post your chicken coop pictures here!

[OldMcContri]

We bought "natural" colored wood sealer at Home Depot and sealed up everything. If you seal where the chickens will be make sure you get a sealer safe for animals incase they peck at it. I love the look of natural wood

Thank you, now here is a big question, since it seems that the people at my HomeDepot in the paint department seem to be inept at answering questions like what sealer is safe for animals, What brand did you use?

 

[vehve]

That's a good point regarding the optional lifestyle we can adapt to our flocks.

Just like with human children we all get a personal rhythm going that suits ours and the chickens' lifestyle. We personally chose to go with the natural rhythm of the chickens. They used to holler at 5 a.m. But after uncovering the tarp over their coop they became accustomed to patiently watching us as we set up their free-range feed and clean water and then opened their door like children running out to recess! Cut down a lot on the early a.m. squawking for them to watch us doing this a.m. routine. As long as the tarp stays over the coop in the mornings we can wait as late as 6:00 or 7:00 before starting this routine depending on daylight savings time. We like to let our flock out as early as possible to get in their foraging since our summer times are brutal here and not the best time of the day for foraging.

Chickens are such creatures of habit and routine that they are easily adaptable. They are so pliable that the poor things will adapt even to crowded conditions some humans keep them in. Domesticated animals depend on human care for their survival and have no choice but to adapt to whatever we toss at them.

On these chicken websites most are raising chickens not just for convenient utility. To many they are not just a hobby or business but also family pets and spoiled a little more. Some even keep them as house pets. We have one Silkie that gets tired of waiting in line for her "favourite" coop nestbox and comes into our in-house hospital pen to lay her egg and then goes back out prompty. Talk about chicken adaptability LOL

That's a good point about the day being too hot in many places. One that I hadn't even thought about, since we rarely go much above +20C here. I took the dogs out a bit before 8 today, and the chickens were still quiet in their coop. I'm going to go let them out soon, but I have to say it's nicer to be able to sleep in when possible, and the chickens don't seem to mind it either. Yesterday evening they settled in for the night around ten in the evening. Also, I'm aware of the fact that many people need to keep a second job in addition to their farming, and this requires pretty early mornings. I'm just trying to get the point through, that it isn't mandatory to get up at three in the morning to let the chickens up, if there aren't any other factors that force you to rise early.

The search for cheaper food has sadly led to overcrowding animals in confined spaces. People like to complain about it, and then when someone tries to do things a bit differently, they go out of business because keeping animals in more acceptable lodgings tends to hike up the price a bit, and none of the complainers buy their product. Dairy cows are lucky in that aspect, you need a happy cow to get 8 gallons out of her daily.

I have to say, while the chickens are pretty cute, it's not enough for me to let them into the house. I prefer to keep the couch free of fecal matter. Our landraces tend to come stand in front of the back door and stare in through the glass, and they've never even been inside the house. A bit of a hypocritical stance for me to take, since somehow the dogs have managed to weasel themselves into sleeping in the bed. How that happened, I know not. But they are the last ones to get up in the morning usually.

 

[tanksfarm5667]

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My new coop well run

 

[chickeelina]

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My new coop well run

Good job! I would suggest running a piece of 2x6 or something like that across the very bottom of the wire on both sides of the door because raccoons in my neighborhood like to pull up the wiring to break in for dinner.

 

[MikaylaSD]

Thank you, now here is a big question, since it seems that the people at my HomeDepot in the paint department seem to be inept at answering questions like what sealer is safe for animals, What brand did you use?

On the entire outside we used Wood Armor Endurance, our Home Depot was selling out of them and we got it for $7 per gallon. Very low VOC and it covered nicely with few coats applied pretty close together time wise. We used some on the inside of our coop as well, the man at the store said it was safe for use around animals but the carton doesn't have a guarantee of it so I can't say for sure. Home Depot also sells TriCoPolymer VOC Free Non Toxic Lumer Seal which is guarenteed safe for animals but I'm not sure how the finish comes out...our local store didn't carry it. Online it sells for $40 per gallon Hope this helps!

 

[OldMcContri]

On the entire outside we used Wood Armor Endurance, our Home Depot was selling out of them and we got it for $7 per gallon. Very low VOC and it covered nicely with few coats applied pretty close together time wise. We used some on the inside of our coop as well, the man at the store said it was safe for use around animals but the carton doesn't have a guarantee of it so I can't say for sure. Home Depot also sells TriCoPolymer VOC Free Non Toxic Lumer Seal which is guarenteed safe for animals but I'm not sure how the finish comes out...our local store didn't carry it. Online it sells for $40 per gallon Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for that information. I love the wood look, fiance doesn't really care for it though. But I am more concerned about the high heat through the summer days here and destroying the paint.

 

[LindaB220]

That's a good point about the day being too hot in many places. One that I hadn't even thought about, since we rarely go much above +20C here. I took the dogs out a bit before 8 today, and the chickens were still quiet in their coop. I'm going to go let them out soon, but I have to say it's nicer to be able to sleep in when possible, and the chickens don't seem to mind it either. Yesterday evening they settled in for the night around ten in the evening. Also, I'm aware of the fact that many people need to keep a second job in addition to their farming, and this requires pretty early mornings. I'm just trying to get the point through, that it isn't mandatory to get up at three in the morning to let the chickens up, if there aren't any other factors that force you to rise early.

The search for cheaper food has sadly led to overcrowding animals in confined spaces. People like to complain about it, and then when someone tries to do things a bit differently, they go out of business because keeping animals in more acceptable lodgings tends to hike up the price a bit, and none of the complainers buy their product. Dairy cows are lucky in that aspect, you need a happy cow to get 8 gallons out of her daily.

I have to say, while the chickens are pretty cute, it's not enough for me to let them into the house. I prefer to keep the couch free of fecal matter. Our landraces tend to come stand in front of the back door and stare in through the glass, and they've never even been inside the house. A bit of a hypocritical stance for me to take, since somehow the dogs have managed to weasel themselves into sleeping in the bed. How that happened, I know not. But they are the last ones to get up in the morning usually.

I know, I know. Little dogs can grab your heart. Our little poodle mutt sleeps between DD and SIL.

 

[LindaB220]

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My new coop well run

Super good looking.

 

[jtbass2756]

Need some advice asap.....here is what I've got so far...I really wanted it raised but since its all free and someone is building it for me....beggers can't be choosy !! Now, My thought at this moment is to put a layer of 1/4" hardware wiring across the floor area, then put down plywood, then a vinyl covering...can someone advise me of the details of what I'm doing? like how high should I bring it up the side, etc. here is what I've gotten so far....

 

[vehve]

Need some advice asap.....here is what I've got so far...I really wanted it raised but since its all free and someone is building it for me....beggers can't be choosy !! Now, My thought at this moment is to put a layer of 1/4" hardware wiring across the floor area, then put down plywood, then a vinyl covering...can someone advise me of the details of what I'm doing? like how high should I bring it up the side, etc. here is what I've gotten so far....

Looks like untreated wood against the dirt. That's a big "No, no", it will rot the wood in no time. You could ask them to lift it up on cinder blocks or something. How high you should bring the vinyl up the sides depends on many things. If you're planning on doing the deep litter method, you need to bring it pretty high, I might even go with a foot and a half, although that would be in order to heat the coop with the deep litter in winter. If you're just going to use shavings or something similar, you can go with less. I don't know if you need the hardware cloth under the floor, someone who knows the critters in your area is better suited to answer that one. But be sure to do something about digging predators in the run. Also, the roof line looks pretty level, you should off-set it to allow water to run off it.