post your chicken coop pictures here!

[perchie.girl]

Actually if you can grow citrus in your climate they are an excellent choice, for a tree for shade. Not only do they handle trimming well they can be espaliered to just about any shape you want. Citrus hates having grass grown around it as well so the chickens will do a great job with keeping competitor plants from sapping the water for the citrus.

When I build my new coop I am hoping to have enough water to grow some citrus trees in the run. I want to espalier them so that it will be easy to harvest and manage the branches.

deb "whos dad used to manage orange groves for his dad"

Oh and yes there are some varieties that handle a light freeze... you just loose a few leaves. The ones I have researched are many types of lemons limes and kumquats.... Some varieties of tangerine or mandarin oranges...
the commercial varieties you find in the grocery store ... Not so much.

deb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold-hardy_citrus

 

[TalkALittle]

Believe it or not, this started life as a kids' play structure. Enclosed the bottom level for a little coop. Added a run. Decided to roof the run. Decided to do away with the second level that remained from the play structure so I could raise the height of the coop. Added a pallet for a front deck. Still needs some finishing touches and a good stain and seal but mostly finished...for now.

 

[perchie.girl]

Believe it or not, this started life as a kids' play structure. Enclosed the bottom level for a little coop. Added a run. Decided to roof the run. Decided to do away with the second level that remained from the play structure so I could raise the height of the coop. Added a pallet for a front deck. Still needs some finishing touches and a good stain and seal but mostly finished...for now.

awesome... Childrens play houses and play structures are excellent bones for a coop. and in my case Goat house...

deb

 

[Sylvester017]

Actually if you can grow citrus in your climate they are an excellent choice, for a tree for shade. Not only do they handle trimming well they can be espaliered to just about any shape you want. Citrus hates having grass grown around it as well so the chickens will do a great job with keeping competitor plants from sapping the water for the citrus.

When I build my new coop I am hoping to have enough water to grow some citrus trees in the run. I want to espalier them so that it will be easy to harvest and manage the branches.

deb "whos dad used to manage orange groves for his dad"

Oh and yes there are some varieties that handle a light freeze... you just loose a few leaves. The ones I have researched are many types of lemons limes and kumquats.... Some varieties of tangerine or mandarin oranges...
the commercial varieties you find in the grocery store ... Not so much.

deb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold-hardy_citrus

Haven't heard about Greening lately - have you? Florida lost most of its citrus to Greening and there was one case of it not far from us a couple years ago. And now I haven't heard anything recent.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I know about growing them and feeding them and treating for aphids.... I had one of each of my own trees back when i had a mobile home. Lemon, Tangarine, Valencia, Navel, and Grapefruit. When i got the place half of them were being choked out by ice plant the other half were being choked out by weeds. My Grandma on my moms side grew Grapefruit... My dad worked smudging the Groves on a threatened freeze before He met mom. So what I know is what hes told me about growing.... unfortunately he didnt tell me about diseases.

deb

 

[Tomahawk]

I know about growing them and feeding them and treating for aphids....   I had one of each of my own trees back when i had a mobile home.  Lemon, Tangarine, Valencia, Navel, and Grapefruit.    When i got the place half of them were being choked out by ice plant the other half were being choked out by weeds.  My Grandma on my moms side grew Grapefruit...  My dad worked smudging the Groves on a threatened freeze before He met mom.  So what I know is what hes told me about growing.... unfortunately he didnt tell me about diseases.

deb

If I ever get the opportunity to go back to school, I plan to major in ag science/ horticulture and minor in Spanish. Living here in California's Central Valley, I should never have another problem with available employment again.

 

[Sylvester017]

I know about growing them and feeding them and treating for aphids.... I had one of each of my own trees back when i had a mobile home. Lemon, Tangarine, Valencia, Navel, and Grapefruit. When i got the place half of them were being choked out by ice plant the other half were being choked out by weeds. My Grandma on my moms side grew Grapefruit... My dad worked smudging the Groves on a threatened freeze before He met mom. So what I know is what hes told me about growing.... unfortunately he didnt tell me about diseases.

deb

Same here - no info on diseases. Citrus Greening is a recent asian import spread by a fruit fly and it devastated the orange juice industry in Florida - destroyed 20 counties there. It's one of the reasons I felled the very old orange tree in the backyard to discourage any fruit flies and waited a few years before picking up a dwarf to see how it would do and so far 1-1/2 years and it's been giving correct fruit - my worst enemy is the high winds that blow the buds/blooms off the limbs before the little fruitlets have taken a firm hold.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I would like to do landscape design... There is a Community college here that has a huge botanical garden specifically geard for low water use.

deb

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Believe it or not, this started life as a kids' play structure. Enclosed the bottom level for a little coop. Added a run. Decided to roof the run. Decided to do away with the second level that remained from the play structure so I could raise the height of the coop. Added a pallet for a front deck. Still needs some finishing touches and a good stain and seal but mostly finished...for now.

It's beautiful.

 

[rsneddon10]

A very simple design but very practical. This is the second coop hubby has built.