post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Wildivy2112]

Here are a few photos of our chicken coop and outdoor pen set-up. For 25 chickens. 24 hens and one rooster. B Orpingtons, SL Wynadottes, RI Reds, and Ameraucanas (Easter eggers).

I bought a barn roof style storage shed (12" x 10") and converted it into a chicken coop. I raised it off the ground about 18" for the chickens to go under for shade and shelter during the day.

My wife and I moved from Wyoming and bought a small 7 acre hobby farm in south central Kansas a little over a year ago. I retired from teaching biology after 30 years. My wife works as the Planning Director in the nearby town.

I've been a licensed practicing falconer for almost 40 years flying and hunting trained golden eagles and goshawks. Although I've kept many different animals over the years, we are new to chicken keeping. We've always wanted to keep a small group of free ranging chickens for egg production. We are having a great time with our chickens and learning quite a bit. You never stop learning.

This is a great forum and I researched many different aspects of keeping chicken husbandry from this site before actually getting our chickens. I imagine we'll be working out the bugs for quite some time, but we seem to be figuring it out as we go.

All my Best,

Dan M


Our initial stock tank brooder set up in the dining room for the first two weeks before transferring the chicks to a larger brooder in the garage.


Front view of coop with attached pen.


Side view showing windows.


Inside of coop showing plastic bin nest boxes


Inside view showing roost perches


Small metal 12" exhaust fan mounted on back window


Back of coop showing additional windows


Back view showing chicken door


Side view showing outdoor pen


Outdoor pen roofed with 2" x 4" welded wire


Outdoor perimeter of pen showing 1" x 2" welded wire predator guard extending 12" away from the outside wall of the pen. Within two weeks the grass has grown up and has completely covered the guard


Loose and free ranging around the property

Wow, that is some set up! Bet your birds are very happy in that!

 

[iwiw60]

You are to be commended for building your coop and run as you did....predators will have next to NO chance of gaining entrance. Love your predator apron down around the perimeter of the run! Wishing you all the best!

 

[16 paws]

You are to be commended for building your coop and run as you did....predators will have next to NO chance of gaining entrance. Love your predator apron down around the perimeter of the run! Wishing you all the best!

Agree,
Love it to pieces

 

[cierra05]

Almost finished .... just need some eggs

 

[KrystalRose]

My coop has 2 different rooms, one for me and one for the chickens. The one for me is where I have my brooder box, collect the eggs, store food, keep a mini fridge for extra eggs, and keep extra supplies for the chickens.

This is the mosaic rooster I have on the floor of my room, It looks good now, but it was almost more headache than it was worth!

The tan tank on the left is my water storage tank that feeds all my chicken nipples, the purple doors next to it is where I collect my eggs, and the area under the bench is where I brood my chicks.

This is my sink with a frost free faucet, with my mini fridge and totes of chicken food underneath.

My toolbox and extra storage shelves.

The doorway to my chicken room with 2 Plexiglas windows so I can look through. I highly recommend the lower window as well, it is fun for kids to be able to look in and it works so you can see if any chickens are behind the door before you open it.

My PVC feeding tubes that they are starting to be able to reach at 7 weeks old. Also to the left is a cheap thermostat that controls the plug in that my heat lamps are plugged into, it is very nice to be able to set it to whatever temp they are able to handle and walk away, it automatically turns on the heat lamps at night when it starts to get too cool for them.

My roosting bars are on a hinge that we made out of a fencing post and the bars are from some pine trees we dropped last fall, it can all hinge up to the ceiling with a pulley for me to clean underneath it.

Excuse the dust we just had a dust storm, but here is my nesting boxes and the inside chicken nipples underneath that.

My outside run we made from leftover fencing material, we welded the whole frame together and put on no climb horse fence on all the sides and top, then put chicken wire from about 3' high to a couple feet buried underground to keep out small critters and keep in my chicks. The red things are my 2 outside feeders and its hard to see but I have more chicken nipples along the building.

They love the roosts we hung from the ceiling.


We used old round wood fence posts and made a frame then used fencing staples to attach old hog panels to the top of that and then chicken wire over that to make a frame to go over the grass in the corners of the run so the grass can grow through and they cant tear up the roots. Also it serves as a cooler place to sit during hot days because they get air flow underneath and the grass stays cooler than dirt. Plus it makes the run not look so much like a dirt yard.


Hopefully this gives someone some ideas. My 24 chickens are only 7 weeks old right now so hopefully this will be a good home for them as they grow.

 

[iwiw60]

I LUV YOUR SIGN!! That is just too cute!

 

[iwiw60]

Holy moley! What a SETUP!! I absolutely love it....I have tree limbs in my run...you think my girls will use them? Nope...nada....zip. They're almost 19 weeks now and they still sleep in a cuddly pile on the floor of the coop, too! Aaaack!!

 

[KrystalRose]

Well, not all my girls are using the roosts at night, only about 5-6 of the 24, the rest form a huge dog pile on the floor. But the ones that use it like sitting at the very top. Hopefully both our girls will eventually learn?

 

[Kansas]

You are to be commended for building your coop and run as you did....predators will have next to NO chance of gaining entrance. Love your predator apron down around the perimeter of the run! Wishing you all the best!

Thanks. I like the term predator apron. We always used to call it a critter guard. I like your term more.

 

[Sylvester017]

Depends on the surroundings.

The Swiss camo is a really freaky one, they have red in the pattern too, looks like fall time in Vermont (or Finland).

@ChickenFox Just be sure to seal the OSB properly, or it'll soak up water like a sponge.

x2 on sealing the OSB - we got a custom-built coop made by a customer at the local feed store. Wonderful little design but all made out of cheap OSB and cheap 1-inch poultry/chicken wire. We didn't paint it because of the interfering wire and staples so we keep it covered with tarp and canopied in winter from rain, fog, and dew. Some of the particle board nailed over the wire is flaking off. Cheap cheap cheap but it HAS lasted us over 3 years with extra special care. OSB also feels heavier than regular wood so isn't the best to use for mobile tractors - don't need to add dead weight to something that's supposed to be mobile.