Our Texas-sized coop

[stubbornhill]

Absolutley beautiful!!

 

[katiebell]

Wow, those are some LUCKY birds!! And as to the run question leaving it as dirt is fine, they'll scratch everything up anyway, but my girls loved it when we put in some mulch for them to pick through. Throwing in some of the grass cuttings when you mow the lawn is also good.

 

[what's kickin' chicken]

wow

 

[hondo58]

Fantastic! Where did you get the top netting?

 

[DDRLonghorns]

Quote:
Thank you!! Yes, we had plenty of space so why make the chickens live in cramped quarters. Because with the strays and the coyotes, I can't let them free range on their own.
Right now, they just roost outside of the nest boxes. I have a huge pile of downed trees that I just need to go through and pull some good branches and make them some roost areas in other places. It is on the to-do list

 

[DDRLonghorns]

Quote:
Thank you! I wish! We had a contractor do the work. He knocked it out in about 8 business days. If I had done it, it would have been with recycled material and done on the cheap side. My husband didn't want an eyesore near the house as it is off to the left of our driveway when coming up to the house. So he took over the project and it was all done with cedar so that it wouldn't deteriorate and start falling down. Plus it is easy to maintain - just spray some stain every couple years.

 

[DDRLonghorns]

Thank you for all of the kind comments.
I kind of wish the coop area was a little bigger too but I like going in to get the eggs. I want to be in there to check on them anyway.
I usually throw grass clippings in when we mow the backyard but we don't bag the main mowing area very often (it's 4-5 acres that we maintain and bagging makes it a 9-10 hour project). I might add some mulch if it starts to get muddy.
The net topping was hard to find and remain cost effective and get it quick since the coop build started sooner than I anticipated. We got lucky in that a friend of the contractor's stopped by (and was the same guy who did our pool 7 years ago) and knows the owner of a quail hunting facility nearby. He had enough net left over from an expansion project for us to cover our coop three times and we got it for free! Woo hoo! At least something on this project was cheap

Dawn

 

[Upcycled]

Where's the hot tub?

Tell me you didn't forget that?

 

[DDRLonghorns]

Quote:
Of course not! It's there. It's a calf water trough that I had laying around. Since it is only about a foot deep, it works perfect. I put a couple inches of water in it and the Texas sun heats it up! I have yet to get my chickens to go in it on their own. I have put a Polish in there and she just didn't know what to think, bless her heart. I don't call them the dum-dum's for nothing

 

[rebbetzin]

Very NICE!!! Your Chickens are VERY blessed!!