post your chicken coop pictures here!

[FarmerPhronc]

Yep, that will do it for most chickens. Some of mine are still not real sure about hand feeding but they are right there to get some if I throw it for them. Want to watch something funny? Throw some treats to one side of the chickens, then throw some the other way and watch the scramble. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" is not a concept chickens seem to understand

Some of mine aren't sure either. I have 5 hens. As you can see from the pic only 3 are eating out of my hand, one is in the background and the other not even in sight. I went out today with some stale donuts only one would eat out of my hand.

 

[ShrekDawg]

See? There is always a reasonable explanation   I figured you were holding them up to your face and took the hits.

In my opinion, if a chicken is too "assertive" with humans, it is aggression, not "Hi BFF!". I have one Ancona I'm not real sure about. If I squat down to do something she sometimes gets up on my shoulder. When I stand or brush her off she does the "I'm a pancake" squat so I know that SHE knows that I am higher in the pecking order. But lots of my chickens haven't yet figured out that freckles are not food, nor are small holes in hats, etc so I'm not about to let one sit on my shoulder and "hunt" for "food" on my face   It is bad enough in the summer when they think those dark things on my arm might be food. Of course, if I had a tick, they would be most welcome to them. Fortunately, I have never had a tick. 

Oh yeah, I'm dumb but I'm not THAT dumb LOL

And hmm, that makes sense. I always figured mine just wanted to say hi to me but maybe not. Maybe they more want to show the others they're the boss? Like they get to be high and the others don't? Sometimes if one flies up another will too.

And oh yeah, mine haven't grasped that either! They'll peck at designs in my pajamas/pants, buttons, sjoelaces, freckles, etc.

And it was less I was letting her hunt for food near my face and more everyone was crowded around me eating kale from my hand and she happened to hop up so i figured "sure, why not let her have kale up here" and she ate a few bites then decided to try eating my eye LOL

Next time though I will not feed them when they climb on me. And I may even stop letting them climb on me altogether

 

[FarmerPhronc]

everyone was crowded around me eating kale from my hand and she happened to hop up so i figured "sure, why not let her have kale up here" and she ate a few bites then decided to try eating my eye LOL

I grow kale for 2 reasons. My wife and I love it mixed in with other salad greens. So do the ladies.

 

[TJordan]

I grow kale for 2 reasons. My wife and I love it mixed in with other salad greens. So do the ladies.

Very nice. I hope to have an herb plot this year. Maybe a salad garden.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I grow kale for 2 reasons. My wife and I love it mixed in with other salad greens. So do the ladies.

Very nice. I hope to have an herb plot this year. Maybe a salad garden.

I just started giving them kale and they LOVE it. They especially love broccoli though. Hoping to grow some of both along with some other fruits and vegetables this year.

 

[gpeters3]

I finally got some of the chicks out in the run today and they were more tame than i expected, even coming right up to me and checking me out but not letting me reach for them. I started tunnel training them and some came out on their own but couldn't get back in so i helped them in and came back out near dark and found them all laying in a pile under the lamps. Going to have to make the,tunnels a little bigger.

Of the 3 auracanas (so called) i have one that matches the description I've heard. She is very pretty, grey, white, black with very pronounced tufts on her ears and larger than the other chicks except the legbar looking one (might be one of the auracanas). I don't really care if they are pure, i have my very varied flock i wanted and they are all healthy. I put the turkeys in the smallest pen but the tunnels are open so they can mingle if they want. I'll try to get some good pics tomorrow.

I accidentally bought a different heat lamp with a "C" handle to hang it with rather than the clamps and i think i actually like that one better. Certainly can't be knocked down. It still gets down to 30 at night so I'm leaving the lamps in til it warmes up a little more. They are half grown but still act like they are cold sometimes and always huddle under the lamps when they rest.

Couldnt find 50' rolls of hardware cloth so decided to go ahead and pour a footer between the posts. I will basically have a pole barn with no siding or roof. Nothing like doing things in stages I'm pretty happy with it so far

 

[carajoden]

My gosh there are some cute coops. Here's mine. It used to store firewood, but DH enclosed it for me.

 

[Sylvester017]

took forever to build my first coop but pretty satisfied. use multiple different plans and picked what i thought was good for me.

As long as all the security measures are taken to keep the flock safe we and our chickens should be pretty satisfied with our efforts

.

 

[gpeters3]

They sell snake traps sorta like those sticky mouse traps. Looks like u can't do deep liter

There are no native snakes in north america that can eat mature chickens but most chickens will find snakes to be good eats. Most of the stuff you hear about snakes bothering animals is based on old wives tales. In Fla there are some imported species that are very dangerous, even to humans and the venomous ones in various parts of the country but most of them won't bite animals they can't eat. I'm thinking a snake in a chicken coop is in more danger than the chickens

 

[Sylvester017]

I was worried about that as well. Mr. I Know Everything says it's fine. He even has it for the walls. Sigh. It's going to rain all week so maybe it will start showing separation or warping and he will change it fast.

Warping of OSB won't always be apparent after just a short rain. Our old coop looked fine the first year and then started peeling/crumbling a bit at a time. Someone still managed to want our old coop after 5 years but I advised them to raise it off the ground and put a pop-up canopy over it in addition to tarping it during rain/extreme sun exposure. Both elements do damage to OSB. I loved this old custom coop design but it was made out of the cheapest materials by the custom builder.

Nest boxes from the collection door - junky material. We had to put plexi-glass squares at the bottom of the nestboxes because one hen damaged her toes/toenails (bleeding) scratching on the inferior splintered OSB material and she has missing toes/toenails because of it. Some hens are really OCD about scratching hard on a nestbox floor before laying their egg.


The only thing not made out of junky glued-wood was the untreated 2x2 post frames, door frame, and flimsy chicken poultry wire (which stray dogs bent and mangled beyond repair). The builder used OSB boards for the runner base of the coop. What was he thinking? Such a lovely workable coop for our climate but it was built practically out of chewing gum and glue!


Someone actually wanted our 5-yr-old coop and we gave them the treated base boards to set it up off the ground at their place but unless they follow our suggestions to tarp it and set up a pop-up canopy over it to protect from the elements this won't last them long.