post your chicken coop pictures here!

[TJordan]

Yesterday we put the roof up and the front wall, complete with chicken door hole. The side walls went up the day before. Now we just need to do the back door, aka the people door, make a door for the chickens, put the roof on (it's just plywood up now), and add siding. We could just paint it but my dad wants it to look nice plus we only used 3/8 pine sheathing so yeah. Thinking we might put clapboard on to match the house.

Very nice.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Very nice.

Thanks!!!

 

[tumalochick]

Yes, but it takes longer if you don't do it properly the first time    You have quite the nice looking coop and run there. 
[/quote]
Thanks! I have 16 chicks now so it will be plenty of room for all of them. I will need to wind proof the inside of the coop before next winter. I'm thinking I will just line the inside walls with tar paper instead of using battens all around. Much cheaper and will be adequate to stop the wind coming through.
What does everyone think of using bird netting for the top of the run? I've never seen a raccoon or skunk out here, although I'm sure they could be. I'm mostly worried about owls and hawks. They go in the coop fairly early by themselves, and it's a fortress!!

So I'd like to avoid the cost of wire over the whole top of the run.

 

[beautifulpirate]

Yesterday we put the roof up and the front wall, complete with chicken door hole. The side walls went up the day before. Now we just need to do the back door, aka the people door, make a door for the chickens, put the roof on (it's just plywood up now), and add siding. We could just paint it but my dad wants it to look nice plus we only used 3/8 pine sheathing so yeah. Thinking we might put clapboard on to match the house.

Looking good!

 

[beautifulpirate]

Ours is so close to being done. For anyone who thinks "We've got a few weeks to get the chicken coop built whilst they grow in the brooder. Let's go buy chickens now!" Just don't. Haha. Unless you are an experienced diy'er/builder or have a solid week off of work with no little children to wrangle, just don't. We said that nearly five weeks ago. The chickens will be five weeks old Saturday and we might get them in there Saturday. But their run won't be done for likely another week!

 

[bigmrg74]

Ours is so close to being done. For anyone who thinks "We've got a few weeks to get the chicken coop built whilst they grow in the brooder. Let's go buy chickens now!" Just don't. Haha. Unless you are an experienced diy'er/builder or have a solid week off of work with no little children to wrangle, just don't. We said that nearly five weeks ago. The chickens will be five weeks old Saturday and we might get them in there Saturday. But their run won't be done for likely another week!

Ah yes, the time honored tradition of scrambling to hurry up to finish a coop because the chicks are getting too big for the brooder.

 

[junebuggena]

It's a rite of passage. Those chicks grow fast.

 

[TerryH]

It's a rite of passage. Those chicks grow fast.

Apparently so. I swore that we were not getting chicks until the coop was completely done. Now there are 10 in the brooder in our spare room, 2 more 2 week old BLRW's going in the brooder down the street at my Mom's house on Saturday and the coop is still not done and the run is just a pipe dream at this point.

 

[TJordan]

Ours is so close to being done. For anyone who thinks "We've got a few weeks to get the chicken coop built whilst they grow in the brooder. Let's go buy chickens now!" Just don't. Haha. Unless you are an experienced diy'er/builder or have a solid week off of work with no little children to wrangle, just don't. We said that nearly five weeks ago. The chickens will be five weeks old Saturday and we might get them in there Saturday. But their run won't be done for likely another week!

my first coop 3 years ago was "ready" a week AFTER my new birds started laying

It was crazy. An entire ROOM was full of birds. I'm thankful that it's only at the 4 week mark and the coop is coming along. Unless you count the rain that has fallen for days now.

 

[gpeters3]

I couldn't find Sylvester's post so I'm just going to start by saying I trained the chicks to come and go through the tunnels (they actually figured it out by themselves) and they are running all over the run back and forth from one pen to the other to visit and cause trouble. Here are some pics of them in the run and the tunnels in the pens are visible as well. I also shot a pic of one of our most feared predators but it didn't come out very well: He is right next to the pool between the garage and pool. BTW, the garage collapsed and is waiting for some cash for a new roof and the pool needs some work and is waiting for some ambition on my part. I think you can just see the end of my wife's grape trellis at the end of the garden in this pic.



Anyway, the run is finished except for the dig proofing which I picked up today at Lowe's in 25' rolls of 1/2 x 1/2 hardware cloth. That cost me about $40 compared to about $70 for concrete and a lot less trouble since I have it all closed in and can't get to the inside to mix and pour the concrete without wheel barrowing everything (I'm too old for that). These girls fly all the way across the run (32') and bang into the coop wall and chase each other all over the place. There may be a boss developing in all this and I think it may be the larger RR. She seems to like to chase everybody. Feeding is easy but they knock the waterers around so much they spill most of it and I have to refill almost every day. As the day draws near to integrate the hens with the chicks I find myself procrastinating out of fear they won't get along. They are almost big enough to take the plunge but the turkeys are still pretty juvenile so I'll wait a bit longer.

I was thinking about leaving the pens and making a new one like the larger one as permanent housing in case they get too cranky but the coop may be enough if I add the extra perches. I'm just picturing 22 birds trying to lay eggs in 10 nest boxes and don't think the turkeys will fit so may have to make larger nests for them, not sure. I'm still going to add corner boards to prevent the hens from cornering any of them to peck them. Truck is empty and has a new carb ($200) now so is ready to get more plywood