post your chicken coop pictures here!

[iwiw60]

all framed up
all boarded in.
Still need to get hinges and cedar shakes then hard ware cloth to predator proof the coop and run.

GENIUS! I love it...wish it was mine! I'm laying the foundation for my shed-conversion this week...aaaack!!

 

[SeanaL]

Thanks. We ended up buying these plans online cause huubby didn't want to have to figure out anything. Not that he couldn't have done it, he was just being lazy lol

 

[iwiw60]

Thanks. We ended up buying these plans online cause huubby didn't want to have to figure out anything. Not that he couldn't have done it, he was just being lazy lol

Well, KUDOS to your hubby...he's done a bang-up job!!

 

[littlelizzy123]

How big is this coop? It is BEAUTIFUL!

 

[roostercantrell]

all framed up
all boarded in.
Still need to get hinges and cedar shakes then hard ware cloth to predator proof the coop and run.

looks good

 

[JONNIEGIRL]

Incredible!! Gorgeous! I almost want to live in one!

 

[Sylvester017]

Today there was a beautiful sunset behind my coops and to make it look even better, the woods. I love the country!

Are your two coops intermingled and shared by your flock or is there a certain coop chickens use consistently and never go into the 2nd one and vice versa?

 

[Sylvester017]

Here's ours we finished this week. The coop is a second hand Wendy house which was rotting so has been stripped back and we have used the bare bones. Everything else is recycled or gifted items, it's the biggest thing we have designed and built ourselves. Probably the wrong place to ask but can anyone help with my roosting issues. I built one 4" x 1" flat side up, 3" in the air and I'm putting the birds up there on a night (they all came from places where I think they only slept on the floor), the two LF seem to be getting it and got down on their own today but the two orpington bantams have to be put up and got down on a morning. I built a ladder but they just look at it confused! I thought about building a lower one but then it will be on a level with the nest boxes....help. They both liked sleeping under the nest boxes but I was told they may get mites sleeping on the floor.

Since we have a couple Silkie bantams we made our ladder with steps up the ramp about 4 inches apart - I've seen some make their ramp steps 3 inches apart which would be good if there were chicks or juveniles. Your steps look widely separated and the ramp is too steep and a tad narrow for smaller fowl. These are all things that deter smaller birds from wanting to use it. I speak from our experience with the Silkies. Making a new ramp is an easy fix for you to make it longer/wider with closer steps to allow a gentler slope up/down. We had to construct a new ramp with our coop to make it less steep and much wider to give both LF and bantams a feeling they wouldn't fall off. Also, new things in the coop make the chickens wary. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 days for them to get used to the strange new thing in the coop but they eventually realize it can't hurt them and they start using it. Maybe someone else has input too.

Another funny thing with our Silkies is that they like low roosts or sleep in the nestboxes. Ours will use the low roost pole during the day to groom themselves or take a snooze but for night-time they sleep in the round-holed nestboxes. I read chickens like the privacy of round-holed nestboxes and both our Silkies and the LF sleep in these boxes. We have 4 chickens and only 3 boxes so someone has to double up with another hen at night - it's funny because they never sleep with the same partner or in the same box as the previous night! It's slightly more to clean out the nestboxes in the morning but not that much extra - we wear plastic food gloves and remove the pooped straw and fill in with more new straw if needed. If the hens are happy this way so are we! We have one OCD Silkie who scratches the bottom of the nestbox so hard before laying her eggs that she injures/bleeds her toes/toenails so we put fitted plexiglass at the bottom of each box to prevent further injuries from splintered wood. My egg seller friend made curtains covering the top half of her nestboxes to give her flock privacy. She will go to full curains (split in the middle for easy chicken access) after the girls get used to the 1/2 curtains first.

As far as lice/mites - if you have wild birds coming into the yard your birds will always be exposed to worms/lice/mites no matter where they sleep. That's why we have a regular schedule for worming/lice/mites on the chickens as well as their housing and bedding. We use organic products. PM me if you're interested in the easy way we do it - 3 years and we've been pest free in spite of wild birds like Mourning Doves, Mockingbirds, Sparrows, Finches, Phoebes, Black Brewers, Crows, Hawks, Hummingbirds, etc.

Other than the ramp issue you have a Paradise for your flock and very attractive for backyard enjoyment!

 

[Sylvester017]

Recycled from an old cubby house the children never used.

Beautiful and colorful and pleasant to view every day. So very ingenious the way you made the additional steps at the bottom so the ramp isn't too steep. Very well thought out.

 

[Cockerlinechick]

Thanks, I tried to make the ramp less steep last night by sitting it on the nest box lip (a foot in the air) and leaning on the window bar which is level with the roost. So going left to right in line with the roost but at an angle. Slight progress, all the girls took themselves to bed on day four which I was impressed with and the biggest bird got herself up there. I put the other 3 up again at dusk and when I went out at dawn the two biggest had got down (although I suspect the sussex slept on the ladder). So today I need to do something to make it nice for my little birds. On another note I've had 8 eggs in 3 days and only thought 2 birds were laying.....ooh looks like someone has come of age lol!