post your chicken coop pictures here!

[DoubleMM]

My husband recently finished our coop! Still a little final touches needed but the girls are in there!! And they love it!

Well done...

 

[tjl1388]

The coop I recently built. First one and first time with chickens. We move it about every other day so they have fresh grass. As I'm in Central Florida I built a misting system into it today on a timer. Only have 4 hens and like it that way. Plenty of room for everyone.

Would love to hear thoughts on it.

 

[iwiw60]

The inside of the coop

The inside of the coop

Nice setup...you can stand up in it...love being able to stand up in mine, too! I have one question on the interior pic....how far away from the wall are those upper roost bars? They seem awfully close to the wall. You might end up with poop down the walls...eek!

 

[iwiw60]

The inside of the coop

Nice setup you have, and you can stand up in it...love being able to stand up in mine, too! I have one question on the interior pic.....how far away from the side walls are those upper roosts? You might end up with poop all down those sidewalls...eek!

 

[tr3ctr]

They are 12" away so far so good no poop on the walls
I put sweet pdz on the poop tables and added a border to it
It works pretty good

I have 30 birds they free range all day
The coop is 8x 8
Run is 35x10
They have full access to the run and coop

But they free range all day and come in on there own at night we just close the gate to the run

 

[iwiw60]

Yes, PDZ is "da bomb"!!! Helps the coop to smell fresh, too.

 

[bruceha2000]

My husband recently finished our coop! Still a little final touches needed but the girls are in there!! And they love it!

That is disgusting - proper conduit and waterproof boxes and everything! Where is your sense of adventure?!

Truly beautiful piece of work there.

My only concern given your geographic location was the open channel for the chicken door. Easy to freeze up with snow and ice in the winter. But then there is the picture with the covered run. Geez, I guess you thought of everything!



Oh, MAYBE not everything. If the "poop board" over the nests extends only to the edge of the roost (which I assume you will be installing at least 12" from the wall higher up), the chickens will miss the board when they are facing the wall. Which they will sometimes. Or am I missing something and the 2x2 at the edge of the shelf IS the roost. In that case what I said is still true AND see my response to tr3ctr below.

Do they get to go in the trailer for snacks from the refrigerator?

They are 12" away so far so good no poop on the walls
Originally Posted by tr3ctr


The inside of the coop

Are you sure? Is it an optical "dillusion"?
A 2 by 4 is 1.5" by 3.5". That makes the outside edge of the UPPER roosts 5" from the outside wall. Unless you have REALLY small birds, half their bodies will have no where to go unless they sit sideways.

And here is where I repeat my mantra:

- Roosts should be 2x4 on the flat or 3" round fence rail (tree branch equivalent also acceptable

) for the birds' foot comfort. Chickens' feet and toes are primarily meant for standing, not perching.
- Roosts must ALWAYS be higher than the nest boxes or they will sleep in the nest boxes instead.
- Roost centers should be at least 12" from the wall for large fowl, several feet off the floor if possible, they like to roost high which is where they feel most safe.
- If there are multiple roosts at the same height, they should be 18" apart so the birds on one roost can't pick on birds on the other.
- Having all roosts at the same height means no bird has to sleep low.
- If there are parallel roosts at different levels, they should be 9" or more apart. Don't need any "poopie heads" (or backs). If they are far enough apart, the lower roost can be used as an intermediate "step" down. At 9" it can and likely will be used as a "staging" step up.

 

[tr3ctr]

They seem comfy

 

[Cluckadoodledo]

With winter just around the bend, I discovered that Walmart has 60 Watt equivalent LED light bulbs for $5.00 and some change. They use hardly any electricity (11 watts) and remain cool to the touch. They put out a lot of light and last for years. (package says 22 years, but in the moist environment of a chicken coop in the Pacific Northwest Rainforest, the light socket is subject to moisture induced corrosion which can cause any light bulb to separate from it's screw in base in under a year. If you live in an arid or semi-arid climate, this shouldn't be a problem.) The 40 watt equivalent LED light bulb uses 8 Watts of electricity. The 60 watt equivalent LED bulb is really bright, I think I will try out a 40 watt version this winter. These LEDs can also be used with a dimmer switch. Mood lighting for your girls!

 

[Sylvester017]

Breeder pen is coming along.... no smashed fingers this weekend.





No poultry wire..... Sylvester

Sylvester here saying you did a bang up job making sure to have secured hardwire especially with so many 'Coon accessible trees around the coop - kudos!

I didn't see an outdoor pen so assume you have more to go?

If you plan to free-range keep your wheelbarrow out around the coop - our girls love hiding under our old 'barrow. It isn't useful anymore except they love snoozing/hiding under it during the day so it's become part of our yard decor LOL. We also provide a popup canopy with buried legs in-ground so it doesn't para-sail away in the wind, a couple large doghouse, some plywood planks set low on cinderblocks, benches, evergreen and rose bushes - all providing hiding places from the Hawks who will sit up in the trees waiting for a chance to swoop down on a running hen. Several scattered shelters will provide closeby cover in an open yard so a hen doesn't have to run far to hide. Our Cooper's Hawks won't go after our city hens because of all the shelters and bushes scattered about the yard. He'll be 5 feet away from a hiding hen but doesn't go after her - amazing to see. Guess Hawks prefer swooping down on running hens in an open yard rather than going after them hiding in/under things.

Don't know what VT climate is like but here in SoCal we've been experiencing extreme humidity and temps in the 100s and even at night our poor girls are panting in discomfort. Nearby Inland Empire (San Bernardino) have had floods and lightning storms with one death reported. We've taken the tarps off our coop's open wire walls and left the back of the nestboxes open for air (the hens sleep in the coop nestboxes). One of us trades off staying up through the night to watch the open coop (it's close to our back sliding door). One night we had to bring the Ameraucana (my avatar) into the house pen she was in such breathing distress. The little Silkies are troopers and do well in all our weather extremes but the LF don't like the humid heatwaves. Chickens seem to do better in cold rather than hot weather. We have an Orbit Mister running daily under the popup canopy.

Love all your yard space. If I had that much room I'd be able to have every breed on my "want" list LOL!!