My coop before I decorated and me and some of my girls

[Beanbag]

Everyone else's coops look like chicken heaven! I can't even get my husband to put a roof on our scratch yard. My poor chickens are going to be living in the gettos compared to everyone else's chickens!!!!! un

 

[mtnhomechick]

Quote:
WOW! I am soooo impressed with everything you've done, especialy with the pallets from sears.

The Pallets were real easy to work with. The wood is extremely hard so we had to drill before we nailed anything but we stapled the hw wire with an electric staple gun and just tapped the staples with a hammer. It worked great. Sear's was glad to get rid of them. They were 4x8 ft. and the nice thing is you can always get more and add on if you want to expand your flock.

 

[mtnhomechick]

Quote:
BeanBag.........try the pallet thingy. If you get some posts in the ground you could do just about anything with them.

 

[MsBentleyboy]

This is my chicken condo. I just wish I had electricity in it. it's really hot today!! I built this 450 ft. away from the house and it would be quite expensive to run a wire this far. Especially a wire that would be powerful enough to run a heater on in the winter.

I'm already wanting to expand the yard but haven't figured out how I'm going to attach it yet. I will probably make that a future project for my H and myself. We built this one together in 2 months time.

 

[Beanbag]

Quote:
BeanBag.........try the pallet thingy. If you get some posts in the ground you could do just about anything with them.

The worst part is that we have to use what we can find on our property. We have no money for new supplies. Our fencing was used from an old dog pen that was built like 9-10 years ago for my Aunt's puppy. The posts we used were also from the same old old dog pen. Old fencing, old nails, old staples, old chicken wire, old wood, old posts, old tin roofing. Everything old and used. The fencing has holes, I had to take some hard ware wire off a 30 year old rabbit pen to patch up the holes with, using crafting wire to tie the hw wire to the fencing.

 

[mtnhomechick]

That's a great one. Can you run an extension cord? That's what I do but mine is right in our back yard and next to the garage. You can't see it in the pic but I also have a 10x10 shed on the other side which I keep supplies in and it has electric.

How may chickens do you have?

 

[MsBentleyboy]

To get a cord the size we need to run a heater the cost is around $550. The reason... the longer the cord the harder it is to pull the wattage. And, my H said he didn't want to mow around a cord on top of the ground. We have several acres and it would be a great hassle. I may try some solar options.

Currently, I have 14 chicikens (well, mostly roosters...long story) and 7 new babies coming next week (all pullets). Yeah!!

 

[mtnhomechick]

Quote:
I hear ya..........we have about 4 acres and my husband wouldn't want a cord on the ground either. The one we have is a very short distance....like 15 ft. So, it works for me.

With several acres I'll bet your chickens eat well. I have to put grass clippings in the pen. They can't free range here.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
The Pallets were real easy to work with. The wood is extremely hard so we had to drill before we nailed anything but we stapled the hw wire with an electric staple gun and just tapped the staples with a hammer. It worked great. Sear's was glad to get rid of them. They were 4x8 ft. and the nice thing is you can always get more and add on if you want to expand your flock.

BRAINSTORM! BRAINSTORM! BRAINSTORM!
Regarding large snakes/1/2-inch hardware cloth
BRAINSTORM! BRAINSTORM! BRAINSTORM!
Buy a roll of 1/4-inch plastic netting and put it over the 1/2-inch hardware cloth.

 

[mtnhomechick]

Or just get 20 outdoor cats or some snake away