post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Justus80]

Thank you! That is a lot of helpful information! I noticed the cleats were a little too far spaced yesterday myself and plan on adding a few. It's definitely a working progress. I took the week off last week just to finish what I have done so far since I started losing chicks to raccoon's Friday before last. As far as predators my biggest fear are the raccoon's, possum's, and chicken hawks. I live on half an acre and the entire area is fenced plus my dog is outside most of the day unless it's too hot for him. And luckily so far he's only showed curiosity for the chickens but I still watch him pretty close when I'm letting them roam around. I have an outside cat as well that keeps stray cats run off but I know for a fact he won't bother the chickens. I've seen him let a possum eat out of his dish and not complain at all. I really didn't consider that the chicken wire wouldn't be strong enough and appreciate the heads up. As soon as it's affordable I'll definitely have to reinforce it like you suggested. The next thing on my list is to add some dividers or something to the nest box and to install a hatch from the outside that I can collect the eggs from without going into the coop everytime. They all lay inside the box no problem but even though it's 15 square feet they act like only one hen can be in there at a time except for at night. So I thought dividers or even separate boxes made with 2x4's might help that.

 

[the poppster]

Hey there! Just a friendly word of advice from someone who learned the hard way. (unless there already is some there, but I didn't see it) You should put some wire or something on the floor to keep critters from digging a tunnel into your coop at night. Weasels, racoons, fox, all kinds of predators will dig to get to your flock. You probably already know that and if so, i apologize. maybe my comment might help someone in the future.   I lost 2 birds when I first started because we used a coop that was already on our property that we moved to. It was built with a dirt floor, nothing to keep predators from digging under. 

Great advice! I put hardware cloth all the way around my pen, out for about two feet buried in the ground at an angle away from the pen....the hard ware cloth is screwed on to the base of the pen walls and runs up the walls for about two feet...anything that wants to dig into the pen will have to start about a foot and a half away and go down about 8 inches....before turning horizontally to continue tunneling....so far ....so good....

 

[adrian cobb]

this is our new hen house. Honeysuckle cottage.

 

[ChickadeeNMe]

Bumblefoot happens when the foot is somehow cut. The wound scabs over, sealing in the bacteria, causing the infected 'bumble'. It has nothing to do with a dirty coop. Wire flooring can injure the feet, hence the higher incidence of bumblefoot in birds that are kept on wire.

Funny that I've always used chicken tractors with wire on the bottom and have never once in 2 years had a case of bumblefoot. I've been looking for the evidence and cannot find any. It seems to be just a matter of personal opinion. My experience suggests otherwise though. I'll continue to use the chicken tractors and enjoy minimal bumblefoot occurances if any at all. Thank you.

 

[FarmerPhronc]

A rather productive day! This arrived and was placed in the front yard about 10:30 MDT this morning. So far no takers. Time will tell.



Finally got the coop moved from my neighbors to my backyard yesterday. Got most of the old bedding, feathers and poop cleaned out today. Hopefully will finish cleaning, washing it out and disenfecting it tomorrow. Lots of work to be done before moving more hens in.






This roost bar is a little thin. I'll most likely replace it with a 2 x 4 laying flat.




I don't know if you can tell by this picture, however those top 3 nesting boxes are full of poop. I took them out as I don't see the need for so many nesting boxes. I'm gonna have to put a slanted roof over it or perhaps another roost and clean off the board under it.




The plan is to add vents in the gables. My have to add chicken wire to keep them out of the rafters even though there's not much room up there.




There are windows on both sides however they need to be covered with hardware cloth and the exterior needs a fresh coat of paint. That's not including adding to the run which will double what I currently have giving me close to 200 sq ft. Like I said lots of work to be done, hopefully have it all completed by the end of June.

 

[FarmerPhronc]

Funny that I've always used chicken tractors with wire on the bottom and have never once in 2 years had a case of bumblefoot. I've been looking for the evidence and cannot find any. It seems to be just a matter of personal opinion. My experience suggests otherwise though. I'll continue to use the chicken tractors and enjoy minimal bumblefoot occurances if any at all. Thank you.

I too have a coop with a wire floor as well as grazing boards in their run. I've yet to discover a case of bumblefoot.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Thank you! That is a lot of helpful information! I noticed the cleats were a little too far spaced yesterday myself and plan on adding a few. It's definitely a working progress. I took the week off last week just to finish what I have done so far since I started losing chicks to raccoon's Friday before last. As far as predators my biggest fear are the raccoon's, possum's, and chicken hawks. I live on half an acre and the entire area is fenced plus my dog is outside most of the day unless it's too hot for him. And luckily so far he's only showed curiosity for the chickens but I still watch him pretty close when I'm letting them roam around. I have an outside cat as well that keeps stray cats run off but I know for a fact he won't bother the chickens. I've seen him let a possum eat out of his dish and not complain at all. I really didn't consider that the chicken wire wouldn't be strong enough and appreciate the heads up. As soon as it's affordable I'll definitely have to reinforce it like you suggested. The next thing on my list is to add some dividers or something to the nest box and to install a hatch from the outside that I can collect the eggs from without going into the coop everytime. They all lay inside the box no problem but even though it's 15 square feet they act like only one hen can be in there at a time except for at night. So I thought dividers or even separate boxes made with 2x4's might help that.

Many hens wont use community boxes so its usually common to have seperate boxes anyways. Maybe 12x12x12 or so but bigger for bigger hens, I'm making mine like 16 inches deep and high

 

[ENor70]

Here is mine. Got the birds out of the brooder yesterday. Thanks to BYC for all the great ideas! It was a blast to build.

I started a thread for the build some time ago (here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1098542/toolshed-coop).

 

[FarmerPhronc]

Many hens wont use community boxes so its usually common to have seperate boxes anyways. Maybe 12x12x12 or so but bigger for bigger hens, I'm making mine like 16 inches deep and high

I have two nest boxes in my coop not divided. At the current time I only have 5 hens however they all use one side of the nest box. I have seen 3 out of the 5 all huddled up on the one side. Go figure.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Here is mine. Got the birds out of the brooder yesterday. Thanks to BYC for all the great ideas! It was a blast to build. I started a thread for the build some time ago (here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1098542/toolshed-coop).

Whoa! That is like the chicken mansion!