post your chicken coop pictures here!

[aart]

aart...I don't know what IIRC is...but yes, they are all hand drawn by yours truly! Glad you liked them. Take care, Doug@RYGblog

If I Remember Correctly

 

[DarleneE]

iwiw60
Thank you SO much for your nice compliment. I really appreciate it.

 

[okoutdoor84]

Made from an old child's play fort.
Only new material was tin for the roof and some 2x4s.

 

[Sylvester017]

i would like to at some point let them free range while i am outside. We live next to a park so there are dogs around and also a fox that likes to roam around. One worry i have is if i had to go in/out, how would i get them all to go back in the coop/run. I got them at 20 weeks so i am not sure there is some type of bond there yet.

Chickens are smarter than you think. Call them whenever you have a special treat like "here chick chick" or make "kissy" sounds with your lips or whatever and when you get their attention sprinkle some wild bird seeds or dry mealworms and they'll start to associate your calls with food. After you get that established as a way to call them, eventually in a week call them again, toss the treat into the tractor and they'll go after it.

With ours we started herding behind them by waving our arms and gently saying "shoo, shoo" till they went into the coop which will always be their "safe" haven. We used to do that everytime the gardener started up the lawnmower and now they hear the machine and automatically meander into the coop on their own so we can close it. Chickens are creatures of habit so whatever method you want to use just associate pleasant treats with herding into the coop. Don't get frustrated. Keep it up every day and they'll get the hang of it. Just don't move fast or chase them and always use treats during the learning process. Sometimes it helps to have a gentle 2nd person to help herd them in the right direction but soon just one person can do it with treats.

 

[Sylvester017]

Very very very nice! And to preserve that wonderful little house keep it under a canopy or tarp over it to protect from sun and rain. My girls are jealous!

 

[Sylvester017]

My hubby is building our coop and is almost finished. We are new to chicken farming and are having a lot of fun getting started. The sides are lids that will raise up and we have 4 nesting boxes on each side. The coop is off the ground and will have a ramp attached for the chicks to come and go. The coop will be fenced in with an approx 8 foot area with room to add on later.

What a wonderful hubby! Very nice please tell him! May I suggest one little thing? Nest boxes in this design are prone to leakage from snow/rain but a tarp in inclement weather or a hard sloped overhead canopy will make it comfortable on those soggy days. We put up a popup canopy over ours until we can make a walk-in tall coop. So wonderful that you are giving the chickens space to forage because they only use the coop for laying and roosting and forage outside the rest of the day.

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you for the suggestion. I thought each hen needed her own nest.

(total newbie) lol I will have my hubby take one side of the nests out. Each side has 4 nest boxes. They will probably appreciate the extra room.

My hens (silly girls) all sleep in the round-holed nestboxes. We have 4 hens but only 3 boxes - usually someone has to double up but they get along fine. Hens are supposed to roost on bars but all of ours sleep in the boxes. Always have since day one of putting them in the coop. A little extra daily cleaning but not bad when you use straw. If the girls are happy then so are we!

 

[DarleneE]

Sylvester017,
Thanks for the kind complements!! Fortunately the coop is inside our lanai which is all screened in as well as a two foot block wall all around the bottom. So we only have to worry when it REALLY rains hard or when it rains sideways at an angle and for those times we do have a big tarp we throw over it to protect them as well as their bedding from getting wet. But thanks again for the kind words!!

 

[Sylvester017]

Sylvester017,
Thanks for the kind complements!! Fortunately the coop is inside our lanai which is all screened in as well as a two foot block wall all around the bottom. So we only have to worry when it REALLY rains hard or when it rains sideways at an angle and for those times we do have a big tarp we throw over it to protect them as well as their bedding from getting wet. But thanks again for the kind words!!

You're welcome! I love people who pamper their girls!

Do they get some free-range time? Chickens are foraging mobile creatures and can get most of their nutrition from just a backyard. They will get very bored and dull w/o that stimulation even if it's only for a few hours. They even love to forage in a light rain to get those tasty earthworms.

If you're concerned about aerial predators, we set up low lean-to's on cinder blocks for our girls to dive under - even found an old dog house at the thrift store. They will use them to dodge the aerial predators if there are 2 or 3 shelters set up around the perimeter of the yard. Our Cooper's Hawk hasn't got one of our girls yet in 3 years and they don't even have a rooster for barnyard alerts! Our jittery APA Ameraucana is so spooky she's usually the one to sound alerts. It's amazing how they understand each other's vocalizations - almost 30 sounds according to the experts.

 

[DarleneE]

Sylvester017,
They DO get some free range time but only when I'm able to be there too watch them. Yes I AM afraid of ANY type predator getting my girls!! We have a large wire pen we put them in so they cannot have free run of the entire yard, yet are STILL able to peck around in the grass and dirt. Our yard, though huge is covered with landscaping, a pool, a large deck my husband built, etc. So I feel better having them confined where I can control what they have access to in the yard. I'm scared perhaps one of our plants for example could be harmful to them?? I also let them run around the entire lanai every morning before I give them their daily treat of some leftovers!! They LOVE rice and macaroni and cheese!! Lol I give them bread as well. This morning I gave them two slices of bread "whole" instead of cutting it up, thus they had a little fun pecking away at it together!! I truly am crazy about my girls!! Never having had chickens before, I have a lot to learn still!! I NEVER knew they'd be SO much fun!!