post your chicken coop pictures here!

[RWD]

The 2x4 around the perimeter does not allow a dog to use it's nose as a wedge like under a regular fence, where he digs a little and wedges the fence up a little. Also he cannot pick this coop up with his nose. He will have to dig his entire body depth and length to get in. At night when fox and raccoons are out, the chickens are up in the elevated decks and roost and the predators cannot hear or see them. We check our coops each day for digging, or signs of attempted entrance and take appropriate action when needed.

 

[Sylvester017]

It's not finished, obviously, but it is now secure, and functional. 22 nesting boxes, interior floor is 8'x12'. NESTING BOXES ARE 12"x16". I am disabled, and do not know construction, much. My friend who has been doing most of the work, for mostly free, has had paying work, for the past three weeks, and been unable to help. So, the job had stalled.
We have 30 babies, due to arrive Monday, and that means this thing HAD TO BE FUNCTIONAL, by then. Especially because we have 13 turkey poults, and 9 guinea keets, all, about 5-6 weeks old, and they had definitely out grown, their grow out pens. The guineas will use the chain link pen, as their coop, and the smaller (10'x10') silver tin coop, seen in the background, in a photo, will be for the turkeys. They have a 35'x35' run, outside the coops, where both the chickens and turkeys can be kept under control. Though, we have been bringing the chickens out, to free range. I don't think that will be necessary, once we are able to let the guineas out to free range. I think they will do a great job, on pest control, and I'd rather know where my eggs are laid. Yesterday, we were due for two eggs, but the chickens were out free ranging, while construction was going on, and I think the two girls who were likely to lay eggs, probably laid them in the woods.
So, my nephew, who is also out of work, came over yesterday, to help with a few chores, that needed a second set of hands, saw what needed to be done, and we put our heads together, and decided to take a stab at getting it completely functional. 7 hours of hard work later, we had the chores done, and the new coop, functional, and mostly secure. Small snakes can still get in, but they would have to be small enough, to be looked at, by the Australorps and brown Leghorn, as food. Now, when my buddy has the time, we can add the finishing touches, to it, and have it looking good, too.
I do need to add lighting, roosts, and doors under the nesting boxes, where the brooder/grow out pens, are planned, as well as some straw and wood chips, today, or tomorrow. But, I am so happy to get everyone into secure coops. I doo want to wire up a bit more tin, to the chain link pen, for shade, from the hot afternoon sun.
Also, if anyone has suggestions, for improvements, I am open to ideas.

Yes, it will be. I was experimenting with some scrap I had from construction. They actually don't like that side of the coop for some reason. They jump up onto the feed bin, then into the nesting boxes, from there. But, yes, as I get recovered for the work yesterday, likely in the morning, tomorrow, I'll be building the brooder a, and should be able to get those ladders built a bit better.

For not being finished yet it is a wonderful project. We aren't necessarily disabled but we are old and such a task we couldn't do!

When modifying your ramp wider, you may want to make it less steep. Those are heavy Australorps (?) and it's no wonder they aren't using the skinny steep ramp. Chickens like secure footing. Later you'll have older or disabled chickens that will need to use a secure gentle sloping ramp. And don't forget to have a paver stone or cinderblock border around the coop/run to protect from digging predators like stray dogs or raccoons.

You're mixing turkeys and chickens in the same run? My folks never had turkeys on the farm with chickens. Maybe someone on this thread can add to that knowledge of why turkeys should not mix with chickens in the same pen - something to do with some transferable bacteria?

Your nestboxes are pictured under open wire walls. Do you have a plan to protect from windblown rainy days so the box material doesn't get wet or the coop floor soaked? I realize you aren't done but I'm just asking.

A very nice project build.

 

[Sylvester017]

The back and side of the apartments. I had single bachelor sections in mind when beginning but since each 'apartment' is a bit over three feet a few growing chicks or an injured chicken could occupy one as needed. Not real sure about one-on-one matings though.

Most of us will say that poultry wire has GOT to be overlaid with some sturdier hardwire. It will keep the chickens inside but not predators outside the coop. The roof looks like it could use a bit more securing down. Also needs boulder rocks, a paver stone walkway, or cinderblock border around the coop to discourage digging predators like stray dogs or raccoons. Might be small for matings but chicks or using as a hospital pen for an injured bird would be good as long as the injured bird didn't need 24/7 monitoring.

 

[Sylvester017]

We used transparent fiber glass roofing. It allows the sunlight in to provide heat in the coop

Does the fiberglass roofing allow the coop to get overheated on heatwave days? I like the sunlight coming into the coop but we live in an arid region where that looks like it would get pretty hot inside the coop.

 

[Sylvester017]

Everything I build is from salvaged lumber/scrap materials so although not always elegant they functional;-) Yep, that is swimming pool plastic separating the bottom halves too- I was running out of lumber and the bottom sections needed to be solid so boys wouldn't fight. I still have to wire or block the bottom, level with compost probably, put up roosts and a board to hang waterers from. I think I'll skip over and find some waterer ideas better suited for a single chicken apartment.

Beautiful reclaimed pieces of wood. It looks roomy. Do you have game breed chickens that your roosters are squabbling and need separation?

 

[Sylvester017]

So many coops to look at, and it's been quite an education.
I may have missed a few throughout my browsing that would answer my question, but, does anyone with a 4'X4'ish coop have a good shot of the inside showing the roosting bar locations? That is the only thing I haven't got figured out so far.

I don't have a 4 x 4 but have a 4 x 6. The roosting bar should not be over the nestboxes and should be raised higher than the nestboxes to discourage nestbox roosting/sleeping for the night. The roosting bar should be flat side up of a 2x4 plank or as bruceha says a 3" round redwood post. Most perch placements I've seen are near the chicken pop door. You have a small 4x4 space so placement anywhere in the coop should be okay as long as not over the nestboxes and placed higher than the boxes but allow good headroom for the chickens when they stand on the perch. Hope this helps.

 

[LindaB220]

Yep, that's about all I can do anymore. 3 days a week of physical work, and taking it easy the other 4.
It's tough, getting old. But the birds make it fun, mostly. Then, there's the poop!

What poop? I do deep litter and fermented feed. The poop just dissolves into the litter. No smell. I have an open coop dog kennel style 7.5' x 12' and they love it . If you're ever interested I'll put a site that can answer all questions.

http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

 

[donniek]

I don't have a 4 x 4 but have a 4 x 6. The roosting bar should not be over the nestboxes and should be raised higher than the nestboxes to discourage nestbox roosting/sleeping for the night. The roosting bar should be flat side up of a 2x4 plank or as bruceha says a 3" round redwood post. Most perch placements I've seen are near the chicken pop door. You have a small 4x4 space so placement anywhere in the coop should be okay as long as not over the nestboxes and placed higher than the boxes but allow good headroom for the chickens when they stand on the perch. Hope this helps.

That helps a lot... I think I'm going to up-size to a 4X6 or 4XX8 foot coop with an 8 foot run (tractor style). I want about 6 laying hens and enough room to access the coop for proper cleanings. my landlady has an old shed that is around 8X10 foot so I might renovate that for ra9ising some meat birds. I''m going to make an elevated coop with a 24" space enclosed on 3 sides for feeders and water sources. My design is evolving, so today I had the privilege of throwing away the drawings I made a few days ago and started over from scratch

 

[Sylvester017]

Here's our work in progress, we started on Memorial day and I am so happy/relieved that we are almost done. We are trying to figure out the best option for roofing the run. We'll post more complete pictures after all the roofing and painting is complete, what a project!

Wonderful project build, Nice gentle wide sloping ramp with an excellent large cleanout door. Seeing the roost I'm thinking it's nice and natural but a bit too narrow for full sized hens. I hope you plan to put hardwire 1/2-inch over that flimsy poultry wire. Dogs broke into our yard and that poultry wire mangles and separates from itself quickly and if not for a good neighbor would have lost our flock. The dogs couldn't dig under our paver stones so decided to chew/claw through the poultry wire which was easy for them. Have a latch to keep the chicken pop-door open as the wind kept blowing ours shut and we had to latch it to keep it open. Put a paver stone walkway, cinderblocks, or heavy rock boulders around the base of the pen to discourage digging predators like raccoons or DIGGING stray mutts that break into the yard. Building projects with chickens is a constant ongoing thing. We've done so many changes and improvements with just our little 4x6 and spent so much money including vet bills that our eggs are costing us about $36/dozen LOL

 

[Sylvester017]

Well we are progressing....since I have volunteers, I don't get a lot of say about the materials....all free so far. I'm going to pick up some roofing panels (those fiberglass corregated ones). The are doing a good job so far with what they have. Everything is of recycled wood which means there are a lot of cracks and holes. Soooooooooo.....when they finish their work....I will be going to work with my 1/4" or 1/2" wiring. If you look closely, you will see they used "chicken wire" (I hate it

) on my run.....they are at lease half way thru. They are going to also put it over the top with a board support. Don't mind it there BUT.... I bought a $50 roll of 1/4" hardware wire......had it just 6' from them.!!!!!!! They had to move it to put the post in! HELLO !!!!!!!!! The best thing I can say....this young man means well and is doing this on his own time/and has harvested these boards from an old shed...so sweet. He's putting in good bones for me to be able to attach my wiring to.

Don't take the poultry wire down and just attach the hardwire right over it. That's nice to have all that free help. When my kids were little a teenager next door gifted us with a NHR hen and proceeded to build her pen for us as a gift too. It was only about 3x3 feet but tall enough to walk into and the NHR free-ranged days anyway.