post your chicken coop pictures here!

[ShrekDawg]

THANK YOU for your compliments!  

Took a while for me to convince Hubby shower curtains were a good idea, his was shade cloth but with wind/rain I know it wouldn't work.  He's originally from San Diego (Bay Park/Mission Bay area) where I ended up moving in 1997 - 2004, LOVE SD!  Not sure where I'd find "rice hulls" here, will be looking into finding them & I'm sure they'd LOVE them.  Thanks for the info.

No problem!!!

 

[tumalochick]

I got mine off of Craigslist. I think it was a garden shed to begin with. As you can see, I am critter proofing still and building the run this week. Newbie to chickens so I'm excited to find so many ideas on here!

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

That looks very nice and welcome to byc

 

[TJordan]

I got mine off of Craigslist. I think it was a garden shed to begin with. As you can see, I am critter proofing still and building the run this week. Newbie to chickens so I'm excited to find so many ideas on here!

This place is full of ideas

grab some stones or bury that wire

it will really play with animals trying to dig in

If you have snakes get some moth balls. Place them in some socks or cheese cloth bags and hang them around the coop high enough to keep the birds out and the smell will drive snakes away.

If you have bad ants get some DE. You can find at tractor supply. Dust it over the ground. It will help with mites as well. Let your birds dust bath in a mixture of it and dirt.

 

[Sylvester017]

I got mine off of Craigslist. I think it was a garden shed to begin with. As you can see, I am critter proofing still and building the run this week. Newbie to chickens so I'm excited to find so many ideas on here!

That is so cute! I hope as a second-hand shed that the roof doesn't leak! It seems no matter how well-built a coop is it eventually wears and will leak SOMEWHERE! We're building a patio roof over our coop to ensure there won't be any rain blowing in the vents or into gaps in the walls/roof. I'm so tired of using tarps all the time. We used a pop-up canopy over our first smaller coop but with our bigger taller coop we decided to build a roof over the patio slab that the coop rests on. Show us more pics of your progress

 

[tumalochick]

This place is full of ideas

grab some stones or bury that wire

it will really play with animals trying to dig in

If you have snakes get some moth balls. Place them in some socks or cheese cloth bags and hang them around the coop high enough to keep the birds out and the smell will drive snakes away.

If you have bad ants get some DE. You can find at tractor supply. Dust it over the ground. It will help with mites as well. Let your birds dust bath in a mixture of it and dirt.

Thanks for the ideas! Snakes not so much - coyote, raccoon, hawks, eagles and neighbor dogs though!

I piled the rocks around the base and will be putting hardware cloth on top of the dirt inside the coop since the coop doesn't have a floor. Then I'll put down gravel with a layer of shavings or pellets on top. Haven't figured out the best way to do that yet so I can clean it easy. All our neighbors have chickens and all have had losses to coyotes, so they are extra wiley in these parts

My chicks are only 3 weeks old but getting big fast. Need to hurry...

 

[tumalochick]

That is so cute!  I hope as a second-hand shed that the roof doesn't leak!  It seems no matter how well-built a coop is it eventually wears and will leak SOMEWHERE!  We're building a patio roof over our coop to ensure there won't be any rain blowing in the vents or into gaps in the walls/roof.  I'm so tired of using tarps all the time.  We used a pop-up canopy over our first smaller coop but with our bigger taller coop we decided to build a roof over the patio slab that the coop rests on.  Show us more pics of your progress

Thanks! I will post more as I go. I live in Central Oregon, so we really don't get a lot of rain. The inside doesn't have any water marks from leaks, but I'll keep that in mind. I am planning to swap out the lattice eves with boards to cut down on wind drifting through. How airtight should it be? The cedar siding has gaps between the boards (1/8" or smaller) that will let air in. Will that be a problem?

 

[TJordan]

Thanks for the ideas! Snakes not so much - coyote, raccoon, hawks, eagles and neighbor dogs though!

I piled the rocks around the base and will be putting hardware cloth on top of the dirt inside the coop since the coop doesn't have a floor. Then I'll put down gravel with a layer of shavings or pellets on top. Haven't figured out the best way to do that yet so I can clean it easy. All our neighbors have chickens and all have had losses to coyotes, so they are extra wiley in these parts

My chicks are only 3 weeks old but getting big fast. Need to hurry...

There are great ideas here for that. Good luck.

 

[lynnehd]

Thanks! I will post more as I go. I live in Central Oregon, so we really don't get a lot of rain. The inside doesn't have any water marks from leaks, but I'll keep that in mind. I am planning to swap out the lattice eves with boards to cut down on wind drifting through. How airtight should it be? The cedar siding has gaps between the boards (1/8" or smaller) that will let air in. Will that be a problem?

You don't want it air tight. Chickens poop puts off ammonia, and their respiration, etc., puts off moisture. This all needs to flow out through vents.
You want lots of ventilation up high, even in the freezing winter.
They can tolerate cold very well.
No drafts, on the chickens but good ventilation up high so the ammonia and moisture waft out.

I'd consider covering the eaves with 1/2 hardware cloth screwed in.
Then 3-4 windows that you can open in the warmer months, with the same hardware cloth screwed in
on the inside.

 

[ShrekDawg]

You don't want it air tight. Chickens poop puts of ammonia, and their respiration, etc., puts off moisture. This all needs to flow out through vents.
You want lots of ventilation up high, even in the freezing winter.
They can tolerate cold very well. 
No drafts, on the chickens but good ventilation up high so the ammonia and moisture waft out.

I'd consider covering the eaves with 1/2 hardware cloth screwed in.
Then 3-4 windows that you can open in the warmer months, with the same hardware cloth screwed in
on the inside.

Thanks! I will post more as I go. I live in Central Oregon, so we really don't get a lot of rain. The inside doesn't have any water marks from leaks, but I'll keep that in mind. I am planning to swap out the lattice eves with boards to cut down on wind drifting through. How airtight should it be? The cedar siding has gaps between the boards (1/8" or smaller) that will let air in. Will that be a problem?

I agree with this, you need lots of ventilation and that ventilation up high is great, already done for you so I'd definitely leave the lattice but do as was suggested and attach hardware cloth to the inside so nothing can get through the gaps.

As for the gaps in the shingles, I actually think that may be more of an issue than the lattice. The gaps may be small enough that it might not be an issue at all but drafts are the biggest concern and I'd be worried that might cause them. I'd say to test it out and make sure there aren't drafts.

But your walls are high enough that you can leave that lattice and have the ventilation be well above their heads. From what I've read you want them to be 12-18 inches below any ventilation so that it's not blowing right on them and then about the same distance off the floor or a bit higher and 18 inches off the wall. Of course this isn't entirely exact, do what works best, but the off the wall thing is because they need to have room to not hit the wall. But your coop is plenty big enough and plenty tall enough that of this should be no issue. The main thing with the roosts is to make sure they are ABOVE the nest boxes because they will sleep in the boxes otherwise. They want to be as high as possible. Now there's no need to make the roosts like 8 feet high, in fact I highly discourage that, but even just a few inches above the boxes is fine.

As for flooring, which you mentioned in other posts above, I currently have pine shavings in my run but they kick them out a lot. But I had nothing until a few weeks ago so I do not recommend that. What a lot of people do is put sand in the run with or without a layer or gravel first. Another popular idea is sort of a deep litter type thing but less work. You put down about 3 inches of wood chips (so skip the gravel and CHIPS not shavings, the different particle sizes are much better) and then 3 inches of leaves, grass clippings, pine needles, etc. And you don't even take the poop out because it will turn into compost and the chickens will turn it. And the best part is it's healthier for them and bugs and things will come and create an environment instead of just a run material and they can eat the bugs and have a grand time. The only thing you have to do is when it starts smelling, add more dry material. And you can constantly add to it.

Now, I'm no where near an expert, in fact, I've just regurgitated all this from other people from other threads but I very recently learned about this and it is the method I am going to use for my new run. Sand wouldn't work for us because the run is going to be very big plus I liked the natural environment feel especially since I can't always free range. Oh and that's another thing, it's a free option. Well, if you access to the stuff that is. We have a dump with piles of stuff plus half our property is woods so continous access to the leaves and stuff. Woodchips are one of the piles at the dump but could always rent a chipper or hire a tree company to take down some trees and ask them to leave the chips.