post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Sylvester017]

This is my 6x14 "penthouse" coop. My neighbor liked it so much she asked for an 8x24 just like it...delivering it tomorrow.

Very neat and good design for plenty of air!
I have Silkies that are not into ramps so we had to level the one with our coop by propping bricks under it.

 

[junkman56]

I built my coop and run, I made the coop 2' off the ground, so the run would be a total of 16' long




after completion and reading threads on this site, I decided to try the (deep litter method) in the run, so I can let the chickens compost it for me. so far I have about 6" of pine needles and leaves and grass clippings down on the floor of the run. I have straw bales blocking off the run so the chicks cannot get under the coop part of the run, and I don't have to craw under to get the chicks, and put in the coop at night. ( for the winter ) my question for all of you that basically do the same, how or what should I do when I remove the straw bales from under the coop? should I leave I the ground bare or should I add the deep litter under the coop area too? I'm thinking it might be a bit tricky to get stuff under it.

 

[Hackle Master]

Just added a run to my coop but still needs a roof

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[pennyJo1960]

I built my coop and run, I made the coop 2' off the ground, so the run would be a total of 16' long




after completion and reading threads on this site, I decided to try the (deep litter method) in the run, so I can let the chickens compost it for me. so far I have about 6" of pine needles and leaves and grass clippings down on the floor of the run. I have straw bales blocking off the run so the chicks cannot get under the coop part of the run, and I don't have to craw under to get the chicks, and put in the coop at night. ( for the winter ) my question for all of you that basically do the same, how or what should I do when I remove the straw bales from under the coop? should I leave it bare or should I add material under the coop too? I'm thinking it might be a bit tricky to get stuff under it.

is it an area you could run hard wire under it to keep birds in or predators out

 

[junkman56]

the chickens can get under there, it has 1/2 hardware cloth completely around the entire area, I also have a 2' apron around the coop and run covered with dirt and mulch

 

[pennyJo1960]

@junkman56 then I would say you have done a bang up job for your birds

 

[junkman56]

Thank You for your replies,
but I didn't get my question answered. I would like to know what other people do with a setup like I have. as far as deep litter in the run.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Thank You for your replies,
but I didn't get my question answered. I would like to know what other people do with a setup like I have. as far as deep litter in the run.

Deep littler run is a personal choice... I have a 17 sq ft diameter dome as a coop
my 20 x 30 ft run is pure mud now but the interior has 3 to 4 inches deep in shavings
in inclement weather the girls will do their dust bathes in the shavings..
see we live in Western Washington we have rain as a given....
if you put deep litter in yours it would be the same effect is it large enough?
I do sift my dome about once a week for poo, and about every 4 months the
shavings is totally removed with new about 4 compressed bales going down
so it really is personal choice

 

[junkman56]

Deep littler run is a personal choice... I have a 17 sq ft diameter dome as a coop
my 20 x 30 ft run is pure mud now but the interior has 3 to 4 inches deep in shavings
in inclement weather the girls will do their dust bathes in the shavings..
see we live in Western Washington we have rain as a given....
if you put deep litter in yours it would be the same effect is it large enough?
I do sift my dome about once a week for poo, and about every 4 months the
shavings is totally removed with new about 4 compressed bales going down
so it really is personal choice

what do you use to sift through the shavings? my run is 6' wide x 16' long

 

[Latestarter]

I built my coop and run, I made the coop 2' off the ground, so the run would be a total of 16' long




after completion and reading threads on this site, I decided to try the (deep litter method) in the run, so I can let the chickens compost it for me. so far I have about 6" of pine needles and leaves and grass clippings down on the floor of the run. I have straw bales blocking off the run so the chicks cannot get under the coop part of the run, and I don't have to craw under to get the chicks, and put in the coop at night. ( for the winter ) my question for all of you that basically do the same, how or what should I do when I remove the straw bales from under the coop? should I leave I the ground bare or should I add the deep litter under the coop area too? I'm thinking it might be a bit tricky to get stuff under it.

Thank You for your replies,
but I didn't get my question answered. I would like to know what other people do with a setup like I have. as far as deep litter in the run.

OK... first, once the chicks have formed the habit of putting themselves to bed at night, you can then remove the straw bales and let them inspect/adventure in the newly revealed space. They are going to scratch and kick up material and dust bathe everywhere, including under the coop. What you have in the run right now is going to end up under there as well, even were you to try and keep it out. One of the issues you'll have doing deep litter in your present set up is there's nothing of a border up the sides from ground level to keep everything inside the run. As they scratch around they're going to end up kicking a lot out through the mesh/HWC/fencing around the run. Many folks put up a border to attempt to keep most of the flying debris inside the run. It's not "necessary" but does keep things neater/cleaner/contained. The stuff that come out won't hurt anything... just added fertilizer for the plants around the outside of the run.

You will/should consider the entire space as a deep litter run... including the space under the coop. If you take the straw bales and move them outside the run and place them around the coop outside, they will effectively form an "enclosed" and protected area under the coop for the birds to use when the weather is windy/cold/blowing snow/ etc. If the material in your DL iosnb't getting mixed up enough for you, just go in with a rake and reach under and pull some out, mix it up, then push some back under.

As for the dust bathing area you have now, as the litter gets deeper, that will get buried. You'd be better off getting one of those small hard plastic kiddy wading pools and using that as it can be easily moved around inside the run to allow all the litter to get mixed. As it builds in depth, you don't want to "dig down" into it to turn it... you want the deepest levels to remain undisturbed to compost. You'll really only want to turn the top 2-4" and leave the rest alone. The birds of course will dig down into it and mix deeper, but that's fine. They won't turn the entire thing at one time. Over winter, just keep adding to it every so often... dead leaves you've bagged up, sticks and stuff from blow downs. wood chips, a little hay if you have access. When it gets so deep that it's falling out and preventing you from closing the access door, then you can dig some out for your garden(s). But you always want to leave some to kick start the new stuff to compost.

Hope that helps.