post your chicken coop pictures here!

[WldFlwrs]

Chicken coop and yard. The coop has remained dry inside throughout
the storms here in East Texas. Obviously wet where the hardware cloth is,
but that is less than 1' foot in each end and in the middle. No water standing.
Thank goodness for sandy soil that doesn't hold water


Guineas trying to join the chickens in the chicken yard.
The guineas coop in a horse stall in the barn each evening.


We live in Davy Crockett National Forest, up on a hill away from the tree line.
So far, nothing has messed with the yard or the coop.
We are still making some adjustments for weather proofing and such.

All seem happy with their accommodations.

Lisa
near Grapeland, TX

 

[TJordan]

Well 18 eggs set tonight for my first time. Yes I've got babies now but momma hen did most of that work. I'm going to let my daughter make a report for her summer project.

 

[LeiaLayers5]

 

[rubbleanddebris]

We just moved our almost 6 week old chicks (2 Golden Cuckoo Marans, 2 Black Copper Marans, and 2 gold-laced Wyandottes) into their new outdoor home. The best part is that almost all of the wood was destined for the trash, so the coop cost us about $100 in chicken wire.

 

[Red Star Hens]

Broiler house done other than a little more ventilation in the house and some paint.

 

[cottonlouie]

Here are 2 interior shots of a coop in progress and one of the back of the coop. The wall being installed is separating a porch and the interior of the coop. The coop and coop porch are being created about of existing structure that was a horse shed built onto a garage. A section of garage was also part of the horse shed.

 

[ikkin]

our little coop!

 

[LindaB220]

our little coop!

Perfect for the south/!!!

 

[bruceha2000]

I hope the OP does not mind me sharing but I saw this on another thread. The OP could not believe that ‘something’ was getting to her chickens and had come to the conclusion that they were attacking each other.

I quote:

“My faith is restored in chicken kind. The reason we didn't see that hole is because light doesn't shine through it and we had covered it last winter. I hope I can explain how complicated it is for this guy to have gotten in there. He must have really worked at it for years maybe. The barn is a shed row with multiple rooms. Each room is separated by three walls. The walls that were the interior and exterior of the existing building and then the interior wall of the next room. He has to go all the way across a drop ceiling in another room in the barn, down a wall THEN underneath a wall THEN up the wall of the coop. Then he has to peel back layers of insulation, 2X4 welded wire and THEN climb through the sheet metal to get into the coop. The pics are from the floor of the coop pointing towards the ceiling. He knocked the game camera over, I'm assuming it was because he wanted to pose for the camera. UGH! Too bad I had to lose another chicken to figure this out. “

That should be more than enough to convince anyone that if it isn't Fort Knox, you can't be sure your chickens are safe at night!

Thanks... I've got black Austrolops right now. But if they take 6 MONTHS to kill we will do 2 kinds. Them for eggs. Something else for meat.

I think the term "dual purpose" means they lay decently and are big enough to bother eating in soup or stew when they stop laying. I think that they are likely big enough to eat about the same time as they are old enough to lay. I was amazed when I first read on BYC that people were processing their meat birds at 6-8 weeks. My "dual purpose" girls hadn't even approached their final feather pattern at that point let alone be big enough to cook. They weren't even the size of a Cornish Game Hen! So if you are raising your own chicks, you can eat the roos when they get big enough and keep the girls for eggs.

But if you are looking to raise birds strictly to eat, do some research. I think the Cornish Crosses are the industry standard for "big breasted, eat like pigs, grow too fast and can't stand up by the time they are old enough to process". Meat breeds that are more "normal", like Pioneers and Rangers, are ready to be processed at 3 months.

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks... I've got black Austrolops right now. But if they take 6 MONTHS to kill we will do 2 kinds. Them for eggs. Something else for meat.

The one sad thing about raising Cornish X for meat is that they grow so fast that their skeletal structure isn't mature enough to hold the weight of their fast growing muscles/organs and they can get broken bones or immature internal organ growth as a result. I personally don't want to see chicks suffering to grow out and so many people, including our friends, said they won't do it again. They eat constantly, can't move about very well after the exotic growth spurt gets heavy and by 2 months old are practically crippled or in some pain and they won't show it outwardly - animals are notorious for trying to appear normal even when injured or in pain. Cornish X are 95% of the restaurant and supermarket chicken supply. If a restaurant chain is truly advertising humane raised meat then they should not be selling Cornish X chicken meat. Our friends complained they had to soak their Cornish X carcasses in a 24-hour seasoned brine to get any flavor into the meat. Of course, to each his own and just sharing here.

On Facebook someone posted an interesting article about fast growth market Cornish X vs other chicken for meat - it was an interesting read since on the farm my folks always processed chickens from their regular flocks and we had many a tasty (even though slightly smaller) Leghorn dinner so the following article was interesting to me:
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/fo...n-except-chicken/story-fneuz8zj-1227323144992

JMHO - we used all kinds of chicken breeds for meat on the farm - also drakes and ganders. It was in the 1940-50's when chicken meat was expensive in the markets (which is why the Cornish X were developed for economical sales industry but didn't bother to check out the flavor of the too-young birds). Our friends had 2-month Cornish X which were huge carcasses but the slightly lighterweight carcass of their 6-month EE cockerel tasted better and they gave me his feet so I boiled them, de-boned them, and fed them to my birds for extra gelatinous protein.