post your chicken coop pictures here!

[moss farm]

Oh he's beating himself up so bad right now... I made him end the poor girl last night. I've got to watch a disabled child this morning but as soon as I'm done I'm going shopping... Our rooster is missing a patch of feathers on his butt... One hen flew (yes she was that scared) into the next yard..... One was huddled under the shelter I put up and the rest are very skittish.... I fear we might lose at least a few more to shock...

Do you know what animal is responsible for it ? It could come back and try again. Even if you make it more secure the animal will know there is food there and try again. Need to trap or kill the Predator. Luckily we haven't had any problems with any type of predators yet. Good luck

 

[bruceha2000]

Our hunting season starts in October I think and ends in Febuary.... That's just deer season... Turkey, duck and others I'm not sure on.. Turkey I think starts in April or May... Then I'm right back in the boat I'm sinking in now... Let's not forget fishing, work and 'God help me' FOOTBALL season.... You can now see why I still have only my small coop... Thankfully they only sleep in there...

Geez I hope he doesn't watch hockey, that season goes on for about 13 months a year I think!
I see farther down that you had an "incident". Very sorry to hear it. Though there are others suggesting you beat him half to death, I gather he is already doing that. You couldn't do worse to him than he already is doing to himself.

I want to keep my chickens inside a little longer in the morning than when the sun comes up I figured I would let them out at about 7:30-8 in the morning this way no complaints about my rooster crowing in the early morning. That's why I didn't go with the photo sensor. It was up in the air between the pullet shut door and the foy's automatic door which is strictly done by sensing sunset and sunrise. But as I said I don't want them out at first crack of dawn. I wish the pullet shut door had a more convenient way to reprogram the open and closing times rather than having to go out there in the morning when I want it to open and back out when I want it to close.

I can see that reasoning for not going with the photo sensor. As it happened, we had an unplanned major house rebuild from April through Oct of 2013. Couldn't live here thus the auto chicken door so they weren't stuck in the coop all day and my wife didn't have to drive 25 miles to let them out. It was pretty much impossible to change the opening/closing times to anything reasonable very often since no one was here in the morning to set the open time and I wouldn't want it to close before dark because the birds would be on the wrong side! Now that I have the photo cell, I don't have to go down to let them out of the coop or change the open/close times. I don't go down early on COLD mornings to rake the coop floor and give them their morning BOSS, I wait until it warms up a bit

That was ZERO degrees at 8:30 AM today because I expected the Anconas to lay early wince they didn't lay yesterday. But of course they didn't. But they are in their indoor run as soon as they like.

I wonder if they make 12V timers. They must. If you could find one of those and wire the door through it to the battery, you could set specific open and close times. The photo sensor would be necessary as well because without it attached the "programming" is as you said.

... I THINK

So what is a dust bath for and do I need it out here in the desert we have lots of loose fine to coarse sand and dust out here

Originally Posted by Just sayin

If you have exposed dry dirt or sand, they'll make their own dust baths.

They do love to bathe in loose dirt.

You'll see them do it eventually.

If you don't have exposed dry dirt or sand, they will MAKE some exposed dry dirt or sand

 

[PoultryVines]

My husband designed ours. The entire area is 8x10, so with the roosting house and nesting boxes elevated, the have 800 sq ft of run. Three nestine boxes and the roosting house is 4x3.5 with two roosts. The base is framed with 2x6 and we filled it with sand. It is the best thing we did. No mud when it rains and never have an odor problem. We only have 3 hens right now so plenty of room to expand our flock.

 

[mossyroo]

Quote:
Unless I misunderstand what you are saying, you only have 80 sq ft. Your indoor space is about maxed out with the number of chickens you have and the outdoor shouldn't take more than another 5.

 

[RoosterCogburn7]

http://m.samsclub.com/ip/rain-barrel-65-gal-sandstone/prod12110159
Here's a pic of it. I can't see a price for it but I can't imagine I'd have paid more than $75 for it!!

I just got the standard blue barrel. I didn't need anything fancy. I just need it to work. Push comes to shove, I'll spray paint it barn red to match the exterior of the coop.

 

[TJordan]

Thanks all... Sadly it looks like I will have to put another out of pain... And my husband brought home about $100 worth of wood, mesh wire, nails and such..... As for do I know what got to them... I fear I do... Can't get on to her because I can't say for sure.... Let's just say that my DOG has earned herself a long stay on a strong chain until we get a kennel for her put up...

 

[WthrLady]

Plugging along.

 

[citygirl180]

Been quiet for awhile, as I've spent every waking moment (that I'm not at work!) working on a new coop for my girls (well... Some might be boys... Still waiting to see)
But I'm soooo excited I had to share. Finally got it done and moved the pullers in last night. I'm having a blast watching them explore. I'll post more photos into a proper album soon but here are a couple photos of the new "bitchin' chicken coop"
I'm still planning on adding a sloped roof to it but with the mild Phoenix weather, this will do for now. Not sure if the ramp is too steep - they haven't ventured up it yet but might be because they are too young?
I followed a combination of the wichita coop and the garden coop and than made it my own with extra privacy from neighbors in my little downtown plot of land. Considering cars are my skill set and *not* wood - and I really just figures it out as I went along trying to reverse engineer photos online...

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

Next up... Refinish my porch and rest of backyard to look half as nice as the coop!

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Been quite for awhile, as I've spent every waking minutute (that I'm not at work!) working on a new coop for my girls (well... Some might be boys... Still waiting to see)
But I'm soooo excited I had to share. Finally got it done and moved the pullers in last night. I'm having a blast watching them explore. I'll post more photos into a proper album soon but here are a couple photos of the new "bitchin' chicken coop"
I'm still planning on adding a sloped roof to it but with the mild Phoenix weather, this will do for now. Not sure if the ramp is too steep - they haven't ventured up it yet but might be because they are too young?
I followed a combination of the wichita coop and the garden coop and than made it my own with extra privacy from neighbors in my little downtown plot of land. Considering cars are my skill set and *not* wood - and I really just figures it out as I went along trying to reverse engineer photos online...

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

Next up... Refinish my porch and rest of backyard to look half as nice as the coop!

Wow! That's a beautiful coop. You did a fantastic job.

 

[bigmrg74]

Been quite for awhile, as I've spent every waking minutute (that I'm not at work!) working on a new coop for my girls (well... Some might be boys... Still waiting to see)
But I'm soooo excited I had to share. Finally got it done and moved the pullers in last night. I'm having a blast watching them explore. I'll post more photos into a proper album soon but here are a couple photos of the new "bitchin' chicken coop"

I'm still planning on adding a sloped roof to it but with the mild Phoenix weather, this will do for now. Not sure if the ramp is too steep - they haven't ventured up it yet but might be because they are too young?
I followed a combination of the wichita coop and the garden coop and than made it my own with extra privacy from neighbors in my little downtown plot of land. Considering cars are my skill set and *not* wood - and I really just figures it out as I went along trying to reverse engineer photos online...
I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

Next up... Refinish my porch and rest of backyard to look half as nice as the coop!

And you even managed to set it up to where you can reach the nest boxes from the porch. Most impressive!!