Turkey and Chicken Coops The good the bad and the ugly post your Pictures

[C-Bee-A-Pea]

it's the first coop me and my boyfriend have ever built...really the first thing we've ever built, period. It's not pretty but my chickens seem happy with it and that means I'm happy with it.

That is a VERY nice coop!!!!!!!!!!

 

[hessclan6]

We took an old shed and converted it into a poultry pen. Ours houses Turkeys and guineas and has two indoor roosts.

 

[Fluffychicky]

That is a VERY nice coop!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for saying so!

 

[Lorilyn Farms]

Wow franzens, love the safety!

Here are my coops. I like my birds to have shade. I'm in the middle of adding more. This is me trying to train the grape vines to make shade.










Inside my ugly coop.





And my ugly...All bundled up for winter.

 

[scoutchicken]

So, where did you get that netting, does it really work (against hawks), what is the cost? We have about 2 acres of open yard surrounded by woods. The hawks in area have finally spotted our chickens but we would prefer to discourage them before it becomes open season on our babies. Please give us some ideas for preventing the loss to our flock.

 

[hessclan6]

So, where did you get that netting, does it really work (against hawks), what is the cost? We have about 2 acres of open yard surrounded by woods. The hawks in area have finally spotted our chickens but we would prefer to discourage them before it becomes open season on our babies. Please give us some ideas for preventing the loss to our flock.

Try ebay and Amazon. The netting works well for us and I know several others who use it as well.

 

[chknoodles]

OK, here goes...Turkey's first....we got 3. Made them a long run and an "out-house" size 3-sided shelter. We built this in June.




But then we got 3 more turkeys..and then another two and then we were given 2 more...needed to separate males with their own hens and give the Rio's their own area separate from the Bronze...so here we go in Sept expanding....



Old pen inside as we worked around them...LOL


Here it is with the first run done and the 2nd run partially done.



We cut the "out house" in half to make two "hutches"

The logs were holding down the chicken wire until we could get a load of dirt brought in. During this past cold spell, we wrapped the "hutch" end of the run with 6 mil plastic sheeting to help reduce the wind chill because they don't go into the hutches anymore, but like to roost on top of them. The top of the runs are covered with pvc coated chicken wire..great stuff..but dang expensive.

 

[chknoodles]

To the post about using an old greenhouse...they work great. We gave the in-laws some hens and rooster to get started...and they had this old greenhouse. It works wonderfully!!!

 

[chknoodles]

Now to the chickens....

I read an article that said, "Build a chicken coop for $50", sucky design and after we modified it over and over, it cost way more than $50. So we started building our own raised coop-boxes. We can cut the 4x4 legs to make the coop work on hills and I can collect eggs without bending over..and as a bonus, we can hang their feeders under the box to keep it out of the rain...


This is the husband standing at the back of the box. It is painted inside and out.


Here are the first two. The first one was a little too tall, so the 2nd one we made a foot shorter.


Here are our Jersey's and what the coop looks like. These coops are perfect for a quad of Jersey's..getting a little small for the 6 we have...we have 2 extra roosters, at the moment.

 

[teria]

So, we have this old Little Tykes playhouse that the kids never use (it doesn't look like this, but, the dimensions are pretty close to right). We have two Bourbon Reds, a hen and a tom (we just picked up two random poults and they ended up being a tom and hen so that was a nice happenstance). For now I have a 2x4 roost propped in the opposing windows until I can get a 4x6 and attach it to the inside walls. The two side windows shut, but we have them open a tad to keep it cool in there during our warm summer nights. The big opening in the back is covered with a sheet of plexiglass but will be enclosed more permanently when I get some time. It keeps the rain out for now. We added a wood cabinet door to extend the height of the front door, and added a latch to secure the door shut. There is a gap at the top of the door to allow for ventilation. The whole thing is covered by a tarp to keep it dry and cozy. We free range them during the day in our 1/2 acre yard, with our 16 laying hens. For now the playhouse seems to fit them, it's 22 sq feet total, so , I believe that is adequate for two turkeys, but, I want to keep them through the winter, and maybe into late spring at least before processing them. We've considered raising a couple of turkeys year round, for both eggs and meat, maybe keeping a breeding pair year round, so, is that enough space for that?