post your chicken coop pictures here!

[bruceha2000]

This is a chick brooder I made from a truck bed liner and some 2x4's. I had 25 chicks divided in 2 different plastic storage bins but they quickly out grew that. So I built this and I can can keep all me chicks together with room to spare, at least until they go into the bigger coop.

That is great. Plenty big for some time. And while I'm not a fan of heat lamps (preferring the Mama Heading Pad method) it looks like you have yours really well secured.

 

[jwtyrcha]

We bought this coop and it said 6-8 chickens, I am thinking 4 max. My husband and I are going to build a run for it as well. Not sure if we should built it off the side of the coop or just enclose the run around the whole coop. Suggestions?

 

[beautifulpirate]

We purchased the Summerhawk Ranch Victorian Teak XL model. I wasn't fond of the plain wood color so I painted it before assembly. I used Valspar Fresh Mist and Coral Reef for the paint colors.

This model is said to hold 6-9 chickens given that they free range during the day. Since we won't be able to free range daily without supervision (hawks) we decided to make an additional run.

My husband spent his entire week's vacation making the run for me and I'm so pleased with his results. This was his first ever build and it was winged.

I made a PVC feeder and waterer with cups and painted them lavender. My hubs was also lucky enough to score some premium metal roofing from my FIL's roof remodel.

Those colors are so extraordinarily close to the ones we purchased for our coop! Love it! We are still working on the build but I bought the paint weeks ago lol.

 

[RooBeeC]

We purchased the Summerhawk Ranch Victorian Teak XL model. I wasn't fond of the plain wood color so I painted it before assembly. I used Valspar Fresh Mist and Coral Reef for the paint colors.

This model is said to hold 6-9 chickens given that they free range during the day. Since we won't be able to free range daily without supervision (hawks) we decided to make an additional run.

My husband spent his entire week's vacation making the run for me and I'm so pleased with his results. This was his first ever build and it was winged.

I made a PVC feeder and waterer with cups and painted them lavender. My hubs was also lucky enough to score some premium metal roofing from my FIL's roof remodel.

How Cute!

 

[paneubert]

Finished (well...is it ever really finished??? Hahaha!) the quail aviary today. If this is your first time seeing my posts, this aviary is built under our second story deck on our house. A good percentage of the framing and the entire roof is actually our deck. Photo dump time...

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This is from the back corner. 8 by 12 inch pavers with normal bricks just inside that. Hardware cloth about 2 feet out from wood. Gravel on top. About an inch deep now, but I might fill it in deeper to be more level with the bricks.



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Inside front corner. I tossed in some recently trimmed branches. We will see if that was a good idea or not when the quail get in there.



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Shot of the door from the inside looking out. Those are 16 by 16 pavers on the outside and 8 by 16 on the inside. I did not run any hardware cloth under the door, so these are all I have for keeping predators from digging under. But I think it will be ok.... The door closes below and against that 2 by 6 you see, so there is no gap for an animal to get in unless they chew thru the wood.


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Outside front corner looking at the pavers and gravel. I graveled in between the pavers and the framing wherever there was a gap. Figure it will help with drainage and deter diggers a little bit. There is about 2 feet of hardware cloth coming out from between the corner post and the door frame, but there is none coming out in front of the door. So this short side of the aviary has some protection via hardware cloth from diggers, but the door is just protected by the 16 by 16 pavers in front of it.


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Shot of my ugly paving work. That giant rock made things interesting.....I had to work around it. There is about 8 inches of hardware cloth coming out this side of the aviary. So I have the pavers about halfway on and halfway off the cloth to extend the predator protection a little farther from the wood framing. As I said in an earlier photo caption, I think I might fill in with more gravel up to the top of the bricks.


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Looking in the aviary from the door. This was before I put the evergreen branches in the front corner. You can see the giant buried rock, the gravel area I made, the black plastic house I am going to try out, as well as the sand box I made for them.


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Just another shot looking in the door.


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Another shot from the door.


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In this one you can sort of see that I screwed in some tinted UV resistant plastic roofing panels. I tried my best to slope them towards the far end of the coop. They start right at the door, but are about a foot short of the far end of the coop. That is part of the reason I put a ton of gravel over on the far end of the coop. I want the rain to drain over there and not make a muddy mess.


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Another shot from the back side.


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Better shot of the roof panels I put in. I just screwed them right to the joist for the deck above the aviary on the near/door side, and then I screwed in a 2 by 6 to the joist at the far end. Then screwed the far end of the panels to that 2 by 6 that is "hanging" from the far joist. So I should have a good angle that will drain properly. We will seer when it rains!


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Shot of the sandbox. That is an entire 80 pound bag of sand.


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Shot of the house and the sandbox.


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Funny how the site uploads photos in a weird order. This is another shot of the tree branch corner and giant half buried boulder.


Well.....that is it for now. 21 quail will be moving in on Wednesday.

 

[Latestarter]

We bought this coop and it said 6-8 chickens, I am thinking 4 max. My husband and I are going to build a run for it as well. Not sure if we should built it off the side of the coop or just enclose the run around the whole coop. Suggestions?

Just a pointer... If you put a run around the entire thing, then you will need to enter the run to get to the coop for cleaning, egg collecting, etc. Just something to keep in mind. BTW, Welcome to BYC and the coop thread

Lots of great info and experience shared here.

 

[peastix]

How Cute!

X2 Love it!

 

[FarmerPhronc]

I'm guessing by the external nest box (which I ASSUME is 1' deep) that the actual coop (nest boxes excluded) is 2' x 3'??
NO WAY that is big enough for 6-9 large fowl. It is barely big enough for 3 and that is with your plan that they will have access to the run or free range all day every day AND assuming no space it taken up with feed and water. If there is no provision, you might want to cover part of the run, at least the part that came with the coop so when it rains they don't have to confine themselves to the coop and the space underneath.

Sadly people who sell coops VERY frequently substantially overstate how many chickens they will hold. They don't even say "x bantams or y large fowl". For large fowl a roost should be 1' from a parallel wall and parallel roosts should be 18" apart. There is no way you are going to get more than 3' of roost in there either. AND you need a MINIMUM of 1' of roost per bird so again, absolute max in that coop is 3.

I think people get too hung up on how much space their hens need. The little backyard coop I purchased recommended different numbers depending on the type (bantams, standards or large breeds), if they would be free ranging or have access to a run. The coop I purchased recommended 5 to 6 standards,10 if one added additional run space. The roost area of my coop is only 3'x 3' and has 2 roosts 12 inches apart. I've added run space, my 5 hens have almost 100 sq ft. I could easily add another 3 to 5 hens. My chickens only enter the roost area to roost at night or get access to the nesting boxes during the day.

 

[MeepBeep]

I think people get too hung up on how much space their hens need.

I don't, cramped spaces create conflict and behavioral issues commonly not seen when they have more space... Also cramped roosting areas cause sleeping issues that can cause lose of production as well as even further behavioral issues...

There are countless post on this forum where people are asking why their birds are not producing, why their birds are sick or dying, why their birds are plucking feather or why there birds are doing this or that, and a vast majority of the time the cause can be linked back to limited, improper or undesirable housing accommodations or available space...

The poultry industry has invested a great deal of money into housing requirements for poultry to determine what is optimal for production, health and behavior, no reason we should not take advantage of their studies... Sure there are circumstances where chickens will get along, be healthy and produce fine with less space then recommended but, I believe in the end that is the exception not the rule... I'm not saying follow the math to a 'T' but the math gives you a very solid starting point...

 

[FarmerPhronc]

I don't, cramped spaces create conflict and behavioral issues commonly not seen when they have more space... Also cramped roosting areas cause sleeping issues that can cause lose of production as well as even further behavioral issues...

There are countless post on this forum where people are asking why their birds are not producing, why their birds are sick or dying, why their birds are plucking feather or why there birds are doing this or that, and a vast majority of the time the cause is limited, improper or undesirable housing accommodations or available space...

The poultry industry has invested a great deal of money into housing requirements for poultry to determine what is optimal for production, health and behavior, no reason we should not take advantage of their studies... Sure there are circumstances where chickens will get along, be healthy and produce fine with less space then recommended but, I believe in the end that is the exception not the rule... I'm not saying follow the math to a 'T' but the math gives you a very solid starting point...

I'm sure all your points are valid. Maybe I'm just lucky. Like I said, I gave them more run area, about 20 sq ft per bird for my 5. I just don't see the need to have a large roost area when they spend so little time there.