post your chicken coop pictures here!

[martellfam]

We have heavy latches on nest box and both doors. The slab does give a lot of additional security as well. We also have the 6ft privacy fence surrounding the backyard. Plus we have a american bulldog, a pit mix, and a bichon (scared of the chickens) that have easy access to the backyard. My biggest concern is the bird netting accross the top i do need to reinforce that but between the tarp and plastic thing from kids old playset there has been no issues. The birds seem to love it

Chickens look very content and happy!  Think about reinforcing the run w/ sturdier wire over the chicken poultry wire.  Stray dogs broke down our gate 6 yrs ago and attacked our chicken wire coop and would've killed our chickens if a Good Samaritan neighbor hadn't scared them off.  Poultry wire is too weak to keep predators out.  Cattle wire, chainlink roll, or hardware cloth or anything over the chicken wire will save your flock in future from city raccoons, possums, stray dogs, etc etc.  We never knew we had city raccoons until we saw one crawl out of the street gutter at 2 a.m.!  Your girls are so sweet and will thank you for the extra reinforcement.  Your slab foundation is a good secure bottom -- we like ours for easy hosing down for cleanup once a week.

 

[the poppster]

I used welded wire on all surfaces of my 10X25 ft enclosed run. The roof is also covered with 18 ml poly plastic, the type that is used to cover hoop garages...it works great!

[/IMG][/IMG]The few years, I had a heavy weight tarp covering the run roof. Last year it needed to be replaced and I found a place on eBay, that sold "remnants" of the hoop building plastic...thought I'd give it a try? It is great! And Tough! Almost sheds the snow on it's own! Especially when you get a nice sunny day...otherwise it clears off easily, even three or four inches of snow...I use a simple 2 ft long, 1X3 board attached to a handle...making a T-shape scraper, just pull the snow off. Works like a charm.

 

[Merrymouse]

at least three feet of snow covers just about any piece of open ground in this area...sorry about getting off on the wrong subject...but a discussion about possible predators could be important to anyone building a coop...I wish I had known that 1 inch chicken wire will not keep weasels out...or Red squirrels...or black bears...before I had wasted money and time building a beautiful completely enclosed run for my first flock...out of 40 birds, maybe 12 survived the night time bear attack...it basically "Walked" through the chicken wire...somehow squeezed into the coop thru the pop door and tore everything up...birds included.

Well, that's horrible. So sorry this happened.

 

[the poppster]

I used welded wire on all surfaces of my 10X25 ft enclosed run. The roof is also covered with 18 ml poly plastic, the type that is used to cover hoop garages...it works great!

[/IMG][/IMG]The few years, I had a heavy weight tarp covering the run roof. Last year it needed to be replaced and I found a place on eBay, that sold "remnants" of the hoop building plastic...thought I'd give it a try? It is great! And Tough! Almost sheds the snow on it's own! Especially when you get a nice sunny day...otherwise it clears off easily, even three or four inches of snow...I use a simple 2 ft long, 1X3 board attached to a handle...making a T-shape scraper, just pull the snow off. Works like a charm.

This photo is of the north wall of the run....I didn't want to cut the plastic! It's gray on one side and white on the other.

 

[the poppster]

Wow! That's clear as mud! Pictures are mixed up. Sorry.

 

[Merrymouse]

Here is my coop in progress. Yes I'm building a coop in the winter in New England.

21 days until hatch!

 

[NOVAchickenGuys]

Coop and Pen

 

[Merrymouse]

Quote:
Nice! What is that other structure behind your coop?

 

[NOVAchickenGuys]

It is our "car port." Our original metal car port was destroyed during a big storm 5 years ago. So I built a structure to support a tarp and cover the cars (which is really my outdoor work space).

 

[FlyWheel]

Quote: It certainly looks nice and sturdy. However, remember what they say about making something foolproof (or bearproof)...