post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Sylvester017]

Well this coop has BECOME US! We have been hammering away for almost 2 weeks now. Nothing is flat on my property so that makes every step more complicated. I was really hoping to be posting the finished product today but its still not done! We assembled the purchased coop that I got months ago which was too soon and now we have realized it is too small for our large Orpingtons. So we put it up on Craigslist and are going to build a custom coop on the outside giving them more aviary and play space to have. We focused a lot on predator proofing so we hand mixed 4500lbs of concrete so that means we had to carry by hand 75 60lb-bags through 2 gates and down 8 steps onto the hill. We are about to make our 3rd trip to Home Depot where we rent their pick up truck to buy more lumber because we need more lumber now that we are building our own coop. Here are the photos as it is, we are not done with the roof and you will see that in the last photo posted.

Its feels never ending....in need of words of encouragement...!

Hey it took us 3 years of buying, adding, and building and we're still not done! As soon as we are done in about 2 years, we're planning to get rid of it all and get a bigger coop building that looks better than the stuff we have now. Coops are like houses - the work is never done!

We figured it will take 2 years of eggs from our girls to pay for the first coop (not counting the extra stone paths, tarps, extra runs, feed, treats, etc). Now we just bought an extra hard wired dog kennel for a longer run and it will take another 2 years of eggs to pay for that and then we're tearing it all down to get a bigger housing- sigh. Probably costing us about $20/dozen eggs at the moment.

Oh, I forgot the investment in the organic garden to raise veggies for us and the hens. Oh, I forgot about the expensive organic products for treating for lice, mites, scaly leg preventative vitamin E oil, natural vitamins, etc. Oh, I forgot about the $100 vet bills. Ugh - my head hurts thinking about it. I guess that's why chickens are called a hobby because there's no making money on it except that you know what you feed your chickens and the eggs are organic for your table.

Did I mention chickens will provide hours of entertainment - we don't subscribe to TV services and just watch our "big screen" sliding door to see what comedy transpires with the backyard hens.

 

[Sylvester017]

I like it! I have a coop kit that I'm going to start putting together on Monday..can't wait. Best of luck with your "ladies" !!

Have you assembled coop kits before? The ones we researched all seemed flimsy from customer reviews unless the coops were INSIDE a secure wired run. Let us know how it goes and what you had to do to make it predator proof and secure. Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[graciecat]

I'll tell you I won't be doing a kit again. I'm just happy to have survived! My first little coop was a kit. Nothing fit properly. It was a nightmare.

 

[iwiw60]

Have you assembled coop kits before? The ones we researched all seemed flimsy from customer reviews unless the coops were INSIDE a secure wired run. Let us know how it goes and what you had to do to make it predator proof and secure. Inquiring minds want to know.

Have you assembled coop kits before? The ones we researched all seemed flimsy from customer reviews unless the coops were INSIDE a secure wired run. Let us know how it goes and what you had to do to make it predator proof and secure. Inquiring minds want to know.

Well, about 3-4 weeks ago I posted in this thread my "ideal" chicken coop and how I was going to do this, do that, and build it myself. Well, circumstances being what they are (I'm 70 years old now and by myself) reality has set in and I've scaled down my big dreams and rather than build something from scratch I've today ordered a small chicken coop that is "somewhat" ready to go for what I need, which is 3-4 hens.

I'll be making many changes to the basic structure, which right now measures 48.0" H x 32" W x 74" D , but here's a pic of it:



The cost of this kit was only around $240, and yes I'm aware that the materials are somewhat flimsy. First of all, I'll install a piece of rain gutter over the nesting box where it meets the main structure so water doesn't get in (there isn't enough overhang so I know it will leak). Secondly I'll be raising the entire thing up about 1 to 2 feet so that the run which you see there in the pic can be taller in height (I can't stoop much). Then the second major thing is to get rid of that so-called "run" entirely and build a much longer/wider one so that my 3 hens can have some space plus put their water/feed in there also. I'll try to end up with a run that will be approx. 8 feet long and at least 50" tall.

 

[Sylvester017]

Well, about 3-4 weeks ago I posted in this thread my "ideal" chicken coop and how I was going to do this, do that, and build it myself. Well, circumstances being what they are (I'm 70 years old now and by myself) reality has set in and I've scaled down my big dreams and rather than build something from scratch I've today ordered a small chicken coop that is "somewhat" ready to go for what I need, which is 3-4 hens.

I'll be making many changes to the basic structure, which right now measures 48.0" H x 32" W x 74" D , but here's a pic of it:



The cost of this kit was only around $240, and yes I'm aware that the materials are somewhat flimsy. First of all, I'll install a piece of rain gutter over the nesting box where it meets the main structure so water doesn't get in (there isn't enough overhang so I know it will leak). Secondly I'll be raising the entire thing up about 1 to 2 feet so that the run which you see there in the pic can be taller in height (I can't stoop much). Then the second major thing is to get rid of that so-called "run" entirely and build a much longer/wider one so that my 3 hens can have some space plus put their water/feed in there also. I'll try to end up with a run that will be approx. 8 feet long and at least 50" tall.

I'm 70 also but started my chickeneering about 3 years ago. We looked into all the cute little coop kits and yours was one I really liked except like you say not big enough for the 3 chickens we started out with plus I too was concerned about rain getting into the nestbox. Most customer reviews said the illustrated picture instructions were next to impossible to follow and that sometimes pieces of the thin wood would be damaged in shipping and parts would be missing.

Larger Amazon housing appeared for sale after we purchased our already assembled heavy custom-built coop at our local feed store - it was 4' x 6' overall and delivered by the feed store right to our spot in the backyard - no hammering, no building, no screwdrivers - already built! I liked that the nestboxes didn't stick out beyond the outside walls to get wet in the rain. We propped the coop up on blocks a few inches so we had more head room. It's too small to house chickens in it 24/7 so we let our girls free-range the backyard with lots of low-built lean-to's for them to dive under from the Cooper's Hawk and to snooze under during the day. We also found a doghouse at a thrift store for added hiding. These low shelters have kept our girls safe from the Cooper's Hawks for these last 3 years and we keep recycling wood planks to use on cinder-blocks as shelters all around the yard. Nothing fancy but protects the girls.

We bought a 4' x 8' covered hard-welded dog kennel to attach to the little coop and are putting up a canopy over the whole thing for shade and/or rain protection. We're tired of using a tarp to cover the coop from the rain so we're using our extra popup canopy for some cover. To keep from using up floor space we invested in some Eglu Grubs to attach to the walls of the kennel so feed/water doesn't take away from the square footage of the floor. We can't hang feeders from the ceiling because it still takes away floor space in the middle of the coop.

Nice idea to add a rain gutter over your nestboxes. We just completely cover our coop with a tarp at night and the girls sleep in the round-holed nestboxes - it's extra cleaning but if the girls are happy so are we!

We've been adding and modifying the chicken housing for 3 years and in about 2 years we're junking it all to invest in a taller bigger walk-in coop. On a retired income I can't do everything at once and too crippled with arthritis to do construction by myself - even a simple coop kit tries my patience.

The worst ground predator we've had so far is an irresponsible dog owner's German Shepherd who broke into our yard and tried to get to the hens in the coop 3 years ago. We've since added a second gate so anything that gets through the 1st gate will have to tackle a 2nd one - plus the 2nd gate blocks the view of chickens from the street. We have put up a wide stepping stone block patio around the coop so nothing can dig under. We have Raccoons in our city neighborhood and those critters are nasty so we make sure someone is home at dusk to shut the chicken pen. My daughter's area has rattlesnakes but so far we're ok - but occasionally some irresponsible Boa pet owner has a snake go loose. That's when it's good to have the smaller hard-wire holes for chicken fencing.

I've always loved the design of your coop kit. Now if only it was about 3x bigger in all directions it might just be perfect for us.

 

[jmayday]

I got it out of my garage and put runners on and moved to the top of the hill it had to go down. I might have a coop moving party lol.

 

[Sylvester017]

I'll tell you I won't be doing a kit again. I'm just happy to have survived! My first little coop was a kit. Nothing fit properly. It was a nightmare.

What were the problems you encountered besides ill-fitting? Again, inquiring minds want to know. I just love to hear input.

I've heard the instructions from China have blurred illustrations and no explanations, that the pieces of wood parts are delivered damaged, or that there will be missing pieces. What's more it's hard to get Customer Service and costs you money to ship things back to the company.

Other customer reviewers said they didn't trust the coop kits were sturdy enough from predators like Raccoons who are strong and crafty to tear the coops open. More than any other city predator, Raccoons upset me the most because they can get extremely large, their slender toes are clever at manipulating locks or tearing things apart, and they kill for the sheer pleasure of it rather than for food. I never assembled a pre-fabricated coop but got nightmares just reading reviews. Occasionally there was a fair review but there was always a "BUT" in the review about the hurdles during assembling. Any construction job has hurdles but I still think a homemade pallet coop will be sturdier in the long run over a "kit" with thin wood. I've seen the little coop kits pictured inside bigger reinforced pens which sounds safer to me.

 

[Sylvester017]

I got it out of my garage and put runners on and moved to the top of the hill it had to go down. I might have a coop moving party lol.

A couple XL Pizzas and a case of Coke and a couple teenagers will be happy to move it for you!

 

[chickeelina]

Well, about 3-4 weeks ago I posted in this thread my "ideal" chicken coop and how I was going to do this, do that, and build it myself. Well, circumstances being what they are (I'm 70 years old now and by myself) reality has set in and I've scaled down my big dreams and rather than build something from scratch I've today ordered a small chicken coop that is "somewhat" ready to go for what I need, which is 3-4 hens.

I'll be making many changes to the basic structure, which right now measures 48.0" H x 32" W x 74" D , but here's a pic of it:



The cost of this kit was only around $240, and yes I'm aware that the materials are somewhat flimsy. First of all, I'll install a piece of rain gutter over the nesting box where it meets the main structure so water doesn't get in (there isn't enough overhang so I know it will leak). Secondly I'll be raising the entire thing up about 1 to 2 feet so that the run which you see there in the pic can be taller in height (I can't stoop much). Then the second major thing is to get rid of that so-called "run" entirely and build a much longer/wider one so that my 3 hens can have some space plus put their water/feed in there also. I'll try to end up with a run that will be approx. 8 feet long and at least 50" tall.

I like this coop a lot! I too looked at but realized it was too small for my LARGE girls! I have enlisted the help from my dad who is 65 and loves to comment about what I am going to say in his eulogy about 'when he built my coop....' then it twists and turns as we laugh into something like 'my dad died building my coop...' LOL, it has been backing breaking work but we are having a lot of fun and lots of laughs! I think its the perfect idea to use this coop and make your adaptations like you mentioned You will have to post a picture when you get her done!

 

[iwiw60]

Yeah, I know what you mean about size. But for me it's kinda about money, too. Gosh, the dang thing was so inexpensive and with what I'll be doing to it to tweak it the way I want it I'll probably be into it, minus the 1/2" hardware cloth, around $320.00. So for me being the age I'm at and not able to build things like I used to do back in the day, it's a good option for me. I'll try and post a pic or two when she's all finished.