post your chicken coop pictures here!

[jackieo61028]

We're almost finished!

 

[crazyhen]

No such thing as too many coops or too big to build. Now, you know you need a coop for each broody to hatch and partially raise her chicks. And yes you will eventually have a broody and want to add hens to lay while the others molt at least every other yr. and more likely every year. Then you will name your hens , sooo you will not want to eat the old hens( who no longer lay) and you will still want fresh eggs. first you start with about 6 then its 12 then its 24 and 36. OH MY . Chicken math at its finest.

 

[medichick]

We all survived the first night in the new coop. The girls did have some trouble getting up on the roast bars. Was a bit confused as where to go. My HB left them some art work in the PDZ last night and this morning they left us their own drawing.

They are a bit upset this morning as we have locked them out of the old coop ( the two are attached to the same run ). Plus it really raining here and normally they would go in the bottom open part of the old coop to get out of the rain. I want them to get use to the new coop. We are going to use the older one as a time out place. It's a 4x4 coop with a 4x8 open run under it. (started out as a tractor that didn't work like we thought it would).
Waiting now to see if they will use the nest boxes. Totally different than they had before.

Not good to leave them exposed to rain!

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
as long as they are fully fledged.... Rain is fine they will get under shelter when they need it.

deb

 

[Teila]

as long as they are fully fledged.... Rain is fine they will get under shelter when they need it.

deb

I agree with Deb; some chickens do not mind rain; others, not so much! Mine do not like to be out in the rain at all.

Anyways, I just wanted to add that as Deb mentioned, as long as they have available shelter, they will use it if they need it. However, depending on the climate at the time and breed of chicken, some breeds (Silkies and Frizzles .. which become Drooples went wet

) are not 'waterproof' and will get quite wet. But, as long as they have somewhere that they can dry off, they are fine.

I have a personal rule that if the weather is such that the chickens are at risk of 'catching a chill' they do not go to bed wet.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
My Silky roos lived in a small bachelor flock with two other roos... My enclosures are chain-link dog kennel panels with a chain-link roof and tarp over the top for wet weather. The floors of these areas are Decomposed granite.... (I don't have dirt) For the large fowl i put in a deep bed of shavings or rice hulls for when they land off the perches to keep from bruising feet.

Snow and rain blow in on the floors but they have a wind break and over head protection from direct precipitation over the roosts. The bachelor pen has a foldout table that is water proof and a big dog crate on the floor for further protection for the silkys... During rain storms they would be under their table standing and staring at me accusingly like.... Make it stop!!!.. But after the rain they would be out in the damp bedding messin around with the rest looking for bugs and such.

For what its worth you cant beat rice hulls for keeping things relatively dry and muck free... they are naturally water repellant so the water makes its way down to the decomposed granite which has a phenomenal perk rate. I just crack open the bag and the chickens have their way with it digging and spreading it about.... LOL.

Of course my climate is different.... High desert and high heat lots of wind very little precipitation. But watching those Silkies made me realize they were tougher than they looked.... even in the heat which I was told they dont handle well... 105 and they might take a walk through their water tub to cool off but that was about it.

I am all about shade though for the poultry.... Trees and tarps and for my next build out there will be shade cloth over a huge run...

deb

 

[bruceha2000]

None of my chicks liked rain when they were young (before they were old enough to lay) then the next summer it was "meh, who cares" unless it was raining really hard. Several will stand out in a light rain as if they were ducks.

 

[capecodpeeps]

More work done today...Almost done!!

 

[96civic87]

Adding on to pre existing coop.

 

[lindalouly]

I need some ideas on how to design my chicken coop so can you post your coop pictures? if you do I /img/smilies/bow.gif to you!