post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Pecanny]

After two raccoon attacks in which enlisted Chickens were killed at the Chicken outpost in Greenbrier, Arkansas, Colonel Red Rooster summoned the help of me, (on account of a coon ate all his kids), to establish a coon proof fortress in which Chickens would longer fear the piddly little hands of a racoon. The result of the undertaking ended with the raising of the American flag at Fort Chicken!!

Clementine AnnaRose sits on 90 lbs. of ground reinforcing cinder blocks on barn tin ground fortification at Fort Chicken. Near her left arm, you can see the rustic coon meat grinder mounted to the Fort Chicken portal. Above that is the coon choppin' hatchet>


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Mom AdriAnn, and Clementine AnnaRose, together at Fort Chicken.


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Dad, Michael... Outpost contractor and the lone builder of Fort Chicken.


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Colonel Red Rooster, pecking around inside Fort Chicken, poses for a pic with his lovely woman, KFC. Note the coon proof fence design. Outside is double hog fence (1/8 inch steel) wired together at the centers. Next is a row of 2"x4" yard fence. Inside is a row of chicken wire to keep the little chicks corraled, all nailed to fresh cut concreted 5 inch cedar posts, wrapped to the ground on a 2'x6' frame.


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Staven and Clementine AnnaRose sit outside the north weapon wall at Fort Chicken, complete with GIJoe Tank lunch ration bucket and yellow porcelin pot lid coon shield. A short handled coon slapper hangs top left. An arsenal of calvary issue coon gigs, coon knockers, and coon skinners are pictured above Clementine AnnaRose and Staven. It is a dangerous place for a coon to hang out. Inside hangs a full set of Ping golf clubs. Colonel Red Rooster likes to play golf, and he also slaps a pretty good chicken snake with a 3 iron.


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The USMC artillery dump at Fort Chicken, complete with nail spike ammo and mortar launcher, sitting atop one of the four empress wood ground tin anchoring corner stumps. Note the coon toe clippers and coon foot smasher on the cedar post. Miss Piggy and Mr. Jersey are shown on egg guard at Fort Chicken. Notice Mr. Jersey had his right arm ripped off in a coon attack, but he continues to serve. Colonel Red Rooster was adamant in his needs for coon maiming devices and weaponry, on account a coon ate all of his kids... Left one of 'ems foot behind one time. Just a pile of feathers the other times. President Chicken back in Washington so ordered full coon attack artillery.

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The Fort Chicken eagle bell coon alarm, with outpost lamp. Crying Indian girl juju incorporated at KFC's request. Poison water cup and coon saw also pictured.

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Assorted coon skinners, coon giggers, and coon hooks. Lucky horseshoe.


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Reinforced stall door with 5 lb railroad wrench handle, (my favorite part). Coon saw. Coon proof slide locking gates with 6 inch by 2 inch genuine crystal overlatch.


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Combo booby trap hammer handle and coon saw on the left stall, made for instant coon head pounding and coon finger whacking.


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And that my comrades is how Colonel Red Rooster won the war against raccoons.


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Oh, and the best part, with accessories, I spent about $15 cash building Fort Chicken, top to bottom. The cypress and oak wood came from a hundred year old barn on my dad's place, as did the barn tin. The cedar post I cut out back of the house. Most of the arsenal, artillery and such, was bought extremely cheap at yard sales. All the coon proof fencing I got free for helping some folks clean up some junk.

 

[QueenBubbles]

Coop done and positioned.

And the chicks giving their approval:

 

[newchickmomma4]

That is very interesting about the difference between HD and Liwes where you live. Here where I live, you avoid HD at all costs. They are severely understaffed and the staff that they do have are not helpful at all!!!! The other day I went I to HD To get a mister that ONLY HD carries. I had looked at their storemap online and knew where it should be. Wasn't there, wandered all through the general vicinity, saw 2 different employees, both of them told me they were helping other customers. Didn't see anyone around that they could be helping. Went to customer service desk, they looked it up and pointed in a general area and said, it's over by those blue things. Finally had another CUSTOMER help me find the item! If it hadn't been 110 that day and I didn't DESPERATLEY need that mister, I would have left and ordered it online from Lowes.

 

[Sylvester017]

Therein lies the problem...I live on the east side of the state. Oregon's west side? Only wish I did live "over the hill" on the west side...they've got dirt! Everything on the east side of the Cascade Mountain Range is kitty litter....literally (no pun intended!) Over here on my side there's not much you can do unless you high-tunnel and bring in huge quantities of the 'gold' ... dirt. Here it's either logging, or free-ranging cattle on BLM land.

So a raised garden bed is out of the question?

I read that east of the Cascades is like desert.

Our soil was/is rocky being at the bottom of a canyon where eons of time washed down mountain boulders and rocks into what is now our neighborhood - even cactus couldn't survive. When our swimming pool was excavated years ago they were literally taking 3 to 5 foot boulders out of the ground. Horrible soil - nothing but rocks every time you put a shovel in the ground. That's when I spent two years excavating a plot to grow veggies in a raised bed. Sifted out the rocks until there was just dust, then added compost, manure, Espoma veggie fertilizer, vermiculite, egg shells. It was ok the first year I planted but was disappointed in the small harvest. But after a couple more years of tilling the bed, sterilizing it each year, and adding more compost, fertilizer, etc. this is the first year I got a worthwhile crop. Of course I have potted veggies too with good potting mix until I can get a second raised bed made. Been working a little bit every day on it but what else have I got to do at 70?

 

[Sylvester017]

My BCM's took the longest time to take to the roost. In the brooder they were always trying to fly up on the tallest thing in there...move them to the kennel in the yard and put a two roost (two different heights....then they wanted to just cuddle together on the ground.! BUT,,,,they finally started taking to the roost and now, they do the fighting thing to see who gets what spot!!!

I hear chickens like the spot on the roost where there's a view or a window. Let us know which spot is their favorite on the roosting perch and if they prefer lower or higher.

 

[Sylvester017]

Here are a couple pictures of my coop and run. I bought the coop off Craig's List. Big mistake. Learned my lesson the hard way. Took the leaky roof off, added about 12-18 inches, and made it a slanted roof instead of a pitched one. The short run came with the little coop. Me yard man helped me build the taller run. I would like to build a bigger coop in the near future. I have 7 hens and 2 roosters who are going to be rehomed very soon. I can't have roosters in my subdivision. All my chickens are around three months old. This is my first experience raising chickens. My neighbors had their doubts about the chicken thing, but now they come over to drink a glass of wine and watch chicken TV with me. My Chihuahua thinks the chickens are her new playmates. So, everyone is happy!

Buying anything used always makes me suspicious as to why is it being sold? But sometimes someone else's trash is someone else's treasure. We went dumpster diving in the neighborhood last trash day and picked up some leftover pieces of insulated boarding to make some more lean-to shelters for our yard chickens.

Your yard man did a nice job on the taller run. From the photos it looks like one nestbox has a roof overhang and the other one doesn't or is it an optical illusion?

You have a nice large run. As far as having a bigger coop building the hens only use it to lay eggs and roost. They're outside the rest of the time so as long as there's room for nighttime roosting in the coop it doesn't have to be particularly large.

So the neighbors are coming over to watch chicken TV - LOL!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

That is very interesting about the difference between HD and Liwes where you live. Here where I live, you avoid HD at all costs. They are severely understaffed and the staff that they do have are not helpful at all!!!! The other day I went I to HD To get a mister that ONLY HD carries. I had looked at their storemap online and knew where it should be. Wasn't there, wandered all through the general vicinity, saw 2 different employees, both of them told me they were helping other customers. Didn't see anyone around that they could be helping. Went to customer service desk, they looked it up and pointed in a general area and said, it's over by those blue things. Finally had another CUSTOMER help me find the item! If it hadn't been 110 that day and I didn't DESPERATLEY need that mister, I would have left and ordered it online from Lowes.

I find with Lowe's and HD it all depends on if you luck out getting an employee that knows the store. Some ee's are really helpful and some look like they don't even want to be on the job. Also some items we've found out are seasonal and an ee may not even be aware the item is seasonal and directs you to where they remember the item used to be. We found that with the Orbit Misters - they are only seasonal like folding tables and folding chairs and grills and canopies, etc. BTW we ordered our Orbit Mister off-season from Amazon and got it in 4 days rather than chancing that the hardware stores wouldn't have it in stock when summer came around.

 

[Pecanny]

Buying anything used always makes me suspicious as to why is it being sold? But sometimes someone else's trash is someone else's treasure....

...Which is the principal of economics relating directly as to why I spent only $15 in cash raising the invincible, coon proof, 55 square feet, Fort Chicken.

 

[KallippidesKoop]

Originally, the coop was one of those kits, but it's been "remodeled" to where the original is almost unrecognizable. But, hopefully now it's element and preditor proof!

Both of the nest boxes have about a fiour inch overhang. Inside I have them blocked off because all the chickens wanted to sleep in them. I cut three 36" roosting boards and attached them to the interior walls and now they roost on them. I'll have to unblock the nests once the chickens get closer to laying.

The taller run is totally covered, and only the first section of the short run is covered because that helps keep the hanging feed container protected from the rain. It hangs on the beam between the two runs. A nipple waterer hangs in the corner on the backside right by the screen door so I can reach it with the water hose.

And if I backed up any more when I was taking this shot of the backside of the coop, I'd be in the compost with the chicken poop!

 

[iwiw60]

That has to be the the most innovative (not to mention adorable) chicken coop ... EVER!! I congratulate you and your family for your outstanding efforts! Just the best...I so enjoyed reading your story as Fort Chicken progressed....BRAVO!!