post your chicken coop pictures here!

[craigcarter79]

The coop looks sturdily built - a lot better than a pre-fabricated one for certain!  Will it be set outside or in a shed?  On a cinderblock foundation or on skids?  Very attractive exterior.!

it will be outside raised on stilts so they can hide under it should they wish to.

 

[lolgirl101]

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks Sylvester!
I have an area for them to free range...I have an enclosed yard for them. I have two Spangeled Orpingtons, Two Chocolate Orpingtons, and a little Silkie. I would like to get two Lemon Orpies or White and call it a day. Thank you for the nice comments!

That is very nice to have a foraging range for them! Chickens just love to roam!

I also have a couple Silkies and have gone through 3 years of having to rehome LF that began picking on our little Silkies. Had to rehome 2 Leghorn varieties and a mean Marans. Heavy LF (like LF Orps) tend to pick on smaller Silkies just because they can get away with it. If you have only one Silkie it might be good to add a second Silkie to hang out with since you can never know if the heavier LF will start to pick on one lone gentle Silkie bantam.

We have an Ameraucana LF that is not as heavy as dual purpose breeds (even though her fluff makes her look bigger she's only 5 lb) and the Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers are predator-savvy non-combative breeds, are prolific colorful egg layers, not usually broody so egg numbers are good - they are a gentle non-combative breed to have around Silkies. Orps and Wyandottes are pretty but they tend to go broody and they are dominant personalities. With so many Orps around your one Silkie it may not be a good match for the little Silkie alone in a LF mix. Our LF assertive breeds that we rehomed got along with the Silkies as pullets but from one-year to three-years-old they started getting aggressive. As pullets the LF were fine but they got combative as mature adults. Our Silkies are our pets so any LF that doesn't play nice with them we don't keep. Silkies are such good layers of decent sized eggs when not broody that we kept them rather than the assertive LF.

Silkies can start laying anywhere from 5-1/2 months to 13 months old and usually are not dedicated broodies when that young. A good broody Silkie will be between 18 months to 24 months old before she will be a dedicated parent - a broody Silkie should not be kept around other LF so she can concentrate on setting and raising her chicks without harassment from other hens. Do you have a Silkie cockerel - you don't want a LF cockerel to breed with a Silkie. LF cockerels can weigh 7+ lbs and Silkie pullets only get to around 2.25 lbs and can get injured from a mating with a LF. Silkies are after all just bantams in spite of all their fluff making them look bigger than they really are. You don't want a lone Silkie bantam getting beaten down by LF - she'll lose her will and spritely spirit to be a happy chicken. We have such a Silkie that was raised in a flock of LF chicks (like Marans, Orps, Sexlinks, Leghorns) who beat down her spirit because she was picked on as the littlest bird - she is so sweet but a shrinking fearful girl as an adult (since we've had the non-combative gentle Blue Wheaten Ameraucana in our flock the little scared Silkie has become comfortable being around a LF again - the Amer let's the little Silkie chest-bump her and the Silkie is getting her spirit back again). The second Silkie was pampered and kept safe from LF and she is outgoing, personable, and unafraid. We nick-named her Macho Man. Our two Silkies are not exactly inseparable buddies but since they are the smallest birds they tend to hang out together when not hormonally broody or moulting.

 

[Sylvester017]

it will be outside raised on stilts so they can hide under it should they wish to.

Besides the coop we set up more scattered shelters in the yard for our roaming hens - a couple large doghouses filled with straw, an old wheelbarrow, a bench, an Adirondack cedar chair, a couple planks plus one old headboard set on cinderblocks, and a pop-up canopy plus some stickery evergreen, rose, and berry bushes for the girls to hide/snooze under - all these havens attract spiders and insects so the girls have a ball picking at them. We figured with all these scattered shelters they can pick and choose where to nap or hide every day.

Love your little coop build!

 

[Jack-Girl]

I would really like another Silkie, my neighbor is a breeder...As for the Orpies, the Chocolate are bantams. I chose the Orpies because I thought they would be good with my Silkie...(She wins!) If anyone picks on her...Bye Bye!
The Orpies are pretty and papered , so if need be, I can sell them.
Thank you for the advice!

 

[perchie.girl]

Have you prepared for the pooping and the muddy foot prints and the pooping.....

I truely love it... especially the wittle handrail.....

It all just makes me smile...

Hey Welcome to BYC

the San Diego High Desert

deb

 

[702marine]

Very nice. Loud but nice. I think I would need sunglasses if I was there in person. Lol...

Have you prepared for the pooping and the muddy foot prints and the pooping..... I truely love it...  especially the wittle handrail.....

It all just makes me smile...

Hey Welcome to BYC   the San Diego High Desert

deb

 

[PrimroseMom1]

SO cute!!! Love it.

 

[lolgirl101]

Yes,
That was when it was first built a couple months ago. The white patio doesn't look anywhere near as white anymore though, but all the chickens love it so I'm happy

 

[Sylvester017]

I would really like another Silkie, my neighbor is a breeder...As for the Orpies, the Chocolate are bantams. I chose the Orpies because I thought they would be good with my Silkie...(She wins!) If anyone picks on her...Bye Bye!
The Orpies are pretty and papered , so if need be, I can sell them.
Thank you for the advice!

Fantastic that the Orps are bantams with the Silkie. They will be on equal terms size-wise when the pecking order squabbles happen. I thought the Orps were LF because those big girls can really do a number on bantams. What cockerel/cock bantam breed do you have - also an Orp? Our little Partridge Silkie boy was too noisy and had to be rehomed - those Silkies are either very quiet or very loud!