post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Pecanny]

Om gosh I Love*Love*Love this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^so cute, tell Colonel Red Rooster "nice work"

Thanks coop! It is tough as nails!

 

[bruceha2000]

Roofed and painted!! I still have two walls to cover in back and the enclosure still needs a trench with the hardware cloth. I couldn't wait to start the decorative trim with the maple branches cut in half... bicycle inner tubes work great to lash them down to the sawhorses so they won't turn when I'm cutting them (dangerously) with the circular saw.

Maybe better to do it on a splitter!! Or use a hatchet to start the split and then a hammer on the back of the hatchet or a wedge to finish the split. I'd really hate to have you posting in the future with only one hand.

Bruce

 

[mrsfluff100]

Here are some pictures of my coop and run! that coop was bought and is wonderful! Also I made the run myself as a school project for math since I am homeschooled. I know that the coop and run look really bad, lousy, and aren't creative but oh well it work for us! Plus I live in a tiny house and this is in out back yard!

 

[Pinkaboo]

Here are some pictures of my coop and run! that coop was bought and is wonderful! Also I made the run myself as a school project for math since I am homeschooled. I know that the coop and run look really bad, lousy, and aren't creative but oh well it work for us! Plus I live in a tiny house and this is in out back yard!

It looks fab I love it bet the chicks love it too

 

[Suzyr]

Here are some pictures of my coop and run! that coop was bought and is wonderful! Also I made the run myself as a school project for math since I am homeschooled. I know that the coop and run look really bad, lousy, and aren't creative but oh well it work for us! Plus I live in a tiny house and this is in out back yard!

It looks great! Not lousy at all! You did an awesome job.=)

 

[Yellowcoop1]

I don't think it looks lousy at all. I bet your chickens love the fresh air and safety it provides. I also like that you matched the run color to the coop. Nice job

 

[Sylvester017]

We agree on that for sure. I knew the Anconas were likely to be more aggressive than some breeds and no matter what SOME bird will be the top of the pecking order. But until you have the first mixed flock (and in my case first flock of any kind) it isn't easy to understand what that means. I wanted a couple that laid white and thought the leghorns would be even more aggressive so I went with the Anconas. Live and learn.

New problem, hopefully temporary, is my stupid broody Partridge Chantecler is jumping Zorra, a Black Australorp and my biggest bird. Maybe they have been talking smack when she is in the broody box. I let her out in the morning so she can go outside and leave that nasty broody poop somewhere other than in the cage and maybe remember what she is SUPPOSED to be doing all day instead of sitting on shavings. Yesterday she jumped Zorra who was having nothing of it. I grabbed Zorra since at that exact instant, she was on top. I held her for awhile (not something she is used to) and calmed her down and waited for Laura to settle. They were at each other not long after I put Zorra down so I caught Laura and put her back in the box. Immediately at it again this morning as soon as I let Laura out. I broke it up and she was at another bird (or the other way around) and I don't even know which it was. Since it was treat time, they all went for the food instead of each other. We will see.

Bruce

All the Mediterranean class of birds like the Ancona, Leghorn, etc. are wonderful birds. I LOVE Leghorns especially but they are a class unto themselves and should only be kept in a mixed Mediterrancean breeds flock with Anconas, Andalusians, etc. All the Mediterranean breeds will be equally matched in temperaments. The largest of the Mediterranean class is the Minorca who surpasses the average 4.5-5 lb Med hen range but still would be okay mixed with other Mediterranean breeds. Just wouldn't put Meds with other classes because as I say they are smart, assertive, active, non-shrinking violets in a flock. The Meds are also terrific layers because they are non-broody. However, most newbies want a "colorful" egg basket and the white eggs bore them so they start throwing in EEs, Ameraucanas, Marans, Brahmas, Welsummers, Sussex, Polish, Orps, 'Lorps, Faverolles, Dominiques, RIRs, NHRs, BRs, etc into the flock, also throwing in a Silkie and bantam Cochin because they are "so cute" not realizing what they will be dealing with when all the different breeds reach full maturity between 18 months and 2 years old. Now I said the Meds are non-broody - but guess what? About 2% of Leghorns will go broody and I had one this past 6 weeks. She was the one who came out of her broody and started asserting herself against the other 3 hens and is sadly rehomed now. As you said, live and learn,

Chantecler are a skittish nervous bunch from the videos I've watched of them which is why I didn't try them. Everyone seems to love their BAs but they are way too large for my smaller sized hens. Chanties are shy jittery types that are not too human friendly. Some breeds like Ameraucanas, EEs, Dominiques, and BRs actually seem to like interacting with their humans but Chanties do not. I didn't realize Chanties were broody types either.

Having to deal with notoriously broody Silkies (and one surprise Buff Leghorn broody) I found their raging hormones during broody sessions causes a lot of squabbling and fights protecting their imaginary nest eggs. Broodies are just naturally crabby until they snap out of brooding and get normal again. We find that isolating broodies in a separate broody pen solves a lot of fighting issues and keeps them safe from injuries if they aren't fighting. Sometimes broodies will nest together occasionally as in the case of Silkies or bantam Doms - but it's not common unless the two broodies were sisters or same age chicks growing up together. I've seen as many as 3 bantam broodies share a clutch of eggs and share rearing the chicks but that is not the norm. When one of our Silkies or in our case the one Buff Leg goes broody the other hens tend to leave them alone in the nestbox. Only our sweet ditzy klutzy Ameraucana dares to approach a broody nestbox to lay her egg and somehow manages to sit next to a crabby broody (Amers are non-combative and ours just ignores other irascible hens). Some broodies actually welcome another hen's egg to tuck under her to set. That's why it's so important to quickly remove other hens' newly layed eggs. We had a Silkie so determined to brood we found her sitting on a cucumber slice in the nest!

I have stopped trying to break broodies. Silkies, Amers, EEs, and Legs are such prolific layers that it's my feeling that Mother Nature gives these breeds a broody session rest from laying so many eggs. It is nutritionally stressful on the bodies of these small animals to keep laying eggs day after day (like giving birth everyday!) so I let them have their 3 or 4 week broody session rest in an empty nestbox (we have no roos so none of our eggs are fertile anyway). During their broody session we make sure to take them out of their box 2 or 3 times daily to eat/drink/dust-bath and give them a drop on the side of their beak (not down the throat) of Poly-Vi-Sol no iron children's liquid vitamin for supplementation about 1-2 times a week as they tend not to eat enough during brooding. Because they are setting so much we Poultry Protector (organic) spray the bird (directions on label) to discourage the invitation for lice/mites in the warm nestbox. If after the 5th or 6th week the broody is not over her broody session we lock her out of the brooding pen. She won't like it and gets agitated wanting to get back inside but in a couple-three days she forgets about it and returns to "normal." It takes her a couple-three weeks to get back to regular laying again.

Guess you know this by now but I'll mention it for other readers: A hen's output of eggs diminishes 20% average each year. Example: If a hen lays 200 eggs her first year, she'll lay 180 eggs the second, and 20% less the third year for approx 144 eggs, and so on and so on. From Sandhill Preservation statistics the only layer that is just as good the 2nd year as their 1st year are the Ameraucanas (not sure if this is inclusive of EEs though). Our White Leghorn layed about 6 times a week but in her second year it was sometimes 5 times a week so even the mighty White Leg slows down production each year. We are keeping a record of our Blue Wheaten Ameraucana (my avatar) to see how her 1st year will compare with the 2nd.

Hope your girls don't injure each other. Putting a crabby hen in a roomy wire cage elevated a bit off the ground/floor with no bedding cools them down and sometimes breaks them of their broody in 2-3 days - that is if you want to break them. I just let nature take its course and isolate them like they seem to isolate themselves naturally when in an open barnyard setting - coming out on their own occasionally for water and food to quickly return to their nest.

 

[Latestarter]

@mrsfluff100 Echoing what those ahead of me said: That coop looks just fine, and the run looks more than adequate for the number of bantams you have. I'm sure they are quite happy with both! Also nice to see hardware cloth all around, and buried as well as reinforced with concrete blocks! Very nice and secure! I would make one small change though if I were you... I would replace those little slide locks with actual hasp type closures and use a carabiner clip. I have seen animals open the little locks that you have in no time at all.

 

[Sylvester017]

First chickens first coop. Toyed with converting plastic dog house, making my own from scratch and converting part of my vinyl shed but went went a premade house from cConnelly not the best but ok. Says will hold 4-8 but that's probably bantams We can only have 4 so should be ok. I built a 4 x 10 ft run and the house is raised so there is covered space Right now have 2 barred rocks 2 buff orph from a breeder sexed pullets) hopefully they are correct. I hatched 3 polish created x silkie eggs. One is bigger than rest so thinking a cockerel will wait and see.

I was ok reading that you had 2 BOs and 2 BRs as they are LF similar in size and temperament - but was not okay reading that you possibly will be throwing in 3 gentle-smaller Polish/Silkie crosses into the mix. Polish and Silkies are way smaller and timid than BOs or BRs and will get mercilessly picked on when all the birds reach full maturity. And if you have only one cockerel in the pen with the rest being ladies he will be chased and pecked to death. Hens gang up on lone roos in a pen. If you're going to breed him then only let him have one lady at a time in a breeding pen away from the others.

Nothing wrong with pre-fab coops. We keep ours covered with a tarp to protect from sun and rain damage and keeps the pen floor dirt dryer in inclement weather. As your ladies start getting really big (6-7 lbs apiece) you may find them wanting to get out and free-range the yard. After a month of keeping our first 2 Silkies and 1 Leghorn we started letting them out for supervised free ranging. After another month we realized they were quite hardy even hiding from the Cooper's Hawk. So we planted a couple rose bushes, set up a few low lean-to shelters, a recycled doghouse, and a popup canopy (legs buried a foot deep in soil to keep from parasailing away) in the backyard for hiding places for them. They've been free-ranging for 3 years now and only use the coop to lay eggs and roost at night. They're real good at sounding the barnyard alarm when the Cooper's Hawk visits. He won't go after hiding hens. Hawks prefer to swoop down in open grassy areas and the hens know this and hide.

 

[Sylvester017]

You should look into your chickens diet if it's that loose. Or paint the walls brown

And the chicken poo can be scrubbed off when it becomes too much.

The dings are easily avoided by keeping the car in the garage at all times (although it does cut down on it's usefulness...)

My new car a few years ago never got dings sitting in the driveway. It got dings from the stupid campus students parking crookedly and throwing open their jalopy car doors and banging into my car!