post your chicken coop pictures here!

[kculbert]

So in love with this

Thanks!

 

[kculbert]

WOW! Your chicken coop and run are brilliant with colors and decor!! You must certainly be a happy happy person in life...it shows!!

That is such a nice thing to say! It's definitely my happy place!

 

[kculbert]

Wow! I'm impressed that you built that. It's huge! Your chickens look very content.

 

[Lanicus]

Here is my coop that is TWELVE years old, it has definitely stood the test of time and housed many many birds!

This is a little hut that I added on for brooding the older chicks






Sorry for the mess, haven't had time for spring cleaning!







My "perch" that I sit on to hunt coyotes!

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you so much for posting this Sylvester017!! I'm glad you did before I went to the expense of buying DE and using it. I had no idea!! I'm fairly new to the chicken world and have heard "DE this" and "DE that" so much here at BYC I assumed it was a good thing. Fortunately, for me, my little girls are in the new coop with wood shavings at present (having trouble locating the right type of sand), and their run is being built as we speak. Again...THANK YOU!!

You're welcome!

We all want the best for our chickens and DE was one of the first products highly recommended and then highly disparaged so I waited to do the research before using it. I talked with my chicken friend and it was not working. The chicken-lady website had the most thorough, informed, educated article regarding DE - she has a whole page on her site devoted to the specifics about DE. That coupled with the DE website touting it's snake-oil cure for everything but hemorrhoids made me suspicious too - any one product advertised as a cure-all always makes me suspicious - my bag of pure white DE had more warnings on it than a bottle of lye. So I decided against using it. My Leghorns sneeze enough dust out of their nostrils when they dust-bathe so I don't need to clog them up with more dusts/powders LOL.

My early research about lice/mite treatment also made me go UGH because everything I found was about using poisonous dips and powders on the chickens. I knew I was staying away from powder treatments because of chicken lung/respiratory issues and I certainly wasn't going to keep dipping my girls in wet flea baths or pyrethrin. That's when I by chance came across the safe organic Poultry Protector and tried it - so obscure a product that even the feed store didn't know if it was any good. I told them it's kept my chickens and housing lice/mite free for 3 years - now they stock their shelves with several bottles of it! I was already using all organic non-poison gardening insecticides on my veggies so wanted to keep the backyard and chickens as free of poisons as possible. I just used some Poultry Protector in a nestbox where a chicken layed a soft egg and ants were crawling. I have one Silkie that always lays a funky soft egg right before going broody. I used the Protector on the ants and egg and it immobilized the ants immediately. I was able to clean up the mess without having ants crawling onto my hands and arms.

For worming there is no "natural" or "organic" prevention for chickens that will kill the deadly Gapeworm or Tapeworm, etc etc. So the vet has approved using Ivermectin (for equines). We use the paste form and put one drop equivalent on the SKIN under the wing per pound weight of bird - 2 drops for 2-lb bantam, 4 drops per 4-lb bird, etc. We do this treatment 3x/year. I recommend 4x/year for large flock owners. If you have wild birds in your yard they will keep bringing in the parasites. Even earthworms have the potential to harbor the eggs of parasites.

We use vitamin E oil (Walmart $4 bottle) per our vet's recommendation instead of greasy vaseline or olive oil for once-a-month preventative treatment against scaly leg plus the vitamin is so good for the chickens' beak, comb, wattles, legs, toes, toenails, and toe feathers on feather-footed breeds. Vaseline and vegetable oils pick up dirt during dust-baths and stains the feathers and faces of the chickens. With E oil we treat the birds after roosting so the vit E absorbs overnight and there's no grease retention in their feathers the next day plus the E oil is beneficial to their bodies.

1 to 2x/week we give each chicken one drop (NOT dropperFUL - just one drop) of children's Poly-Vi-Sol no iron vitamins. For broodies we give 3x/week. One drop on the side of the beak away from nostril and the annoying drop is licked off by the chicken's tongue. Sometimes a drop is shook off so we put another drop until the chicken licks it. One Silkie we have will drink a whole dropperful if we let her she likes it that much! But she gets only ONE drop LOL

Currently I'm doing research on Health Pack before I go gung-ho shoving stuff down my chickens - because it's "organic" and you do not have to suspend eating the eggs I want to research more - I want to know just how necessary it really is to use every chicken product that's advertised or recommended. The way the product is advertised it seems to be for large commercial users. Asking individual users you'll get 20 different opinions so I'll research it for myself and come to my own conclusion: Backyard Chicken Health Pack was developed by DBC Ag Products – specialists in innovative natural solutions designed to overcome nature’s toughest animal health challenges. We have been providing products that improve bird health, productivity, egg quality/safety and most importantly, effective salmonella control programs in commercial laying operations for over 25 years. The ingredients in Backyard Chicken Health Pack are being proven every day in millions of chicks, pullets and layers, including their organic and natural certified flocks.

As for sand I was going to mix some into the chickens' dust-bath raised box but think I'll stay with the yard dirt. It's been working for them for 3 years and I won't fix what "ain't broke" so to speak. Free-ranging really does seem to keep them healthier, happier, and alert. Many consider them "just chickens" or dumb animals or stupid but they are so much smarter than people give them credit.

 

[LindaB220]

Here is my coop that is TWELVE years old, it has definitely stood the test of time and housed many many birds!

This is a little hut that I added on for brooding the older chicks






Sorry for the mess, haven't had time for spring cleaning!







My "perch" that I sit on to hunt coyotes!

Your "perch" is so cool. I bet you get a few too, don't you. They know you're watching.

 

[iwiw60]

My coop is finished and being used by my new chicks. I'm going to name it "MY PLACE".
It's where I go to be by myself and watch and enjoy my flock. I'm 65 and have no real building skills. But I love "My Place".

I built this mostly out of scrap and cull wood, except for the roofing and some of the siding.
My tools were a circular saw, tape measure, a drill with drill and screw bits. The paint was exterior "oops" paint from Home Depot.

The raised hutch is 4'x4' and the coop is 12'x12'. The run is about 15'x22' with room to expand if necessary.

Well, from one 'ol senior citizen to another (got ya beat...I'm 70!)...you did a bang up job!! Wishing you all the best in your chicken venture!

 

[bruceha2000]

My roost is low because I have heavy breed chickens and a silkie that sleeps on the floor.

What breeds and how low? My biggest chicken is a LARGE Black Australorp and she has no problem with the 4' roosts. I do, however have a 2' roost 9" forward of the pair of parallel 4' roosts. All the girls use it to stage on the way up, even the ones that can get to the top of a 4' fence with ZERO effort. None use it on the way down. Probably need it farther away for that.




I have a fan inside because it is hot as Hell in Houston in the summer

Saw the fan before your comment on it and thought "SMART!" How many people who live in blistering heat places think about that all important fan up front?

This is my biggest regret. I really wish I had exterior nesting boxes so I would have more room inside the coop. I have a big pine tree right outside the nest boxes so I am stuck with this awkward layout and waste of space.



Clearly you need to cut down the tree!

Bruce

 

[tr3ctr]

So here are my girls out grown the brooder back surgery forced me to keep them in longer than expected. I moved them into the coop tonight inside is just temporary till I can get back at it

[/IMG]

 

[tr3ctr]

And there in the coop