post your chicken coop pictures here!

[ShrekDawg]

Some of the coop here are insane! This is amazing , I've should've of checked here when I first build my chicken coop.

That's mine , built form a little house that my dad made for my sisters but they didn't play with it so we now use it for our chickens!

Whoa, amazing coop!! Love the gardening

 

[FarmerPhronc]

Some of the coop here are insane! This is amazing , I've should've of checked here when I first build my chicken coop.

That's mine , built form a little house that my dad made for my sisters but they didn't play with it so we now use it for our chickens!

Nothing wrong with that coop and run, great way to re-purpose a building. I can see you have rocks around the base I assume that's to deter digging predators. I would suggest that you cover the lower 2 ft of your chicken wire run with 1/2 inch hardware cloth if you want to keep out predators. While chicken wire will keep your chickens in it won't stop predators.

 

[Sylvester017]

I personally hate the term EE as it doesn't really define anything... As far as most hatcheries are concerned it's simply became the 'trendy' way to sell barnyard mixes at inflated prices...

Anyway with that said, all the characteristics of a EE are dependent on the stock they came from and what is mixed into them, and that mix is a loaded gun full of alphabet soup... If yours is only laying 3-4 months a year, it's likely just due to the mix it came from... My barnyard mixes lay quite well all summer and all winter, and almost all of my mature layers are putting out large to jumbo eggs... They might not be 'production' birds but they are hardly slacking in the egg laying department...

I don't have an EE but a Blue Wheaten Ameraucana. She is from a private breeder and we've had her for 3 years. She has always layed XL pastel blue eggs but even as a pullet was not a good layer. She stopped laying for 7 months, started laying again for 2 months, and stopped laying last week again. I don't expect to see eggs from her again until Spring of next year. Our friends' EEs are 3 and 4 yrs old and went so many months without laying that they almost dispatched them. Great temperament birds but not for egg reliability. How is one to guess where or who to buy Ams/EEs from if the ancestry of the breed mix is so iffy? Our Ameraucana breeder was breeding for bluest eggs and body type and obviously not for production. I agree other barnyard or "mutt" mixes can be terrific layers but hard to find homes if not pure-bred. When we had to re-home a couple birds it was much easier to find them homes because they were APA birds and not mixed breeds.

 

[TJordan]

Oh my everyone. Ever eat so much you fear you will burst?? Let me explain.

Time to invoke jealousy. For dinner tonight my loving husband has graced me with a steak stuffed boneless porkloin, covered in jalapeños and baby carrots, topped with Swiss cheese and wrapped in bacon. This has been lovingly seasoned for 24 hours before going into a perfectly heated smoker for 5 hours. My sides include cheesy broccoli and colly flower, corn on the cob, stuffed bell peppers and smoked shrimp that sautéed in a bed of peppers and onions. This all sits on top of a bed of yellow rice with sausage and onions. Sweet tea will nicely complement this delectable meal. For desert I will be eating a HOMEMADE strawberry and banana cheesecake and fresh brewed coffee.

Anyone else hungry now??

I'm sinking my teeth into the cake right now!!!

 

[MeepBeep]

How is one to guess where or who to buy Ams/EEs from if the ancestry of the breed mix is so iffy?

First you have to realize that EE or some Ameri-this misspelling are not breeds, so you should never expect anything unless the breeder you buy from has been breeding or culling for a specific trait... EE or some Ameri-this misspelling is just a cliche, trendy marketing name that caught on for mutt chickens that lay colored eggs... Some respectable breeders try to limit the name to blue egg carrying birds, but most bigger hatcheries don't even bother with that limitation anymore and will sell any bird that doesn't lay a pure white egg as an EE...

 

[undertakingyou]

Oh my everyone. Ever eat so much you fear you will burst?? Let me explain.

Time to invoke jealousy. For dinner tonight my loving husband has graced me with a steak stuffed boneless porkloin, covered in jalapeños and baby carrots, topped with Swiss cheese and wrapped in bacon. This has been lovingly seasoned for 24 hours before going into a perfectly heated smoker for 5 hours. My sides include cheesy broccoli and colly flower, corn on the cob, stuffed bell peppers and smoked shrimp that sautéed in a bed of peppers and onions. This all sits on top of a bed of yellow rice with sausage and onions. Sweet tea will nicely complement this delectable meal. For desert I will be eating a HOMEMADE strawberry and banana cheesecake and fresh brewed coffee.

Anyone else hungry now??

I'm sinking my teeth into the cake right now!!!

Sounds delicious. Now I need to find a recipe!

 

[ChickenChaser43]

 

[junebuggena]

We are historical reenactors living in a little 240 yr. old house that has been a DIY labor of love to restore for over 17 years. We JUST got chickens for the first time---4 English buff orpingtons, and put up a coop. We have just finished building our own fence of trees we cut down, and have 'tricked out' our coop with period style hardware and 'leaded' windows to go with our old New Hampshire house. My husband thought our fence was reminiscent of the stockade fences at Plimoth Plantation, etc., and we had a piece of highly weathered 18thc. board, and a 17thc. 'Brit' flag---since we do that type of reenacting. Hubby has a degree in illustration and design, and is creative and quirky. He said the fence reminded him of an old fort...SO...what did we do??? Well, created one, of course! We made our flag pole from a tree we cut down, and hubby hand painted 'FORT ORPINGTON' in 17thc. font on the old board, which we affixed to the fence around our coop and run! We think it looks just grand with our home and the old-time lifestyle we live---(Yes, that is us in the avatar photo!) HERE ARE A FEW PHOTOS OF OUR EFFORTS!

Beautiful job, but I'm a bit concerned that you didn't put in enough ventilation. The biggest danger in cold weather isn't temperatures, but moisture in the air. That's what causes frostbite for chickens. Lots and lots of ventilation is essential for a healthy flock.

 

[bigred77]

Oh my everyone. Ever eat so much you fear you will burst?? Let me explain.

Time to invoke jealousy. For dinner tonight my loving husband has graced me with a steak stuffed boneless porkloin, covered in jalapeños and baby carrots, topped with Swiss cheese and wrapped in bacon. This has been lovingly seasoned for 24 hours before going into a perfectly heated smoker for 5 hours. My sides include cheesy broccoli and colly flower, corn on the cob, stuffed bell peppers and smoked shrimp that sautéed in a bed of peppers and onions. This all sits on top of a bed of yellow rice with sausage and onions. Sweet tea will nicely complement this delectable meal. For desert I will be eating a HOMEMADE strawberry and banana cheesecake and fresh brewed coffee.

Anyone else hungry now??

I'm sinking my teeth into the cake right now!!!

I want to hear more about the recipe for this steak stuffed boneless porkloin

 

[TJordan]

I want to hear more about the recipe for this steak stuffed boneless porkloin

Ok. We took the pork roast and seasoned it with several different things (your choice to taste) and let it sit in the fridge for about 48 hours. Take a boneless piece of steak ( we used New York strip but I bet deer would be great) and season it to taste. Let sit as well.

Butterfly the pork-loin and insert the steak where you can close it back over. Take some jalapeño peppers and carrots sliced thinly and add a layer over that. Top with Swiss cheese and then wrap in a cocoon of bacon. Secure with tooth picks and place in a smoker at 250 degrees for about 5-6 hours until done. We used hickory wood chips for the wood.

While this is cooking get the rest of your dinner prepped. We made stuffed bell-peppers and put those on the top rack of the smoker about an hour before pull time. The same thing with the corn on the cob. An aluminum boat with butter, fresh minced garlic and sliced onions. Wrap it right and put in as well. About an hour to cook those. Yum yum

The cheese cake he won't tell me how he did but it was home made and had strawberries and sliced banana in it.