post your chicken coop pictures here!

[iwiw60]

Wow! Your efforts really show in that great coop and run!! I liked the way you said your neighbors come over to watch chicken TV....

I have a little chihauhau, too, her name is Zoe. Every time I open the door to the house and say "let's go check on the girls" ... VROOOM!! She's out the door and bolts over to the run! I have to say "no, no running, you'll scare them" and she stops dead in her tracks and waits for me...go figure!! She will actually lay down by the run wire with her nose right up against it just 'watching' them...forEVer. You did good with transforming your coop kit...you should be proud!

 

[iwiw60]

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?

Well, as I'm 70 also (can't believe I just said that!!! Aaaaack!)...and a single gal, it would just be too much to even attempt. I do have one of those little greenhouse things (it's just 4 shelves with a removable zippered plastic cover thingie) and have off and on attempted to grow a few things, but eventually the extreme temp swings get 'em every time...sigh. Over the years of my life I've had gardens...big gardens...loved every minute of it and do miss it. Gosh, one year there were so many carrots I had to store them in the bathtub full of water til I could process them for either freezing and canning! That was the same year I decided to plant "a little corn patch"...yeah. It ended up almost 1/4 acre, had so much corn I contacted all the surrounding neighbors and told them "bring a feed sack and fill 'er up" .... those were the days when I had dirt!

Yes, east of the Cascade Mountain Range is desert. Oh, we have beautiful Ponderosa pine trees, etc., but other than that it's sagebrush city, baby!!

So I'm content to raise my 4 little BAs and build their coop and run, which for me is a feat in and of itself...trust me!

 

[bigmrg74]

Its not quite as impressive as Fort Chicken, but I do feel that my tractor is pretty much predator proof.






Hardware cloth all around, and a piece of tin barn siding for the roof for shade and to help keeping rain off of the girls.






The girls as they first got out to explore the new space.


I've added some roosting bars for now, instead of letting them use an old saw horse, mainly because I need the saw horse to finish putting together the rest of the tractor with its nesting boxes. I've just got the barrel in there right now with some dried grass in it to give them a little more rain proof place to hang out at.

 

[Sylvester017]

...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.

Also helps to have the imagination to cleverly assemble a workable piece of art out of reclaimed items plus a sense of satisfaction when it's completed!! Necessity turned out to be the Mother of your coon-proof invention!! Love the safety features - is that double poultry wire in the open areas - can't tell from photos with my bad eyesight.

 

[Sylvester017]

Well, as I'm 70 also (can't believe I just said that!!! Aaaaack!)...and a single gal, it would just be too much to even attempt. I do have one of those little greenhouse things (it's just 4 shelves with a removable zippered plastic cover thingie) and have off and on attempted to grow a few things, but eventually the extreme temp swings get 'em every time...sigh. Over the years of my life I've had gardens...big gardens...loved every minute of it and do miss it. Gosh, one year there were so many carrots I had to store them in the bathtub full of water til I could process them for either freezing and canning! That was the same year I decided to plant "a little corn patch"...yeah. It ended up almost 1/4 acre, had so much corn I contacted all the surrounding neighbors and told them "bring a feed sack and fill 'er up" .... those were the days when I had dirt!

Yes, east of the Cascade Mountain Range is desert. Oh, we have beautiful Ponderosa pine trees, etc., but other than that it's sagebrush city, baby!!

So I'm content to raise my 4 little BAs and build their coop and run, which for me is a feat in and of itself...trust me!

Oh, I DO believe you - at our age everything goes in slow motion. I've been building my 2nd raised bed going on 2 years. If I didn't have a younger DH I couldn't do half of what is in the yard now. He even waters over 70 container plants when I run out of steam. He's even taken over the early morning chores and most of the evening closing up also of our girls. We only have 4 hens but 2 Silkies can't really be considered egg-layers although they do well when they ARE laying. We're hoping to get 2 Breda in Spring 2015 for more egg-layers. We decided on the gentle Breda for mixing with the gentle breeds we have now. Won't be huge egg layers but sufficient for us. Having a gentle under 5-lb laying hen is more important than huge eggs.

We've been researching Quaker coops with our specifications because we just aren't physically able enough to build anything ourselves or even assemble a kit. Getting help from friends is always a wait-and-see - even in getting a handyman who you don't know will assemble or build things well. There are a lot of small custom pre-built and DIY coops but we want larger than 2x4 or 3x5 coops and one we can walk into. So far only the Quaker coops and ezcleancoops,com have bigger coops and deliver on-site exact positioning. Tuff Sheds has a coop they will build right on your property but it's only one model they offer, not board-n-batton walls, and it's not a walk-in. After all our research on pre-built coops we can see why people wind up building to their own specifications. If we were younger it's what we'd do.

 

[iwiw60]

Quote: I know exactly what you mean about being able to walk in to the coop...just can't do the "stoop and swoop" thing any more (don't you just love arthritis?). I was having the same dilemma you guys are and in the end I opted for a 5' x 8' Lifetime Shed (they do come in bigger sizes, too).

(this is just a "stock photo" from online)
What I did was use the left-side door as a permanent part of the wall (it's locked down) and I use the right door as my in and out. It's made out of that new-age plastic Rubbermaid type stuff and this one, while more expensive than others, is double-walled (the walls are over an inch thick). Assembly wasn't that bad. See that little window on the right side? Directly below there is where I'm going to put the pop hole for the ladies to get in and out of their run..........oh yes, the RUN. So far I've got all the posts in and concreted, and today my friend is supposed to come over and we'll put up the 2 x 4's top and bottom, then we're set to start on the hardware cloth. My setup will end up kind of like an L-shape...the run is going to be 8' x 16'. Wish me luck....I'll need it....and 3 tubes of Ben-Gay!!

 

[Pecanny]

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!!

Thank you IW60! It was a lot of work for all of us, but we love our Chickens, and protecting them is duty #1.

And to comemorate the raising of Fort Chicken, just this morning, myself, Staven, and Clementine AnnaRose went to the Beebe, Arkansas flea market and stock sale, and bought a buff orpington hen, an Ameraucana hen, and two banty hens (to go with our three bachelor bantam roosters, Crow, Speck, and Nugget).

All 4 hens are under under 1 year old, and all are laying. Colonel Red Rooster couldn't be happier than to move in new family members. All is well at Fort Chicken!!

 

[Sylvester017]

I know exactly what you mean about being able to walk in to the coop...just can't do the "stoop and swoop" thing any more (don't you just love arthritis?). I was having the same dilemma you guys are and in the end I opted for a 5' x 8' Lifetime Shed (they do come in bigger sizes, too).

(this is just a "stock photo" from online)
What I did was use the left-side door as a permanent part of the wall (it's locked down) and I use the right door as my in and out. It's made out of that new-age plastic Rubbermaid type stuff and this one, while more expensive than others, is double-walled (the walls are over an inch thick). Assembly wasn't that bad. See that little window on the right side? Directly below there is where I'm going to put the pop hole for the ladies to get in and out of their run..........oh yes, the RUN. So far I've got all the posts in and concreted, and today my friend is supposed to come over and we'll put up the 2 x 4's top and bottom, then we're set to start on the hardware cloth. My setup will end up kind of like an L-shape...the run is going to be 8' x 16'. Wish me luck....I'll need it....and 3 tubes of Ben-Gay!!

Believe it or not this was one of our ideas in the running but we had to do so much altering, cutting, and adding that we discarded the idea for ourselves. We get frustrated just assembling a 6-foot plastic storage cabinet! Home Depot has started showing online videos to assemble some of the products they sell which is a help but still not 100% fool proof - we found some flaws in the video vs the written directions of the cabinet we assembled. Supposedly should only take an hour but 5 hours later we were still struggling with a warped piece but finally FINALLY got it assembled.

We've got a couple years to explore options. We have a narrow access yard so have to modify a coop to fit the dimensions of the access route. It's too bad there are no Amish builders on the West Coast to hire on site! I'd prefer paying a builder here what it would cost in shipping something from the East Coast! There are some coop companies in the North part of our State but we're right back to shipping costs, higher coop prices, and still not what we need (like walk-ins). We even found some local backyard coop builders but pickup only - no delivery.

Maybe some readers on this thread can recommend some option companies in CA. We've already researched Tuff Shed and hardware store pre-fab sheds.

 

[onemanzu]

Excited to share my coop! overall foot print is 8x10 with the coop itself being 4x8 and It's tall enough for me to stand in the very center. It's currently inhabited by 4 birds. We've got more on the way!

 

[Wildivy2112]

Nice coop!