post your chicken coop pictures here!

[vehve]

Quote: That's what I was thinking of using (somehow the direct translation "cell plastic" didn't seem like the correct term), but the corrugated panels are pretty pricey here. I could get them pretty cheap from Estonia, but the shipping would double the price. And here, they're about 15-20 euros per square meter. I need about 12m^2, but due to the size the sheet's come in, it would end up costing about 200-300 euros and leave me with loads of offcuts. And from what I've read, at that price they don't tend to withstand our winters that well. The stuff that would be suitable for our climate would be maybe 500-600 euros. But maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet, or chance it with the cheaper sort.

 

[Sylvester017]

Sylvester, check out these paw prints and tell me what you think. These were in some soft dirt on a night that it rained so hard. That tells me they/it was there after the storm. The first reason I saw that made me think "dog" was two "skidmarks" on the outside of the shed part of the coop. Looked like something had raised up on the 4ft side of painted plywood. I know nothing about paw prints but this is the one that I have a ruler with. But anyway, check these out and give me your opinion.

It looks possibly like hind paw print - see following website to determine if your tracks look the same: http://www.bear-tracker.com/coon.html

 

[Sylvester017]

I added a few chicken hides today... Going to add a few more and roost areas this weekend...

Pretty eggs!

Yes, you definitely need more shelters. Both in the center yard and especially along the fence line.

Our yard is much smaller than yours but I have 3 shelters spaced around our chainlink fences (one is a recycled headboard on cinderblocks) and we've covered/tarped securely the chainlink fence top to bottom where we set up the shelters so the hens feel like they have a backwall under the shelter. I want to replace the chainlink with blockwall but little baby steps for now! We have 2 recycled large doghouses, a very old wheelbarrow up against one fence and sort of under the popup canopy so it's shady most of the day. We are constantly on the lookout on trash day to recycle people's unwanted plyboards or doghouses. All our shelters are recycled stuff except the cinderblocks and paver stones.

I have plans to plant some chicken friendly plants around a garden walking bridge and dig under it to give the hens a place in the exact center of the yard so the backyard won't look like a sea of recycled plywood shelters LOL. Chickens like thorny or evergreen bushes to hide/snooze under so we'll eventually plant some rose bushes and rosemary bushes for them along the fence where I have bare spots - chickens like eating rose petals too so the bushes will have a double purpose for them - they loved the old climbing rose bush but we yanked it because it was old and dying. At some point I want to plant some thorny boysenberry or blackberry bushes too for the chickens to hide under and to provide them berries to peck off.

Right now I'm just concerned with safety for the girls and gradually replace with more appealing shelters as I go along while re-scaping the backyard. We get gusty Santa Ana winds up to 100mph a couple times a year so we've anchored the shelter roof tops with a couple paver stones on each side to keep them from para-sailing away in a breeze. Everything we do seems to be centered around our chickens. They are more than just egg layers now - they've become our pets too!

 

[Sylvester017]

That's what I was thinking of using (somehow the direct translation "cell plastic" didn't seem like the correct term), but the corrugated panels are pretty pricey here. I could get them pretty cheap from Estonia, but the shipping would double the price. And here, they're about 15-20 euros per square meter. I need about 12m^2, but due to the size the sheet's come in, it would end up costing about 200-300 euros and leave me with loads of offcuts. And from what I've read, at that price they don't tend to withstand our winters that well. The stuff that would be suitable for our climate would be maybe 500-600 euros. But maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet, or chance it with the cheaper sort.

You're talking about pricey? Everything is pricey these days. Everytime a store re-stocks their shelves the items go up a few cents each time - same with building materials. I wanted to put up a corrugated plastic roof instead of a heavier tin roof over our little 4x6 coop but the sun is so merciless in SoCal that we figured the plastic would be sun-rotted and brittle before the year was out so we just used tarp to cover the coop and put a popup canopy over the whole coop. The popup canopy cover gets replaced once a year with a cheaper tarp fastened down with ball-ties and lasts as long as a costlier replacement canopy would. It works against rain here but I don't know how it would work in snow climates.

 

[vehve]

Quote: I prefer dirt cheap, or long lasting solutions. We have a saying here, "Poor people can't afford to buy cheap things" - it's better to invest in quality that lasts than to replace annually.

 

[Sylvester017]

I use snake away from tractor supply. It seems to work well. I put it down twice a year. Some folks use lime. They say it burns there bellies. I have small kids so I don't want to use anything that will hurt them or the chicken. As far as the cleaning I keep mulch and grass clipping in the run then clean it out once a month and use it for compost for the garden. Mulch and grass seems to keep the smell down and it's not a muddy mess after a lot of rain.

Glad to hear about snake away! I asked that question about a week ago and never got an answer. I know I have 2 in the treeline beside my coop. I don't want to hurt them because the keep the rodent population down in the shed. Everytime they disc up the field next to our house, we get mice! Yuk! Hubby don't like cats so I have to look for other remedies. Going to go to TSC today and see about some snake away. Thanks so much

I just talked to a lady at tractor supply and she warned against snake away near kids...

One chickeneer on this thread said she used mothballs inside old pantyhose and hung them around the outside of her chicken coop. She says she doesn't have any more snake problems since using this economical practice. She hung them on the outside of the coop so not to harm the respiratory system of her hens inside the coop. If kids want to eat mothballs they'll have to chew through the pantyhose to do so

 

[bigmrg74]

One chickeneer on this thread said she used mothballs inside old pantyhose and hung them around the outside of her chicken coop. She says she doesn't have any more snake problems since using this economical practice. She hung them on the outside of the coop so not to harm the respiratory system of her hens inside the coop. If kids want to eat mothballs they'll have to chew through the pantyhose to do so

Sorry, that last sentence there made me think of rule #34 of the internet and that how there's probably some sort of website dedicated to the fetish of chewing through pantyhose.

 

[jtbass2756]

One chickeneer on this thread said she used mothballs inside old pantyhose and hung them around the outside of her chicken coop. She says she doesn't have any more snake problems since using this economical practice. She hung them on the outside of the coop so not to harm the respiratory system of her hens inside the coop. If kids want to eat mothballs they'll have to chew through the pantyhose to do so

Well, I went by TSC but they only had another snake repellant...granular in a plastic dispenser... I don't have any kids around here anyway. I will have to read up on it before I use it because I do have a poodle! However, I then had to go by Lowe's and of course...there was the bag of snake away!! LOLOL

I'll have to read up on both before I start spreading either.

 

[iwiw60]

The wire floor has never become hot enough to harm the chicken's feet, there isn't enough metal in the wire mesh to conduct much heat to the chickens... no problems with feet over the seven years that I've had this hen house. Mostly they jump from the door straight up to the roost.

Sorry, I can't locate your original post but am curious .. are you saying your coop has a 'wire floor' ?? Using wire as flooring is very very hard on chickens feet, can and will cause irritability among them, too. Apologies if I'm incorrect in the way I'm interpreting your post, just curious!

 

[Sylvester017]

I prefer dirt cheap, or long lasting solutions. We have a saying here, "Poor people can't afford to buy cheap things" - it's better to invest in quality that lasts than to replace annually.

I agree with that philosophy but since our next major expense has to be a block wall fence to replace a rickety 60-year-old chainlink we have to get creative in the interim with our other chicken projects LOL !