post your chicken coop pictures here!

[LindaB220]

We can add to the coop easily - that's why we picked this one. Right now the brooder part has three sections but I can add another brooder on the side close to the house so it's easy to add room for more chickens. I'm also going to landscape around the coop. As you can also see I've got a tented area too for shade. I'm thinking of things to do now so everything is ready in April when the three Australorp chicks to arrive. They will be free to roam around.

Our yard is just eclectic

It's great and you can expand later. Good luck.

 

[jtbass2756]

Yay my 1st post

here's my work in progress

I love it! That is a great set up so far.. That's more what I wanted to have.....I know you live in the city but there are predators.....get a top secured to the top before you put your babies in there.. Can't wait. They are going to love it!!!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

I like it too..,why not buy another one and connect them and have a duplex? !

Hi jt

If I weren't a senior and handicapped I might've considered modifiying smaller DIY kits - but right now I'm looking for complete coops that don't require extra costs for modification. Currently I'm looking into larger coops and talking with a contractor tomorrow to see what can be done for us. I saw fiberglass coop models that won't require painting now or in future but the models don't have much handicap accessibility for me.

Friends of ours can't meet city requirements for keeping their flock and has to disband them. It's a shame cities that supposedly allow backyard chickens make the measurement qualifications so restrictive that you can't qualify to have the supposedly zoned birds. The cities say "we're good guys to allow you to own chickens" but make sure you can't meet the footage codes to house/keep the birds!!! Funny that cities don't require yard size for cats/dogs whose stinky droppings can't be reused in gardens (can't even be discarded in your green trash receptacles) yet recyclable reusable chicken poop has to have impossible yard space/coop restrictions. Our 3 chickens are cleaner in the backyard than any cats or dogs we've owned in the past. Go figure?

 

[bruceha2000]

Hi jt

If I weren't a senior and handicapped I might've considered modifiying smaller DIY kits - but right now I'm looking for complete coops that don't require extra costs for modification. Currently I'm looking into larger coops and talking with a contractor tomorrow to see what can be done for us. I saw fiberglass coop models that won't require painting now or in future but the models don't have much handicap accessibility for me.

Friends of ours can't meet city requirements for keeping their flock and has to disband them. It's a shame cities that supposedly allow backyard chickens make the measurement qualifications so restrictive that you can't qualify to have the supposedly zoned birds. The cities say "we're good guys to allow you to own chickens" but make sure you can't meet the footage codes to house/keep the birds!!! Funny that cities don't require yard size for cats/dogs whose stinky droppings can't be reused in gardens (can't even be discarded in your green trash receptacles) yet recyclable reusable chicken poop has to have impossible yard space/coop restrictions. Our 3 chickens are cleaner in the backyard than any cats or dogs we've owned in the past. Go figure?

That is for sure. You can stick a BIG dog out in a SMALL yard and have it bark all day because it needs LOTS of room but you have to have your chicken coop X feet from the lot lines which on small lots means - no chickens.

 

[cwrite]

We can add to the coop easily - that's why we picked this one. Right now the brooder part has three sections but I can add another brooder on the side close to the house so it's easy to add room for more chickens. I'm also going to landscape around the coop. As you can also see I've got a tented area too for shade. I'm thinking of things to do now so everything is ready in April when the three Australorp chicks to arrive. They will be free to roam around.

Our yard is just eclectic

Good luck with your landscaping. The only small plants my chickens don't eat are rosemary and sage. I landed up having to dig the rest of my new plants up and move them into the pool area to save them. They also are not that fond of buddleja - butterfly bush, but will peck the odd leaf and they have left my hibiscus alone. Great looking plant selection. A dwarf apple/fruit tree might also work well plus give them a bit of free food. I look forward to seeing how it comes along.

 

[Minflick]

Make sure they don't eat the morning glory! FWIW, my hens LOVE the rosemary bush! It's big enough that I may put some bricks around so they can reach the lower sprigs. They go after every branch that reaches through the fencing of their run. I may have to put protective something around some of my other plants, so they don't destroy them.

 

[KittieChick]

Well into the build this past August. You can see that the yard isn't attached, but the birds are using the coop. It was nice to get them out of the house.

After lots of research and reading on chicken husbandry, we decided that insulation was not part of the plan, but the whole way around the top of the coop is ventilated. I also have a double hung window (currently closed), that can be opened from the top or the bottom for air during the hot months. It's covered in hardware cloth to prevent critters coming in. This photo shows the interior screen door, salvaged from a screen room remodel, and the framing for my exterior door. The roof is a 4:12 pitch. A bit excessive when I saw it framed up, but it's just right in reality. An interesting tidbit - see the wedge above the exterior door framing? You can also see a wedge above the interior screen door. That was the only part that didn't get hardware cloth. I noticed after the coop was finished that sometimes at night, I'd only count 6 chickens, but in the morning all 8 would pile out of the pop door. 2 of my Easter Eggers were roosting at about 7'! We covered that hole.


The coop is built on skids so it can be moved if need be. Right now it's leveled, and hardware cloth goes all the way around the foundation to keep small rodents out from under the coop.

The nest boxes. There are 3, 12x12" boxes. The finished box has a front cover that pulls down, and is under an overhang to protect from water ingress.



Ta-da!!!



The little blue coop. Built by a house builder kind of guy. He initially wanted it short and on stilts. I wanted walk-in. During negotiations I said, "you can build it any way that makes it easier for you to take care of the birds." Walk-in it is! The chain link is a dog pen we got free from a friend's dad. It's 7.5' x 13'. As you can see there's a partial shed roof with plastic roofing. The remainder is hog fencing. There's way more ventilation than 7 birds will ever need, but I'd rather have more than not enough. The door is a back door from our old house, and inside is divided into a chicken room, and my storage area. It's separated by hardware cloth and a screen door. I like checking the birds at night. My waterer is a 5 gallon bucket with stainless steel nipples. I feed straight off the ground.

My birds range during the afternoon, and we are getting ready to give them a much larger yard, as they've started visiting the neighbors. Don't want that. When I come check them at night, I can see there's room for like 10 more birds! They all pile in, and the winner is the chicken at the bottom. Funny birds.

 

[MeepBeep]

As you can see there's a partial shed roof with plastic roofing.

Nice, may I make a suggestion? Consider putting a section of gutter with no end caps on the roof over the run, that way all that water will be diverted outside to the sides of the run, and not erode a ditch inside the run, or flood the run...

 

[KittieChick]

Nice, may I make a suggestion? Consider putting a section of gutter with no end caps on the roof over the run, that way all that water will be diverted outside to the sides of the run, and not erode a ditch inside the run, or flood the run...

Yeah, I don't have photos of the add-ons. First rain, we realized we needed gutter. Up it went, and then the downspout goes into a huge bucket, which filled and overflowed with the first heavy rain we got. The chickens reach through the chain link and drink from it. A series of rain barrels is in the works, but we're sort of distracted right now. My next up is a larger pen so I can keep the birdies out of the neighbors' yard (although his granddaughter adores them). I sure hope they start to lay soon.

 

[bigmrg74]

Yeah, I don't have photos of the add-ons. First rain, we realized we needed gutter. Up it went, and then the downspout goes into a huge bucket, which filled and overflowed with the first heavy rain we got. The chickens reach through the chain link and drink from it. A series of rain barrels is in the works, but we're sort of distracted right now. My next up is a larger pen so I can keep the birdies out of the neighbors' yard (although his granddaughter adores them). I sure hope they start to lay soon.

Sounds like you're already got somebody in line around that would be pretty easy to train up to take care of them whenever you're on vacation.