't need a recurrence. One way drive is an hour? so the hospital is what, 5 miles away? Could probably walk there faster? (sorry, attempt at levity... you know SOCAL traffic and all that). Hang in there!

thanks.... technically its a 35 mile drive... but at freeway speeds of 20-30 mph.... cant even take the flipping carpool lane with out a Fast track pass.... add to the fact that I WILL miss the turn off and adventure into no mans land till I find the street I need. (insert head slamming into steering wheel image here)

her stroke resolved itself in the ER but they decided to put her up for the night for observation.... unfortunately her hospital which is Kaiser couldnt even take her in the er... so she started out with a hospital out of their plan. Then they had to ship her to a hospital that has a contract for overflow.... And They didnt tell US.. It took mom an hour to find out where they shipped her off to..... Top it off I need to make a trip to my house which is the total opposite driection to leave money for the farrier.... sigh I am going to have to cancel...

Lets move this convo to old folks I am sure its way off topic for here.

deb

 

[Sassysouth]

Hubby should be happy (as you are) and proud... he did a good job! One small suggestion... the far left corner of the run, it looks like the entire framing is above ground level... in fact, propped up on boards to make the run level. A dog, coyote, raccoon, possum, skunk, fox, ermine, mink or many other of the it seems indeterminate number of chicken (dinner) lovers, could get under that and into the run in virtually no time at all. You might consider attaching some small opening fencing or hardware cloth to the bottom of the run and aproning it out at least 18-24" from the bottom to prevent diggers from getting in. You can then sod over the wire, or cover with mulch or sand/dirt/rocks, whatever. BTW, love those sliding vents in the front wall!

Thank you! We actually have hardware cloth under and over the entire run, although not visible by the picture. We live in Predatorville. I added a fill mix in the run today and sifted it through to help build it up and cover the mesh. My 4 girls were REALLY happy to get the hardware cloth covered up.
Hubby was not mad I brought home chickens, but wasn't happy I brought them home before a coop. They lived on our screened in backporch for weeks. While building the coop he heard my concerns from reading BYC, then built with his design (for a shooting house when we are done with chickens). I really have to brag on him, because this was not on his list of stuff to do.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
he deserves several atta boys for this. My Great Grandma had a chicken house that was so well bult the kids used it for camp outs and they used it for company...

deb

 

[vanderbecks]

Greetings and welcome to BYC! Looks good, but a couple of comments... You really need much more/better ventilation; lower and higher. Ideally if you can open the entire upper portion between the studs and cover with hardware cloth under the roof overhang next to the one already existing vent, then open vents on the side walls between the studs maybe 8" above floor level (covered with hardware cloth), you'll accomplish a nice flow through ventilation to remove moisture and ammonia odors. They naturally rise and this will allow them to escape making for much more comfortable and healthy chickens.

Also, because the coop is elevated off the ground (I understand why), the chickens will want to tunnel under the coop for security and nesting as well as shade from hot sun/wet weather. Sadly, it also makes a nice hiding place for rats, mice, possums, coons, weasels, snakes, cats... well, you get the drift... You might consider digging a 18-24" deep trench all the way around and attaching hardware cloth to the base of the coop and burying it to form an exclusion "wall" to keep everything (including diggers) out from under there. Because of the concrete floor supports, digging around them might prove detrimental... alternatively, you could apron the hardware cloth out on the ground then place large rocks or pavers on top of it to hold it down/in place.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

thanks.... technically its a 35 mile drive...  but at freeway speeds of 20-30 mph....  cant even take the flipping carpool lane with out a Fast track pass....   add to the fact that I WILL miss the turn off and adventure into no mans land till I find the street I need.  (insert head slamming into steering wheel image here)

her stroke resolved itself in the ER but they decided to put her up for the night for observation....  unfortunately her hospital which is Kaiser couldnt even take her in the er... so she started out with a hospital out of their plan.   Then they had to ship her to a hospital that has a contract for overflow....   And They didnt tell US..  It took mom an hour to find out where they shipped her off to.....  Top it off I need to make a trip to my house which is the total opposite driection to leave money for the farrier....  sigh I am going to have to cancel...

Lets move this convo to old folks I am sure its way off topic for here.

deb

I hope she is ok my gram has been in the hostpital also they set in the ER for three hours before they could take her and then she was there 6 days and they didn't come back with her blood work until the day she was discharged. And then when they got into a room my other gram was there in the ER also for depression with the loss of her son and his girlfriend. And ontop of that she has found out that she is diabetic. So they took her drivers license for 6 months because she couldn't get her sugar under control so she kept fainting the one time they told her if there wasn't any one home she would have been dead. But I hope you grandma is ok.

 

[Wfpendragon]

X 2 on it all. Yay.

deb

awesome repurposing of a tv stand!

 

[malika621]

Well, here's my coop. It's pretty big (the building is 6.5 x 8 and the run(s) are 12 x 15 and 8 x 5.5). We bought some supplies (the roof and some supports), but the doors and wood for the walls and nesting boxes were recycled. I actually picked up three truckloads of wood from a neighbor down the road who was taking down their fence. I'm building another that's about 8 x 8 with a dresser for the housing. Don't have any pictures yet though. That'll wait a week or so - hopefully it'll be done by then.


The window (below) folds up in the winter. I just put it down last week for extra circulation.

Inside

I would have a roost, but my silkies prefer to dog pile! I gave them the option for a while and then took it out, lol.

There's the extra brooder box here, \/ in the back, made out of recycled materials (partially from building my papa's house... and a fridge rack, lol)






Lastly, I want to share a quick picture of the majority of my adult (to adult-ish) chickens eating watermelon! Aren't they cute??