Reviews by DobieLover

Very well thought out, designed and documented. I'm sure DH has come around by now to enjoy all the hard work.

More pictures would be helpful. How is the inside of your coop laid out? How many chickens will it house? Is it easy to keep clean?
It is quite attractive against the back of your shed.

You will need more ventilation! I didn't see any hardware cloth over your sliding windows. Without it, they are not secure from predators.
How often do you move the coop?

Your entire run is predator proof. I have one too. I never close the door to the coop. They are free to come and go between coop and run as they wish. I see no reason why you cannot do the same.
You will likely not need any heat source in the winter. As long as your coop is DRY and you keep as much ventilation open as possible, they will be just fine.
I love the stone path and the landscaping you did around the run. It is very beautiful.

Your birds are beautiful and seem to be enjoying their space.
For this to be a good article, some more details about why you chose the space, how to designed and built the coop and run and how it is predator proofed would be useful.

You really did a great job cleaning up an old rickety structure and made good use of the materials you had on hand to create a new coop and run.
I would still go ahead and cover all your larger sized wire with 1/2" hardware cloth. What you have will keep most things out. It's the weasels that will get in. Maybe they will find you and maybe they won't. I'd sleep better at night with the 1/2" hardware cloth!
The run will eventually get muddy and sinky without some type of litter in there. You could rake up pine needles from elsewhere in your yard, use old dry leaves or wood chips. If you have access to free wood chips, they are my choice. Hopefully there are no low spots and the run drains well.
Again, you did a really nice job!

Nice job on your coop.
You will not need that heat lamp in the coop. It is a fire hazard that could very easily burn down all your hard work! As long as you keep the coop clean, DRY and well ventilated your birds will do just fine over the winter

Trying to dose a small, feisty, wiggly little Exchequer Leghorn by myself was ridiculous! I had the liquid all over me and her feathers were sticky by the time I finished putting a drop at a time in her beak and waiting for her to drink it.

It is a clever repurposing of an entertainment center but the entire setup does not provide predator proof shelter.

I have no need to grow fodder but if I did, this is how I'd do it! Thanks for sharing.

Nice initial idea but there is not article.

I liked the set up and the details about the knives.
I would have like to have seen pictures and read descriptions of exactly how you went about processing the cockerels after they had bled out.
I am trying to gear myself up to process my first two cockerels and I need to learn and prepare myself for what to expect and what needs to be done.

Vertical or nipple style waterers kept out of the sun are much cleaner than any fount style waterer. It would be a benefit to include them in this article.

Nice coop and run. It's seems a bit small for 12 birds though.

I am a former free-ranger. Mine are now kept confined to an electro-netted 1/3 acre pen. A compromise that works well. The only real threat is hawks. But I've provided a very large old style quince bush and large run with a solid roof. We had a hawk attack last week and had zero injuries due to the presence of a rooster and a cockerel sounding the alarm and everyone making it to the bush or run in time.
One other con to free ranging is the poop all over your deck and front porch. I do not miss that!!

I went through several iterations of wing clipping. Ultimately, most of my pullets had to have both wings clipped and the lighter weight breeds needed to have their secondaries removed as well.
They are molting in their new wing feathers now and I've not had to assist with any of that as the new feathers simply push the old feathers out, clipped or not.

The only suggestions I can offer about this article are:

1) you do not NEED to candle the eggs. I didn't and 3 out 4 hatched just fine. I tossed the dud.
2) marking the eggs is a must. Moving a dedicated broody to a proper nest site will not break her. If it does, you might not want to allow her to brood. You will, however, need to watch her every time she leaves the nest to make sure she goes to the new nest site. You controlling when she leaves the nest by removing her in the morning and late afternoon will allow you to more easily monitor this.
3) if your broody hen is not regularly leaving the nest, at the morning feeding and in the late afternoon, gently remove her and set her down off the nest. Watch her to make sure she breaks the broody trance and runs off. If she doesn't, give her a "peck" to the neck and that will help her snap out of it. I've seen both the rooster and other hens do this to my broody.

You don't want her to stay on the nest constantly. She needs to stretch her legs and wings, eat, drink, POOP (nothing like a broody poop!), dust bathe and preen. As long as the weather is warm, don't worry about her being off the nest for as long as 1 1/2 hours. They eggs will be fine!

Some more details about how you made this conversion, pictures of the progress and of the inside of the coop, dimensions and how you clean it? But it is a nice looking coop from the outside.

Another great project by IM! Thanks for the write up.