post your chicken coop pictures here!

[LindaB220]

Suggestions for using eggs: French Toast, Quiche (using a ready-made crust), Banana Bread, Breakfast or Cornbread Muffins, Poached Eggs (over toast or over hash browns), Scratch Pancakes, Scratch Waffles, Chinese Chicken Fried Rice, Angel Food Cake, Lemon Meringue Pie, Egg Bread, Yellow Food Cake, Cookies, Potato Salad (w/egg), Egg Salad Sandwich, Fresh Salad (tossed with cut-up egg slices), topped with Homemade Mayonnaise, Fried Egg-in-the-Middle of Pan Toast, Deviled Eggs, Steamed Spinach (topped with chopped boiled egg), Any Soup (with cut-up boiled egg pieces), Keep a half dozen boiled eggs in the fridge for afternoon snacks (or to cut up and feed some to the chickens), Spanish Omelet (good for dinner with avocado slices and salsa on top) mmmm! We use eggs for protein much more than meats in our household.

On the farm my Mom used to scramble eggs into cooked ziti or macaroni instead of cheese when she was out of cheese.

I probably missed some dishes but you'll definitely use those eggs once they start laying!

I bookmarked for suggestions.

 

[Sylvester017]

I bookmarked for suggestions.

My DH came up with two more: Huevos Rancheros and Huevos Mexicana

 

[ceubel]

Almost done with my new chicken coop, just need to put the finishing touches on before I get my 8 chicks next week

 

[mullinhead]

We are new to chickens. This is just something we thought looked like it would work. Our chickens have been in it for about 2 weeks now and really seem to like it.

 

[Sylvester017]

The Coop to be for our family's 4 Isa Browns arriving in two weeks.

That is beautiful wood. I enlarged it on my screen and it looks very nice in large view. The coop is plenty roomy for 4 layers which they only use for laying or roosting but they'll go stir-crazy all day in the small run area. How safe is your property to allow some free ranging?
May I suggest putting it on blocks to preserve the beautiful finish and keep the rain from absorbing up into that gorgeous wood? We have a little 4x6 coop and boy were we glad we raised it up a couple inches on 2x4 planks on top of paver stones because when the downpour hit us a couple years ago the girls didn't have a slushy mushy dirt floor and the wood base of the coop wasn't sitting in rainwater. BTW if it isn't a downpour rain, chickens love foraging in the muddy earth for worms and grubs. When it rains our girls come back in the coop or go under the lawn canopy to take dry dirt baths.
Another thing I like about your coop is that you knew it needed the roof to overhang the outside nestbox to keep it dry from rain/snow leakage - good thinking! I can't tell from the one side photo where the air hole/vent is. So very cute!

 

[Sylvester017]

Almost done with my new chicken coop, just need to put the finishing touches on before I get my 8 chicks next week

I love the color choices for blending with the natural setting. Nice roomy coop but if you know me by now, I always like to see a lot more scratching and foraging room with 8 chickens. They are such mobile scratching creatures and will totally devastate a small ground space bare - then start picking on each other. That's chickens for you. I love seeing people getting the chicken bug! Welcome to chickeneering!

 

[Sylvester017]

We are new to chickens. This is just something we thought looked like it would work. Our chickens have been in it for about 2 weeks now and really seem to like it.

Nice roomy outdoor foraging space! I can't see the inside setup so can't see the nestboxes. The pullets are young yet.
Put up a lean-to about 12 inches off the ground to dive under from hawks or to take their breezy afternoon siesta. Or a dog house will do - we have both in the backyard and they dive under the lean-to or into the doghouse if they spot something overhead while foraging. They like cover and don't need anything fancy. Goodness we used a recycled closet shelf, bookcase parts, and thrift store doghouse for our backyard girls' shelters. The long flat boards are propped up on cinderblocks - like I said nothing fancy but they love hiding. They used to nestle under an old thorny rosebush til it died after 25 years.
Is that another farm animal in the big chainlink fence sitting on a house

 

[ISA4Drew]

That is beautiful wood. I enlarged it on my screen and it looks very nice in large view. The coop is plenty roomy for 4 layers which they only use for laying or roosting but they'll go stir-crazy all day in the small run area. How safe is your property to allow some free ranging?
May I suggest putting it on blocks to preserve the beautiful finish and keep the rain from absorbing up into that gorgeous wood? We have a little 4x6 coop and boy were we glad we raised it up a couple inches on 2x4 planks on top of paver stones because when the downpour hit us a couple years ago the girls didn't have a slushy mushy dirt floor and the wood base of the coop wasn't sitting in rainwater. BTW if it isn't a downpour rain, chickens love foraging in the muddy earth for worms and grubs. When it rains our girls come back in the coop or go under the lawn canopy to take dry dirt baths.
Another thing I like about your coop is that you knew it needed the roof to overhang the outside nestbox to keep it dry from rain/snow leakage - good thinking! I can't tell from the one side photo where the air hole/vent is. So very cute!

Thanks! Im just glad I had lots of help on it from my contractor neighbor who also has 9 hens with a large coop.
I will try and get a few more pics of the coop and nesting quarters asap. Also yes the run is on the small side but they do have the option to go under for dry as well which is wired in.
As for free ranging the yard it may be possible in spring and fall times due to our busy veggie garden during summertime.Its funny you ask about venting i was out doing some finishing touches on it and decided to add 3 1-1/4" holes above nest boxes for extra flow.
I think overall it turned out nicer then what we expected on from what we planned,and added the blue wood rot resistant for the base.
Now all we need is our gals in their to test.
thanks

 

[Baileys Birds]

It begins again! 16 5-week old chicks in the brooder so it is time to build another coop. My family claims I went a little overboard on the first one and they challenged me to build one "on the cheep." I've been on the look-out for marked down cull lumber at Lowe's and I hit the proverbial jackpot last week: 10 2x10's, 48 2x4's, 4 4x6's, 3 4x8 sheets of OSB and some other assorted scrap for $90. Yep it was a little beat up but we're building a coop - not a piano, right? I then went to the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store and picked up a door and 4 windows for $80, picked up 15 wooden pallets for free and now we're ready to go! My goal is to get it done with as much re-purposed, marked-down, thrown away, and flat out useless stuff I can get my hands on and still make it look good enough to not make my wife cringe with embarrasment when friends come over.

Started this morning (well, actually noonish) and got most of the rough framing done. It is 8' x 10' and 8' tall at the peak; it will be split down the middle: half for 9 BCMs and half for 7 Welsumers. Each half will lead to seperate 10 x 12 runs on either side of the main structure- that's the plan anyway so we'll see how it goes. Here's Day 1 pics of the framing:







I don't think we'll match the first one for style but we'll give it a go and see how it turns out.

 

[Sylvester017]

It begins again! 16 5-week old chicks in the brooder so it is time to build another coop. My family claims I went a little overboard on the first one and they challenged me to build one "on the cheep." I've been on the look-out for marked down cull lumber at Lowe's and I hit the proverbial jackpot last week: 10 2x10's, 48 2x4's, 4 4x6's, 3 4x8 sheets of OSB and some other assorted scrap for $90. Yep it was a little beat up but we're building a coop - not a piano, right? I then went to the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store and picked up a door and 4 windows for $80, picked up 15 wooden pallets for free and now we're ready to go! My goal is to get it done with as much re-purposed, marked-down, thrown away, and flat out useless stuff I can get my hands on and still make it look good enough to not make my wife cringe with embarrasment when friends come over.

Started this morning (well, actually noonish) and got most of the rough framing done. It is 8' x 10' and 8' tall at the peak; it will be split down the middle: half for 9 BCMs and half for 7 Welsumers. Each half will lead to seperate 10 x 12 runs on either side of the main structure- that's the plan anyway so we'll see how it goes. Here's Day 1 pics of the framing:







I don't think we'll match the first one for style but we'll give it a go and see how it turns out.

Seeing all these wonderful coops with great bargain prices for materials is making me want a pickup truck NOW! Renting a Lowe's or Home Depot truck defeats the purpose of a bargain!
Love that you will be able to keep your breeds separate. Our Marans was a nasty peckish creature and re-homed to our egg-seller friend.
Your coop is bigger than our kitchen!