post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Sylvester017]

New screen door is up

Wow new view

As you know by now I'm not a fan of poultry wire. In case of a predator or dog that can easily mangle poultry wire put 1/2" hardwire over at least the bottom half of the door, right over the existing poultry wire on the door.

 

[1chief]

This is my sons project he is 10. He loves his chickens and if he could he would bring them inside every night. He lets them out in the evening and won't leave their sides in fear of the owls we have will get one of them. We are however going to change it to a wire mesh. We haven't had any problems yet. But just in case I want the added protection.

 

[Sylvester017]

@Sylvester017 Thanks for you reply! The coop has hardware cloth instead of chicken wire, I totally agree that its flimsy, so I specifically asked for the sturdier stuff. Its not on pavers, but I am seeing that is a popular thing to do too. And the nest box actually opens on the side panel with a special lock in place, so its not the typical lift lid type. Overall I really like our little coop, its been great so far, but I am considering building a run on the right side. Right now I let them free range the backyard for a good chunk of the day. My kids are typically outside playing in the backyard so they are supervised. With all the rain we have been getting though the floor of the coop is just gross…Any suggestions on what I can put down for it to soak up the water and keep it dry?

It's not that we get a LOT of rain but the few times we get rain in our arid region they are gully-washers for some reason. What we first did was set our little 4x6 coop on 1-foot-square paver stones (the kind made out of cement about 1 or 2 inches thick blocks depending on who you buy them from). However we left a little center of the coop all dirt so the girls could dust-bathe or snooze on a dirt floor which some like to do for some reason. We had to make sure the paver stones were reinforced with heavy wood blocks all around where the dirt of the coop met up with the paver stones so the chickens wouldn't dig under the paver stones that supports the coop base. We didn't want the chicken's digging to undermine the paver stone base.

Our first rain was a doozy and the coop floor flooded a bit even with a tarp covering the whole coop.

Next modification we had some leftover 2x4's from remodeling the house and we raised the coop onto these wood planks under the coop skids and placed back on top of the paver stones. Then we made a walkway about 3-feet wide all around the coop. The 2x4's along with the coop skids blocked the running rain water from flooding into the coop in the next heavy rain. There was a little seepage into the floor but mostly it was dry. With the 2x4 planks we sort of created a "block wall" under the base of the coop to keep out the running water. Today we've expanded the paver stones around the coop to have a 12' x 60' patio with garden plants and bought a dog kennel to attach to the little coop for days we have to keep the chickens penned. The coop floor has remained dirt and we rake it to collect poop for compost but it's pretty clean usually because the girls free-range. The kennel attachment however is on the paver stone section next to the coop.

After all these modifications we are seeking to replace it all with an enclosed Amish-type Quaker style coop in a couple years. Because of $$$ everything takes planning and time.

 

[Sylvester017]

Yes lol we only have an acre I'm used to 80 acres back home. My husband wants enough to deer hunt on and where we can have a 4 wheeler, plus I hate the city

Even 80 acres isn't enough for hunting. Bullets travel for miles - unless he uses bow and arrows for hunting. But I totally understand hating the city. I've had to resign myself to making our little cottage as nature friendly as possible for the memories from my farming childhood.

We own an acre of undeveloped property that we wanted to retire on and then the economy went south a few years ago and it just sits costing us taxes now. It's so far away that we can't even economically visit it to camp on!

 

[iwiw60]

New screen door is up


Wow new view

I like your screen door! I'm getting ready to build mine..oh, boy...lookout!!

 

[iwiw60]

Quote: I loved reading your entire post @Sylvester017 ..words of truth and wisdom! As for the end of your post (as quoted above) I agree with you wholeheartedly that all of us should support the local farmer's markets .. I do whenever they are here in my area, which sadly is only from around June1st til Labor Day. The produce that gets shipped in (from God knows where!) isn't worth my time or my money...it starts going bad the minute I get it home. This is the time of year when sinking my teeth into a real ear of corn and real fruits and other vegetables is the highlight of my year. Here where I live we don't have real dirt...seriously! We have what is termed "kitty litter" .... there's hardly any dirt in it. Add to that the fact that we suffer from tremendous temperature swings on a daily basis...it can get down to 28 at night and zoom on up to 70 the next day. Gardens, real gardens, are a thing of the past for myself. So here I sit, retired (semi) and enjoying every single minute I can spend with my four little Black Australorp young ladies, who in about 2 months will be giving me wonderful brown eggs. My friends all think I've lost a few marbles that at my age I'm undertaking building my own coop and run and that I'm spending way too much money on it, but I just smile at them and say "yes, that may be so...but they'll be the tastiest $1,000 eggs I've ever eaten!"

Thanks again for a wonderful post...really enjoyed reading it!

 

[sammirae09]

Even 80 acres isn't enough for hunting.  Bullets travel for miles - unless he uses bow and arrows for hunting.  But I totally understand hating the city.  I've had to resign myself to making our little cottage as nature friendly as possible for the memories from my farming childhood.

We own an acre of undeveloped property that we wanted to retire on and then the economy went south a few years ago and it just sits costing us taxes now.  It's so far away that we can't even economically visit it to camp on!

Yea that sucks I'm sorry. And he bow hunts and rifle hunts he doesn't care which one he gets to do. I grew up in farm country and I miss it. I hate all this traffic and crime and stuff

 

[DoubleMM]

As you know by now I'm not a fan of poultry wire. In case of a predator or dog that can easily mangle poultry wire put 1/2" hardwire over at least the bottom half of the door, right over the existing poultry wire on the door.

That's my plan. The temp here has been 106 to 108 and I just wanted to get a breeze in the coop. 1/4 inch hardware cloth is covering the tub with the new hatch. That will go over the door this weekend

 

[Sylvester017]

Yea that sucks I'm sorry. And he bow hunts and rifle hunts he doesn't care which one he gets to do. I grew up in farm country and I miss it. I hate all this traffic and crime and stuff

Back in the 1940's we never locked our farmhouse door and never worried about illegal entries. Now in the 21st Century we've got key locks on our Amish chicken coops LOL!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

This is my sons project he is 10. He loves his chickens and if he could he would bring them inside every night. He lets them out in the evening and won't leave their sides in fear of the owls we have will get one of them. We are however going to change it to a wire mesh. We haven't had any problems yet. But just in case I want the added protection.

You definitely don't want to wait until something unexpected happens before doing the better reinforcements. Otherwise you'll be kicking yourself and saying "if only I had done that sooner." The worst part would be explaining to your child what happened. That's the part I hated with my kids - explaining what happened to their pet.