post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Latestarter]

we still have the interior and the last of the outside landscape fun stuff. Girls spent here first last night.

Cute coop! I wonder if you could plant grapes to get the vines (and have the side benefit of fruit)

Don't know about your soil/water/light conditions... or even if you like grapes...

 

[sunnysideup2]

I di

Questions that need to be asked before you can get an answer:
1) How old are the birds?
2) How high is the roost?
3) Are there intermediate height roosts to get to the top or a ramp?


It is pretty unusual for a chicken to NOT want to be well up off the ground if they can when they roost. 
All of my girls (see signature) roost at 4'. They use the 2' high roost as an intermediate step going up but not down (it is only 9 inches forward so too close for that).
One of my Black Australorps laid a 114 gram egg yesterday. That is nearly the weight of 2 USDA large eggs so you know she is not a small bird.

If the birds are young, it usually takes only one or two nights of putting them on the roost before they will go their themselves if they can. Also, if they are not old enough to lay, you should not have open nest boxes for just the reason you posted. You don't want them thinking the nest boxes are a place to sleep. Chickens poop when they sleep and you do NOT want that in the nest boxes.


Same question, how old are they? Any grown chicken including bantams can get to 40 cm. The  access "perch" in front of my nest boxes is higher than that. The only reason I can think of for a grown bird to not use a high roost is if they can not get down. They need to "hop" to lower supports (do NOT have to be 2x4 on the flat for that) or fly down and for flying they need horizontal distance ~ 2x the height of the roost minimum, they are not helicopters.


I am a wee bit concerned about 7 grown chickens in that coop unless they are bantams so please start on the larger coop soon.


Pretty much any one who builds can build a coop if they have a design. Some need blueprint detail and some can think. All the latter need are dimensions and specifics with regard to things that are chicken specific like the height of the roosts and that they should be 2x4 on the flat or 3" round fence rail for large fowl, ventilation. If one KNOWS what they want and can articulate that, getting it built should not be hard. There are tons of self designed coops here on BYC that are SO much better than the "fits 4 to 6 chickens" commercial things that MIGHT be big enough for 3 and cost a lot more because the "middlemen" all have to make a profit.

"slightly higher than the nestboxes"
is the MINIMUM. Just want to make sure people reading through don't mistakenly read that to mean if the nest boxes are at 15", the roosts should be no higher than 18" (random numbers)


Bruce

I did have to modify my coop a little after buying it. I loved how open it was, but the girls really wanted to roost in a darker more enclosed area. I covered the nest boxes with a curtain so they don't see them. They roosted on the sloping roof of the boxes, so I then covered that with a curtain too. I Added another 3' roost about 3' high which they love. I originally added plexi-glass to one side of the coop to cover the wire, but changed it out for plywood.

 

[tpayne156]

Here is ours.



https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/my-year-long-semi-green-chicken-coop

 

[LindaB220]

I recently met a builder who knows nothing about coops, but said he could easily build a run that matches my coop. It is 4 x 8' and is built just like the coop. It cost $160 in materials and is perfect for 5 hens that also free range. So I think it's not necessary to find someone who knows about coops, just someone who has the right tools and can build.

You are so right. And

 

[LindaB220]

Wanted to join in the photo fun

Wowza, What a coop.!!!!

 

[gilcamp4]

I hear chickens like the spot on the roost where there's a view or a window. Let us know which spot is their favorite on the roosting perch and if they prefer lower or higher.

we have 2 roost one in back and one right under the window, one in back is smaller the one in front has no place to lay a towel it is full of the chickens they love that one, we could take the one in the back down only 4 chickens on it. we have 28 in the coop.

 

[gilcamp4]

WHERE'S HANSEL & GRETEL lol !!! Are you the builder or was it custom ordered or ???

love it, wonder want other side looks like

 

[jetdog]

Here is ours. https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/
type/61/id/6414168/width/294/height/400/flags/
LL Absolutely beautiful very nice job, can't believe everything is recycled hats off. [COLOR=0066CC]https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/my-year-long-semi-green-chicken-coop[/COLOR]

 

[MackChick]

Finished up construction of the coop, but by the looks of other coops in this thread we need to get down to business on decorating!! Functions great and girls are happy

 

[gilcamp4]

well my dh is working hard for our new coop, we put side walls up yesterday morning, then he put up studs for back and front, we then put texter 111 on both, this morning he went out and put 2 windows in.







i am sure he is going to tell me this is the last coop to be built,