post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Sylvester017]

Perfect airy coop - lots of ventilation is great for coops. What accommodation will you incorporate into the walls for inclement weather or will the hens have another enclosure in rain/snow?

 

[LakeMomNY]

Perfect airy coop - lots of ventilation is great for coops.  What accommodation will you incorporate into the walls for inclement weather or will the hens have another enclosure in rain/snow?

We are putting up windows this week to cover the front and side openings (removable for spring/summer/fall and able to be propped open on warmer winter days.) the "screen door" facing the run will remain open. In another month or so the run will be covered in clear plastic except for the bottom half of the end farthest from the henhouse. (Prevailing winds come from the other end.)

 

[Sylvester017]

We are putting up windows this week to cover the front and side openings (removable for spring/summer/fall and able to be propped open on warmer winter days.) the "screen door" facing the run will remain open. In another month or so the run will be covered in clear plastic except for the bottom half of the end farthest from the henhouse. (Prevailing winds come from the other end.)

Lovely build. Our little coop has 3 open sides and we leave it open days and cover with tarp at night. Also have it under a popup canopy. Our weather is pretty mild and only gets down to freezing temps less than a week's time. Right now we're in our 3rd year SoCal drought so rain hasn't been an issue.

 

[LakeMomNY]

Lovely build.  Our little coop has 3 open sides and we leave it open days and cover with tarp at night.  Also have it under a popup canopy.  Our weather is pretty mild and only gets down to freezing temps less than a week's time.  Right now we're in our 3rd year SoCal drought so rain hasn't been an issue.

Thanks!

It gets pretty darn cold where we are, but we tried to plan for draft free winter ventilation.

Really, we thought long and hard about quite a few aspects of the design, especially food and water. If we HAD to we could leave the birds for two weeks with no one checking in on them and they would be just fine. (In reality, they spend much of every day following me around the yard begging for treats.)

 

[Teila]

Thanks!

It gets pretty darn cold where we are, but we tried to plan for draft free winter ventilation.

Really, we thought long and hard about quite a few aspects of the design, especially food and water. If we HAD to we could leave the birds for two weeks with no one checking in on them and they would be just fine. (In reality, they spend much of every day following me around the yard begging for treats.)

They would be fine but would you be fine without them for two weeks?

 

[LakeMomNY]

They would be fine but would you be fine without them for two weeks?    

Probably not!

 

[Teila]

I recently had to spend two days away for work; couldn't wait to get back to my gals!

 

[hendricks115]

This was a tractor shed which was never used. It's big enough to put 2 full size trucks in and still have room. We added framing in the front, along with the run, dug and pour concrete all the way around the bottom of the building, painted and fenced it in. This was right after we completed turning it into our coop a little over 3 years ago. We've added laying boxes and roosts and a 2nd batch of fencing around the run and lower section.. In winter, we run power from our shed next door for heat lamps and cover the front.

 

[perchie.girl]

Nice coop and cute Schipperke.... @hendricks115

Oh mann I would love to have a shed like that....

deb

 

[Minflick]

This is the run (7 ft x 15 ft) from the door end. Pavers now surround the run and overlay all the apron. Digging a trench isn't possible at this time of year, nor ever in certain areas of my small yard, so an apron was the only safe option. The bottom foot, apron and roof are all 1/2" hardware cloth, and the lengths of hardware cloth up top are held together with J clips I got from a rabbit cage site. The middle is 2x4 mesh fencing I got by mistake, thinking it was a lot finer mesh than it is. I will eventually overlay more 1/2" hardware cloth, but that's going to have to wait a few paychecks! The run is good and solid, as it held a man sitting on boards while he put in the J clips. It has also held, we think, raccoons, as it was flat until yesterday, and now it's got dips between every rafter.



This is the short side of the coop (6 x 6 footprint, with this wall 4 ft tall, and the other side of it close to 7 ft tall) Tin roof. There are 2 wedge shaped 'windows' on the side with fireplace screen covering them at the moment. I may have to cover them with some plastic to weather proof them better, but rain hits the coop on the short side, which is why it faces out. The 2 storms we've had so far don't appear to have caused any leaks, but they also weren't driving rain, so I'll have to see how it holds up to a real storm if we happen to get any.



This is the run, with the girls out taking some air. They seem to spend most of their outside time under the coop, however, so I am strongly considering blocking that off with a board and some leftover hardware cloth. I can't poop scoop under there, and I don't want to have to belly down and fish eggs out of there once they start laying any for me.



These are my Dine-a-Chook waterers. I had a bit of an overflow problem, but that appears to be resolved since I lowered the bucket otuside. One of my Delawares saw the watering cup, took a drink instantly, and her birdie buddies were doing the same within 10 minutes. There is some silicon caulk around the hole where the hose enters the coop.



The feeder. Works well, but needs some alteration to work best! This was a 10 ft length of 4" cut into two 4's and a 2, and I drilled 3 holes for feeding. The horizontal portion sits on 2 small shelf supports which aren't really strong enough, and I strung a dinky bungee cord around the pipe from bracket and back to bracket. It holds it up when I'm not touching it, but it's not strong enough to keep it in place when I'm messing around filling it. The uprights are held against the coop wall by the blue bungee with goes from side to side. That part works nicely, and I probably won't change that. However - The uprights are about 6" too tall to be easy to fill, and the horizontal is too wide to fill properly, so when it goes empty, I'll take it down and saw off 6" from each upright, and about 4" on each end of the horizontal piece, such that the elbows will come right to the edge of the feeding holes. I'm using a garden weeding tool to get feed further into the middle where the holes are. Feeder holds about 25# as far as I can tell - close to half a 50# bag... Hasn't run out in the 11 days since I filled it (6 pullets) There's a paver the girls stand on to reach the holes, but I plan to take that out once they reach full size.

So far, I'm really pleased with my coop and run. It wouldn't be as functional as it is without the many ideas I have found on this web site. Most of the poop lands in the poop sling. I've not found ANY poop in the water or the feeder, nor have I found any feed on the floor.