post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Sylvester017]

i just finished mine it cost less than 100.00

Wonderful house. Wonderful price! I like that you covered over the nestboxes with an extended roof as blowing windy rain can leak into those boxes. It's one of the reasons we opted for a design with a drop door nestbox access. We had an idea to put shallow plastic pans at the botom of each nest to keep the straw dry perchance any water ever got in. After 3 years of using a tarp cover no water ever leaked in so we took out the pans and lined the bottom of each box with a piece of fitted plexiglass (one of our OCD Silkies - I didn't know chickens could be OCD but we have one - she kept scratching the nestbox bottom so hard the splintered wood injured her toes and nails).

We have the same wood walls on our coop. We never painted it because we always tarped over our little coop. However, yours is a very large housing and a tarp would easily blow off so its good you're sealing the wood as it will curl up in the rain.

We have 1" chicken wire on our little coop and it kept out a stray German Shepherd but you may want to consider stronger hardwire for the open pen if you have Raccoons, Foxes, Coyotes, or Bears? Do you have the wire going down into the ground as predators are excellent diggers. We opted to put a stepping stone patio around all sides of our coop to keep out diggers.

As you've probably come to realize a coop is like a house - it's never done. We've been working 3 years on our housing and still have about 2 more years because of $$ before it's done but firstly we opted to invest in the security issues to keep the hens safe. It's fantastic that you have electric fencing - very nice - what do you do for security when the electricity goes out? Backup generator?

 

[Craftygirl]

Looks great!! I am not trying to be rude, but I have had problems with racoons in the past. They are crafty little buggers. They can get thru poultry wire. can I give you some advice??

Yes you can! All advice is appreciated. But I will tell you though, there is hardware cloth 2' up around the bottom and is also trenched in a foot all around the bottom and we used up a bunch of 4-6"rocks on top of the trenched wire. If a coon doesn't have a shovel he won't get in under or around the sides. I am concerned with the top. The tarp will eventually get replaced with that clear corrugated deck roof panels.

At night the girls will be in the coop and there is a door I will close at night. We did change all the hardware on this coop. I wasn't happy with the latches. Mine have spring snap hooks.

So... What else can I do to keep them safe?

 

[kenmlang]

Yes you can! All advice is appreciated. But I will tell you though, there is hardware cloth 2' up around the bottom and is also trenched in a foot all around the bottom and we used up a bunch of 4-6"rocks on top of the trenched wire. If a coon doesn't have a shovel he won't get in under or around the sides. I am concerned with the top. The tarp will eventually get replaced with that clear corrugated deck roof panels.

At night the girls will be in the coop and there is a door I will close at night. We did change all the hardware on this coop. I wasn't happy with the latches. Mine have spring snap hooks.

So... What else can I do to keep them safe?

I'm sorry I didn't see the hardware cloth at the bottom, but I would put it all the way to the top, I know this is expensive, but those darn coons will get in if they are really hungry. I have seen them actually stretch the poultry wire and pull it off the boards to squeeze thru. This is just a suggestion. For now it looks safe, but might be something to put on the to-do list.

 

[jcam2881]

Almost there... Few more trim pieces, a couple of vents but were almost complete.. Little lady wants yellow and white trim .. So final step nearing!

 

[Sylvester017]

First time chicken owner! 6 chicks patiently waiting for their new chicken condo! ;-)... Sort of hacked my way threw this over past 2 weekends. Advice on where to place the feed and water? Coop or run?

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We keep feed and water out of the coop and in the run or on the coop patio around the coop house - chickens usually only use the coop house to lay eggs or roost and the rest of the time they are foraging everywhere outside the coop house so those are the place to put feed/water. At night we bring in all feed/food dishes to discourage night critter invitations. Of course we have to do the farmer thing in the early morning and put the feed dishes back out again and let the girls out for their daily foraging. Since we've been bringing in the feed/food dishes we haven't had rats or stray cats in the yard at night. We have only 4 hens so it's not a problem for us but someone with big flocks will probably think it's too much work. We were going to invest in one of those treadle feeders that close automatically but way out of budget for us right now.

Darling coop building. Is the box over the run area going to be a planter? Or covered storage for feed? If for feed consider night critter invitations and use lockable metal pails for storage. If it's a planter I would use it for several container plants on dishes to keep the wood from being wet from soil all the time. You spent so much time building this darling house you wouldn't want it to rot from watering. We cover our coop with tarp in the rain to preserve the wood. The tarp also helps to keep the wood from sun rot too.

Are you available to hire out for custom jobs? LOL

 

[Sylvester017]

iwiw that is why we went the way we did my hubby is 81 he dose a lot for his age but I will not let him on a ladder any more, we are looking for 2nd camper for new peeps. here is how we went

I love the camper idea. Where can one get a recycled used camper? Aren't they still costly? I could never get one into my backyard because of narrow access. I did see someone use a truck camper shell as part of a coop - it was very clever!

 

[iwiw60]

How adorable your chicken coop is....I'm sure your hens are in love!

 

[Craftygirl]

Almost there... Few more trim pieces, a couple of vents but were almost complete.. Little lady wants yellow and white trim .. So final step nearing!

Love the flowers! Awesome coop!

 

[Sylvester017]

My coop and run are done. We just need to put a tarp on the top of the run.

The girls are having a blast! It was so cute when we first put them out they all ran inside the coop. They have been in the coop before on nice days.

It took them a few minutes before they realized they could come out and explore their new world. I am so glad to have them out where they can be chickens.

I have to give me wonderful DH so much credit for this. He's the best!

I love the added security of not only the fenced run but there is another outer fence around your coop area. My girls tear up green growth so fast. You haven't much greenery around or in the coop so let them out into the weeds when they come sprouting up. They'll love digging for the bugs and cutworms, etc that hide in weeds. The greenery adds to Omega-3 deeper egg yolks. Your DH did a run like we'd like to eventually have and I will save this photo to show our handyman.

 

[Craftygirl]

I'm sorry I didn't see the hardware cloth at the bottom, but I would put it all the way to the top, I know this is expensive, but those darn coons will get in if they are really hungry. I have seen them actually stretch the poultry wire and pull it off the boards to squeeze thru. This is just a suggestion. For now it looks safe, but might be something to put on the to-do list.

we just put up the tarp and walked around and I see where the coop meets the chicken wire will need the hardware cloth right away. Duh. . I'm sure a coon can get on top of the coop and eat is way in. . . Ugh. . Better safe than sorry. I have watched my girls grow now for 6 weeks and we'll. . It's love. i want them safe. So now I will go do that.

Thank you for pointing things out for me.