post your chicken coop pictures here!

[recfsh]

Some pics of our build and upgrades. Material for the coop was form three large wood shipping containers. Bought an open bag of shingles from Lowes and a couple of sheets of exterior grade pressed panels and paint.

One of my daugher and her friend helping out in the early stages
Spring 2012...

Spring 2014...

A little antique character...

My inspiration...

 

[Sylvester017]

Here's my attempt. Man, this was more work (and $$$) than I bargained for. 6x10' coup for my 5 chicks. 16x18' attached secure run. 2x4" welded wire on the sides and top. 1x2" welded wire buried on the perimeter to prevent Ricky the Raccoon from getting under. Yes, the area under the gate needs work, I'm on it.

This is a setup that will be functional for years to come and the initial investment will be a memory of the past in no time. Security is a major issue and you worked at using heavy duty materials. We on this thread all go for the 1/2 inch wire against critters like rats, snakes, weasels, but it takes baby steps and $$$ at adding to coops as we go along. It usually doesn't take any of us long before we find what critters are the problems around our flock and deal with it. The hardwire can be attached right over existing wire and will reinforce against the critters just mentioned.

Your gate area can easily be fixed by using paver stones in a 3x3 foot square under the door to prevent digging critters. Or if you really wanted to bury heavy cinder blocks below the surface under the gate and use the blocks like paver stones as you walk in and out of the pen.

Your coop looks great. And many of us are hoping to see you eventually able to add some hardwire too.

 

[Sylvester017]

Some pics of our build and upgrades. Material for the coop was form three large wood shipping containers. Bought an open bag of shingles from Lowes and a couple of sheets of exterior grade pressed panels and paint.




A little antique character...

Great coop expansion!

Are you ready? Here goes - Many of us on here will say use 1/2" hardwire at least along the bottom half of the pen to keep out rats, snakes, weasels, raccoons, etc. It can be attached right over the existing 2x4 wire on the pen.

Glad to see you giving the chickens a lot more room.

 

[dharmasister]

Okay, so here's what we've got for girl's so far. We still need to build the run, do a little landscaping and I have some decorating to do, but we're coming along with it and the girls seem happy so far.
We start with our raggedy tool shed.



. DH gave it a good pressure washing.

. Theses two photos are switched - here it is in its final spot. The next photo shows how the guys rolled from it's original place in the yard to where we wanted it. DH put PVC pipes under it and we pulled/pushed it into place.



Next I gave it a good cleaning out.


. DH added holes for ventilation, screened them with hardware cloth and added louvers. He added a little side door for the girls to get in and out of the run.



. He built a screen door for the front.


. DH built a shelf and nesting boxes.

. I built a ramp for them. It can get kinda hot in Louisiana so we've got a shop fan in there for them.



. I want to screen in the area beneath the shelf to use as a chicken jail/quarantine space so that when I introduce new chickens to the flock they can spend some time in the same area getting used to each other.

. This is how I want the run to look when we get it done.

 

[vehve]

. He built a screen door for the front.

That looks like a well ventilated coop. You might want to consider putting diagonal braces on the doors, looks like a bit of weight on them.

 

[bruceha2000]

@Sylvester017 I have to ask, after following this thread for a while, how much rain are you getting there? I thought Cali was supposed to be all sun, sand and scantily clad women running about. I may have been slightly misinformed by American TV-programming, but still, I thought California was a pretty dry place?

California is bigger than Finland!
Finland's total area is 337,030 km2
California's total area is, 423,970 km2

I don't know where Sylvester lives in Southern California to get so much rain, I'm guessing up in the San Gabriel mountains. Your image is at least partly correct, most of southern and central California would be a dry brush wasteland were it not for irrigation and residential sprinklers. It is cooler and wetter up in the Sierra Nevada mountains and north up along the coast near and north of San Francisco.

Here is a link to an average rain map: http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/pcpn/ca.gif

As far as the scantily clad women, that would be mostly on the beaches of SOUTHERN California. It is not particularly warm at the beaches in San Francisco. The average high in the hottest month is < 70F (21C) and it is cooler at the beach with the wind blowing off the water. Now if by "scantily clad" you mean shorts and tee shirts, well, yeah, away from the coast in southern and central CA, even a couple of miles, it can be hotter than hades so not a lot of long sleeves and pants being worn except when necessary. It was 115F (46C) 3 days the week I moved from So Cal to Vermont 35 years ago. The flip side is that 50F (10C) is MIGHTY COLD in So Cal requiring a winter coat. It is all relative.

BTW, looks like you are having a scorcher today! Stay cool.

Okay, so here's what we've got for girl's so far. We still need to build the run, do a little landscaping and I have some decorating to do, but we're coming along with it and the girls seem happy so far.


.
DH added holes for ventilation, screened them with hardware cloth and added louvers. He added a little side door for the girls to get in and out of the run.



. He built a screen door for the front.

Super!

 

[dharmasister]

Quote:
He's picked up some rods/thick wire stuff for that but hasn't got them installed yet. I think they will be added on the inside of the doors.

 

[dharmasister]

Some pics of our build and upgrades. Material for the coop was form three large wood shipping containers. Bought an open bag of shingles from Lowes and a couple of sheets of exterior grade pressed panels and paint.

One of my daugher and her friend helping out in the early stages
Spring 2012...





Spring 2014...






A little antique character...

My inspiration...

Love the antique lights

 

[vehve]

California is bigger than Finland!
Finland's total area is 337,030 km2
California's total area is, 423,970 km2

I don't know where Sylvester lives in Southern California to get so much rain, I'm guessing up in the San Gabriel mountains. Your image is at least partly correct, most of southern and central California would be a dry brush wasteland were it not for irrigation and residential sprinklers. It is cooler and wetter up in the Sierra Nevada mountains and north up along the coast near and north of San Francisco.

Here is a link to an average rain map: http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/pcpn/ca.gif

As far as the scantily clad women, that would be mostly on the beaches of SOUTHERN California. It is not particularly warm at the beaches in San Francisco. The average high in the hottest month is < 70F (21C) and it is cooler at the beach with the wind blowing off the water. Now if by "scantily clad" you mean shorts and tee shirts, well, yeah, away from the coast in southern and central CA, even a couple of miles, it can be hotter than hades so not a lot of long sleeves and pants being worn except when necessary. It was 115F (46C) 3 days the week I moved from So Cal to Vermont 35 years ago. The flip side is that 50F (10C) is MIGHTY COLD in So Cal requiring a winter coat. It is all relative.

BTW, looks like you are having a scorcher today! Stay cool.

Blah, don't you just hate it when your attempt at humor is answered with a well researched, informed and fact filled reply...

Yeah, we've had some unusual weather, had almost two weeks of +25C in May, and right now it's +21C, but it's cloudy and we've had a few showers so it's not that bad. Not that I find +21C to be bad otherwise either, but I'm glad we seldom go past +30C. We did have some +2 weather in between the heat waves, so it's been interesting to dress accordingly.

 

[LindaB220]

I have to post the one I built from pallets, total cost $130

Hey highrolla,

Lots of good there for $130. I paid my handyman $200 just yesterday to build me a wooden door for my dog kennel coop. The coop was free but cost $465 just to predator proof and the door. So, good going.