post your chicken coop pictures here!

[TJordan]

That is so cute!

If you want the chickens to lay consistently inside the coop and not outside the coop - keep the hens inside the coop for a solid 2 weeks (no free-ranging) and they will get the idea that the coop is for laying eggs.  It seems cruel but it works effectively.  We had our chickens in the coop for 4 weeks when we first got them and they have never layed an egg outside a nestbox.

Thanks... Sadly the coop is way to small right now for anything but overnight... I've drawn up plans for a 4'x8' coop but my husband keeps procrastinating because bills are due this week ... So I went, salvaged a bunch of wood and now all he has to get is 4 2"x4"s for solid frame and the hinges for the doors and lift side for cleaning and egg collecting... Let's see if he gets them today lol....

 

[runkickshoot]

We let our chickens free range, but when in the morning or in the evening they are in here

this picture was taken from one of the egg cubbies

 

[TJordan]

Nice list of critters....

 

[Jack-Girl]

We are currently under construction! This is a great design with a good sized play yard...Also critter proof, we are in the country.

 

[bigmrg74]

We are currently under construction! This is a great design with a good sized play yard...Also critter proof, we are in the country.

You're using hardwire cloth right?? If not the rest of the flock here is going to swoop in and start pecking at you about using chicken wire with horror stories of critters tearing right through it and taking out the whole flock.

 

[iwiw60]

You're using hardwire cloth right?? If not the rest of the flock here is going to swoop in and start pecking at you about using chicken wire with horror stories of critters tearing right through it and taking out the whole flock.

Yep! And I'll be one of the first ones!

It's such a beautiful little coop. I sure hope they aren't planning on using plain old chicken wire!

 

[Jack-Girl]

We are using the heaviest gauge hard wire, I raise Lion Heads and have a custom hutch as well. We own a stone company, so I am going to cover the interior flooring of the play pen with interlocking pavers, and cover those with a nice soft surface.

 

[LovemyBabies]

My mother designed and had her "chicken barn" built - course my mother has different views on things and people think it's more a house than a barn needless to say chicken barn - I plan on doing something similar when I reach the point but definitely on same as what she envisioned

There's a insulated brood/hatch room
6 stalls - 4 10x10 and 2 12x12 - 1 12x12 is for her future mini goat- rest is all chicken
Workshop
Bathroom and shower
Tack/store room
Milk room

Not to mention foundation is 3 feet down, metal sheeting around base up 2 feet under panels- each stall is high grade wire top too- nothing can chew or get in unless doors left open all nite- she made sure her investment was protected lol

 

[bigmrg74]

We are using the heaviest gauge hard wire, I raise Lion Heads and have a custom hutch as well. We own a stone company, so I am going to cover the interior flooring of the play pen with interlocking pavers, and cover those with a nice soft surface.

Might as well go around the outside of the coop as well, just whatever odds and ends you have around in your yard would probably work very well in making a protective border around it.

Of course, you could go and do something really fancy for that walkway as well, and use it for a promotional display for your stone company. You might be able to write off some of the material that way.

 

[DoubleMM]

We are using the heaviest gauge hard wire, I raise Lion Heads and have a custom hutch as well. We own a stone company, so I am going to cover the interior flooring of the play pen with interlocking pavers, and cover those with a nice soft surface.

My next build, I'm using reclaimed steel from a retired nuclear submarine...