post your chicken coop pictures here!

[BckCntryBurrows]

Ok, Here are my two coops.
Erik

The small one for Bantams

The big one for mixed flock.

Gorgeous. I'd love to know the interior set up of the lrger house. Does each breed have it's own pen/run?

 

[BckCntryBurrows]

Hello everyone! These are great coops.
I'd love to hear some advice on coop winterization. I live in SW Ontario in the snow belt & we get some cold high winds and a crapload of snow.
Just got my first flock of 6 Salmon Faverolles (hoping for more hens than roos...). While they are still in the brooder, I'm putting some finishing touches on the coop plans;
we're converting one of the barn's horse stalls (10x10) into a critter proof inside coop. There will be an off ground door cut out from the barn's side to access a west-ish facing outdoor pen. (Would have loved to do south facing, but it wouldn't work out with our barn placement.) At least the outdoor coop will face the back of the house where we can easily watch them!

 

[iwiw60]

I made this tiny brooder/coop out of two desk I bought for $5 and $15

What a great idea...looks great!

I made this tiny brooder/coop out of two desk I bought for $5 and $15

 

[Sylvester017]

Around here people put plastic (I guess??) covers over the tires of their jacked up camping trailers during "non camping months" which number a lot more months than "camping months".

The wheels are a convenient option but we see them more for people who need to move a coop around a wide grazing area often and we are just a backyard so wheels would not be utilized enough by us to invest the $$$ in them. We will just make sure to locate the coop far enough away from any building walls to allow for repairs or reconstruction access without having to move the coop out of the way during those times.

Thanks to all for the input to help us decide on the best option for us. It really helps to get input from y'all.

 

[Sylvester017]

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

We used to go on pallet hunts to get recycled wood. However most pallets we came across were so badly trashed that if there were one or two useable planks on the heavy sucker it was a miracle. No more pallet hunts for us. In our area salvaging stuff off front yards on trash day was more productive. We got longer and sturdier planks gleaned from discarded headboards, old doors, coffee tables, desks, and dressers that made excellent shady lean-to shelters for our chickens. All it costs us is about a $1 per cinderblock to mount the planks on and the planks are so sturdy and weighty that they don't parasail away in the wind like lightweight wood does.

 

[Sylvester017]

@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?

LOL what a stereotypical image Hollywood has made out of California!!!! We personally are not by the cool tropical beach area of coastal California but several miles/kilometers inland where the climate is very hot, sometimes unbearably humid, rationed water shortages, and the few times it might rain here can be a gully-washer for one or two days to a week out of one year - keeps us busy making sure our channeled yard ditches stay clear of weeds for those very occasional rainy days. This coming season is El Nino conditions which I believe means a lot of rain in winter - we'll see. California is one of the biggest States in the U.S. and has every climate on the planet found somewhere in its vast area - of all the Continental U.S. it has both the lowest desert and highest mountain points. Last season we had a lot of rain and this year we're in drought. It's always a guessing game.

In any event whatever the weather a shelter over the coop like a permanent standup canopy protects from either scorching heatwaves or sudden downpours. But the heatwaves far outweigh the rainstorms so we can't plan on breeds like Hedemora or the heavier dual purpose breeds that would keel over like flies in those extreme heatwaves. We're not usually as hot or humid as Texas gets but certainly hot enough that we can't consider certain chicken breeds. As someone stated on another BYC thread the heavier downy chickens or heavier dual-purpose don't do as well in heat as the smaller lighterweight breeds and bantams. We have no breed over 5-lb in our flock and the heaviest one is a 5-lb APA Blue Wheaten Ameraucana who really does not like the heat. She spends the bulk of her time under the yard canopy under the Orbit Mister. And she and the others are in chicken heaven on the few days we get a rainy day.

 

[Sylvester017]

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.

Beautiful wooden artwork and functional as I believe LA is a humid area indeed! Hope you can afford the necessary hardwire to cover your run and don't waste the $$$ on 1-inch poultry wire that will keep chickens inside but not the predators outside!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

Here is our coop build with the Purina plans, and the girl's 10 x 15 run.

That nest box is nothing but a place for the girls to sleep. We may end up moving it.

Wherever you keep this setup just make sure to build a paver stone walkway or cinderblocks around the base of the pen to discourage digging predators. And your idea is fairly accurate about what the girls use the coop for - lay eggs and roost at night. Mostly they like to stay out all day.

 

[toofarout]

LOL what a stereotypical image Hollywood has made out of California!!!! We personally are not by the cool tropical beach area of coastal California but several miles/kilometers inland where the climate is very hot, sometimes unbearably humid, rationed water shortages, and the few times it might rain here can be a gully-washer for one or two days to a week out of one year - keeps us busy making sure our channeled yard ditches stay clear of weeds for those very occasional rainy days. This coming season is El Nino conditions which I believe means a lot of rain in winter - we'll see. California is one of the biggest States in the U.S. and has every climate on the planet found somewhere in its vast area - of all the Continental U.S. it has both the lowest desert and highest mountain points. Last season we had a lot of rain and this year we're in drought. It's always a guessing game.

In any event whatever the weather a shelter over the coop like a permanent standup canopy protects from either scorching heatwaves or sudden downpours. But the heatwaves far outweigh the rainstorms so we can't plan on breeds like Hedemora or the heavier dual purpose breeds that would keel over like flies in those extreme heatwaves. We're not usually as hot or humid as Texas gets but certainly hot enough that we can't consider certain chicken breeds. As someone stated on another BYC thread the heavier downy chickens or heavier dual-purpose don't do as well in heat as the smaller lighterweight breeds and bantams. We have no breed over 5-lb in our flock and the heaviest one is a 5-lb APA Blue Wheaten Ameraucana who really does not like the heat. She spends the bulk of her time under the yard canopy under the Orbit Mister. And she and the others are in chicken heaven on the few days we get a rainy day.

Contiguous, NOT Continental.

Everybody forgets that Alaska is part of the Continental United States.

 

[Sylvester017]

Contiguous, NOT Continental.

Everybody forgets that Alaska is part of the Continental United States.

LOL Okay - Wonder how it made it to contiguous when continental was the semantics used in the earlier decades since Alaska wasn't attach to the U.S. border anywhere.