post your chicken coop pictures here!

[tlb625]

hey every one I need this help with building a chicken coop. that will be not to big but enough space to hold six road island red hens and can you help me only have it built with pallets. I am thirteen and my dad won't help me all the way because I like doing projects my self lol I have a small chicken coop but want more space for the girls. dad will help me some parts but I want to do almost all of it so give me quick and really easy ideas.

 

[Sylvester017]

hey every one I need this help with building a chicken coop. that will be not to big but enough space to hold six road island red hens and can you help me only have it built with pallets. I am thirteen and my dad won't help me all the way because I like doing projects my self lol I have a small chicken coop but want more space for the girls. dad will help me some parts but I want to do almost all of it so give me quick and really easy ideas.

RIRs are nice layer chickens but they are dual purpose birds meaning they will get pretty hefty so space is necessary for them. Although chickens mostly like to be outdoors all day they still will need adequate space inside the coop for roosting and for laying their eggs.

Some simple suggestions -
** 2 nestboxes should be adequate if you don't have room for more - at LEAST 12x12 inches each but 13x13 is better for your large hens - These can be set on the floor of the coop but make a 3-inch bottom lip on the boxes so bedding or eggs don't get kicked out of the nestboxes.
** 2"x 4" flatboard for roosting or a 3" wood railing or a sturdy (not skinny) mounted tree branch situated higher than the nestboxes (but not OVER the boxes) at least 12" from the wall, plenty of headroom from the ceiling with enough space for the hens to jump up or down to the coop floor from the perch - those big birds need wing flapping room. Figure approximately one foot of perch space per bird.
** Don't use flimsy 1-inch poultry wire which is too weak for covering the outside of the open pen - use 1/2-inch hardwire (probably the MOST expensive part of the coop build but will be very secure from predator attacks) - hexed poultry wire is too flimsy to keep out predators. You never knew you had predators until you get chickens in the yard so use secure hardwire!
** Set the pen/coop on paver stones to discourage digging critters. We made a 3-foot wide paver stone walkway around our little coop and it kept stray dogs from digging underneath.
** A perch outside in the pen would be good or a couple old wooden chairs or a plank set up through the holes of cinder blocks will work.
** Provide ventilation holes or vents under the roof line - slant the roof to keep rain/snow from building up. If you can find a window that opens by tilting out from the outside it will provide summer ventilation - use hardwire over the window for times when you need to keep it open. Or just make a drop-down ventilation lid with the opening covered with hardwire if you can't put in a window.
** Make a nice roof overhang over the people cleaning-access door and overhang over the nestbox collection door - you'll be glad you did for rainy days.
** Don't keep feed/water inside the coop as chickens will just spill it. Keep it in the open pen area outdoors. We don't keep feed out overnight so we don't get rodents or night critters.
** If you can't free-range your chickens then the enclosed run/pen will have to be roomy for 6 RIRs. We figure 6 sq ft per bird at minimum for an enclosed pen if they can't openly-range/forage.

These are my basics but I'm sure you'll have more questions or other chickeneers will put in their 2-cents ideas too.

Good luck. My 13-year-old neighbor gifted me a New Hampshire years ago and also built a little 3x3-foot coop for her - just one chicken. I'll never forget his kindness or his wonderful coop build!

 

[donniek]

I'm off work for the next 2 nights it's my weekend) so I'm going to spend a few hours tonight at work scrounging through junk pallets, which are mostly new pallets that are odd sizes so we just throw away by the truck load. I figure in a couple or 3 weeks I'll have enough materials to start my pallet wood coop. I'll strip off enough slats for the siding and set up my router table to either T&G or shiplap the boards to get a water/airtight seal at the joints. Approximate size of the coop will be 4' W X 6' L X 6' H (24" from ground to bottom of floor and 4' from floor to roof peek) with 4' X 12' run. So I'll be creating lots of sawdust in the near future and probably have the new materials I need to get from the depot in a month or so. I'm really looking forward to this project to actually start coming together.

 

[NikJov1981]

I love beautiful lush landscaping.  We are constantly working on our yard with the foraging chickens in mind.  Have you ever researched what plants are toxic vs. safe for chickens?  It's amazing all the things they can or can't have in a foraging environment.  I invested in the paperback book "Free-Range Chicken Gardens" because I have no idea what is safe vs. toxic.  It surprised me that the tomato vines and leaves are toxic to both humans and chickens but that the fruit itself was ok - who knew?  I had to be sure to keep a Leghorn out of the raised garden bed because she loved eating the tomato leaves!

Thanks, no I don't bother with all that. The plants were there before the chickens so I made a pen for them to hang out in on the side of the property where they're safe, They're fed layer feed and I give them fresh greens daily, mealworms a few times a week and scratch as a treat here & there. This way they get a complete diet and I get to have a yard Sometimes I take them out to the front yard to play in the grass. I try not to overthink it. I like to keep things simple.

 

[Heather7]

Here is our coop. I love it. It turned out very well. We used linoleum for the inside. Right now I am just using grass clippings for the run. (Today is mowing day so excuse the mess). We buried tin all the way around the bottom about a foot down. There are a few things we still need to do. I want to have a waterer that attaches to rain barrel and a pvc feeder both running under the coop. But that will come in time. Also, nesting boxes will go in on the opposite side of the roost in the coop. We need a bit more ventilation, I think but in the mean time we have a fan that runs into the coop thru the small window in front. But since it's been in the 50th at night this week I took it down. Thank you all for your help thru this sight. I love my girls and think they are pretty happy with their new home

 

[weatherdwings]

husband just got our girls a new coop.. we had 3 that were ab 13 weeks & finally got the other 5, all ab 7 wks & a frizzle cochin that is a little younger..we put them all in together for 1st time & so far so good!!

 

[LindaB220]

hey every one I need this help with building a chicken coop. that will be not to big but enough space to hold six road island red hens and can you help me only have it built with pallets. I am thirteen and my dad won't help me all the way because I like doing projects my self lol I have a small chicken coop but want more space for the girls. dad will help me some parts but I want to do almost all of it so give me quick and really easy ideas.

Glad to have you. Good luck on your coop.

 

[chickenfever68]

I am so pleased with our funky coop/yard. The entire thing was designed around using the privacy fence as the back side. Most of this is found or recycled materials. Very little was purchased...which makes it even better! We have a total of 11 nesting boxes (which is way to many but gives the girls a choice). We have a PVC feeder we made and a 5 gallon bucket (covered with a trash bag in one of the photos) we made into the waterer using pvc pipe and poultry nipples. I have a 3 foot apron around the entire coop and run. On the privacy fence at the back of the yard I have fencing buried several feet down into the ground. The chickens have several roosts and a mirror to keep themselves busy and we also let them free range when we are outside. It's not conventional but we love it. Another upside to putting the coop/yard where we did is that I can see the yard with our home security camera! It's nice to see them run around when I am not there.
Note: the copyright for the photo is my own.

 

[NikJov1981]

chickenfever68, that's quite impressive. Nice work. I especially like the little bird feeder.

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks, no I don't bother with all that. The plants were there before the chickens so I made a pen for them to hang out in on the side of the property where they're safe, They're fed layer feed and I give them fresh greens daily, mealworms a few times a week and scratch as a treat here & there. This way they get a complete diet and I get to have a yard

Sometimes I take them out to the front yard to play in the grass. I try not to overthink it. I like to keep things simple.

How fun that they get play time in the grass. We did that with our first chickens nervously monitoring them - and found them so alert and forage savvy that we let them free-range every day now. Of course we added shelters like pop-up canopy, doghouse, a few low lean-to's, rose bushes, plus their coop for hiding/snoozing areas. Our visiting Cooper's Hawk will sit on the patio furniture not more than 5 feet from the chickens but they are not in the open yard and the hawk won't go after the hiding chickens. It's worked well for 3 years so far and we only have hens - no roo. They are so entertaining to watch - better than TV !