post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Sylvester017]

Hmmm, I don't think I have ever had an egg broken in the nest but if it was a soft, basically no, shell, I can see it happening easily enough. I've had my share of "membrane only" eggs. Just lucky I found them before another girl went in the nest I guess. Plus, I sometimes find them under the roost in the morning. How a shell-less egg can drop ~4 feet (into shavings) and not splatter is anyone's guess. I am a bit nervous about eating an egg with no protective shell though so I cook them up for the girls.

Hopefully your Silkie was just taking advantage of the "easy open" egg and isn't going to be one that breaks them on purpose!

Bruce

Bruce
My oldest Silkie is the only one that's ever layed soft-shell and usually after a long productive cycle - she winds down and spits out either a mis-shapened or shell-less egg - we have to keep on top of it because we never know when that will happen again. Her beak is too small to break hard shell eggs but it's the soft shells we have to monitor. Once our klutzy spooky kooky Ameraucana broke one of her hard eggs in the nest with her big feet and that was a mess to clean up - the ants were on it almost immediately.
Syl

 

[Pecanny]

I didn't say flamethrower hunting was going to be easy

You're doing better than us budgetwise. We got egg #7 today. So far we've only eaten the first one, but I calculated it had a kilo price of about 33000€. That's the most expensive food I've ever had. Now the kilo price has come down to about 4700€, so it's basically commoner food, right?

In these prices I'm calculating mainly materials and trying to forget that feed and other stuff cost money too. But hey, in 2016 we'll be getting free eggs!

Obviously, we who have backyard chickens have backyard chickens for the love of having backyard chickens. The expense will always outweigh the return moneywise.

 

[Pecanny]

Beautiful build amd love that the coop is housed inside a pen. Chicks love the enclosed doghouses or cat boxes to snooze in!

Don't know where you live since your profile doesn't say but most of us will suggest hardwire 1/2" for that beautiful pen instead of the larger-holed flimsy poultry wire.

You may have secured your pup out of the run but other climbing wildlife will easily break through the poultry wire either from climbing up the sides or from the top. Poultry wire is just loosely woven into itself and not interlinked so will easily be broken/torn away from itself - I would've lost my flock to 2 stray mutts as they mangled my poultry wire with their teeth and claws if a neighbor hadn't intervened. I was one of the lucky few on this thread that had a good neighbor to keep from losing my birds to cheap poultry wire. Some others sadly haven't been as lucky.

My daughter's property got attacked last week by a huge strong Raccoon - you never know you have wildlife till you have chickens. Get started saving some $$$ for hardwire (it's not cheap) if you want to save your flock. Hardwire will cost as much or more than the rest of your coop build.

I second this motion.

 

[jtbass2756]

Well....today I at least accomplished one thing....,my window. I used the pallet to help prop it up. I put it on a flat surface and framed the window...complete with the L brackets, hinges and then had to do the scariest thing....cut a hole in the front wall of the coop. !!

For someone who doesn't do carpentry...I was so proud it was sturdy and screwed into place!!! I used a drill/circular saw/jigsaw and all of those bits and things!!

I left the 2x4's in place so I could use them to help attach the hardware wire to ....tomorrow...

Its raining here off and on so the window stayed closed anyway. I'll paint it at a later date..

 

[RedKell]

Beautiful build amd love that the coop is housed inside a pen. Chicks love the enclosed doghouses or cat boxes to snooze in!

Don't know where you live since your profile doesn't say but most of us will suggest hardwire 1/2" for that beautiful pen instead of the larger-holed flimsy poultry wire.

You may have secured your pup out of the run but other climbing wildlife will easily break through the poultry wire either from climbing up the sides or from the top. Poultry wire is just loosely woven into itself and not interlinked so will easily be broken/torn away from itself - I would've lost my flock to 2 stray mutts as they mangled my poultry wire with their teeth and claws if a neighbor hadn't intervened. I was one of the lucky few on this thread that had a good neighbor to keep from losing my birds to cheap poultry wire. Some others sadly haven't been as lucky.

My daughter's property got attacked last week by a huge strong Raccoon - you never know you have wildlife till you have chickens. Get started saving some $$$ for hardwire (it's not cheap) if you want to save your flock. Hardwire will cost as much or more than the rest of your coop build.

Thanks for the advice Sylvester. There are really not many predators about where I am, our main wildlife are Roo's and they don't come into town!! I think the ones I will need to watch out for are snakes (heaps in summer, haven't had one in the yard yet, but it wouldn't surprise me) and the odd hawk. I figure their main threats will be the mutt, and his kitty sidekick, LOL. That being said I might start putting some money aside so I can upgrade if it seems necessary.
So far the girls seem to be quite happy in their, I'm really glad they are all getting along. I was a bit worried about putting the young chicks in with the bigger ones, but they seem to be looking after them.

 

[jetdog]

Well....today I at least accomplished one thing....,my window. I used the pallet to help prop it up. I put it on a flat surface and framed the window...complete with the L brackets, hinges and then had to do the scariest thing....cut a hole in the front wall of the coop. !! For someone who doesn't do carpentry...I was so proud it was sturdy and screwed into place!!! I used a drill/circular saw/jigsaw and all of those bits and things!! I left the 2x4's in place so I could use them to help attach the hardware wire to ....tomorrow... Its raining here off and on so the window stayed closed anyway. I'll paint it at a later date..

Cutting a hole is a scary thing especially after going through all the hard work, I made mine with the hinges at the top so it can stay open during the rain you should consider flipping it over.

 

[jtbass2756]

Cutting a hole is a scary thing especially after going through all the hard work, I made mine with the hinges at the top so it can stay open during the rain you should consider flipping it over.

Thought about that but believe it or not I have a hard time with my upper body strength...LOL...and thought this would be easier than trying to always trying to raise it. But I'm going to attempt to put in another window (since this one at least works and keeps the rain out) . It will be on the side that catches more weather but also would be a good cross breeze...so that one will for sure be hinged at the top. I know its hard to follow my train of thought but I have to think how I can physically can manage things long term! I framed my window while it was on the ground and then used the pallet to hold it in place on the wall. I just think of things in a different way..LOL

 

[iwiw60]

Thought about that but believe it or not I have a hard time with my upper body strength...LOL...and thought this would be easier than trying to always trying to raise it. But I'm going to attempt to put in another window (since this one at least works and keeps the rain out) . It will be on the side that catches more weather but also would be a good cross breeze...so that one will for sure be hinged at the top. I know its hard to follow my train of thought but I have to think how I can physically can manage things long term! I framed my window while it was on the ground and then used the pallet to hold it in place on the wall. I just think of things in a different way..LOL

Don't feel alone...I'm in the same boat you are!!

Trying to do things at age 70 is NOT an easy thing especially by myself...but I'm getting there! My run is nearing completion...YAY! It has taken waaaay too many weeks to even get this far, interruptions like throwing my hip out for one...holy cow! But I'm determined and my 4 young ladies who are now 14 weeks old are getting so big their heads are almost touching the top of the chicken wire temp thingie I built them while I'm working on the run. Funny, too.....when I'm out there working on it they all line up along the side of their little run, staring at me, and I just know they're saying to each other "are you EVER going to get that finished??!!" Little brats!!

 

[bruceha2000]

Bruce
My oldest Silkie is the only one that's ever layed soft-shell and usually after a long productive cycle - she winds down and spits out either a mis-shapened or shell-less egg - we have to keep on top of it because we never know when that will happen again. Her beak is too small to break hard shell eggs but it's the soft shells we have to monitor. Once our klutzy spooky kooky Ameraucana broke one of her hard eggs in the nest with her big feet and that was a mess to clean up - the ants were on it almost immediately.
Syl

I have GOT to stop posting what my chickens do on BYC forums.

First I responded to the "When do chickens lay?" thread that they will OCCASIONALLY lay over night, from the roost. Ever since I've been picking up several eggs a week when I open the coop. TWO today! One must have been Echo's since she didn't lay yesterday. It was cracked enough the membrane had broken so the girls will get that scrambled later today.

Then yesterday I posted that I've never had an egg crushed in a nest. So what do I find later this morning? An egg crushed in the nest!

Had to be Zorra's based on size and color. Don't know the weight but mid 60's (grams) is her SMALL egg.
No one had eaten it and it wasn't hard to clean up, just scooped it out with a paper towel and some of the shavings.

I swear, the girls are reading my posts and saying "Oh YEAH? Well smarty pants, how about THIS?

"

Thanks for the advice Sylvester. There are really not many predators about where I am, our main wildlife are Roo's and they don't come into town!! I think the ones I will need to watch out for are snakes (heaps in summer, haven't had one in the yard yet, but it wouldn't surprise me) and the odd hawk. I figure their main threats will be the mutt, and his kitty sidekick, LOL. That being said I might start putting some money aside so I can upgrade if it seems necessary.
So far the girls seem to be quite happy in their, I'm really glad they are all getting along. I was a bit worried about putting the young chicks in with the bigger ones, but they seem to be looking after them.

Since RedKell has now updated the profile to say North Western Australia, we can rule out raccoons getting the chickens. And while "roos" on this forum is usually short for roosters, these are the marsupials!

Do you have REAL Black Australorps? I gather they are more U shaped than the American version.

Bruce

 

[lithiachick]

Finally got some plants to hang up. Now need to find some signs or chicken decor.

I just love that run! Did you have the plans to build it? It's exactly what I'm looking for!