post your chicken coop pictures here!

[TJordan]

My little man found his first egg today!!! He saw it and crawled under the coop to get it lol...

 

[KrazyBytes]

My New Breeding Pen.

 

[TherryChicken]

My New Breeding Pen.

that would be perfect for a bantam breed and or quail

 

[Lillichloe]

Hi guys. Need some advice on roost relocation I think. Not everyone is using it, if anyone is at all during the night. I know they are on it some mornings, but I have also seen them sleeping in a pile on the floor. I would like to open the next boxes soon, but i know they will just start sleeping in them again if I do. All 6 birds had been piling in them at night (2 boxes), so I sealed them off from use 5 weeks ago. My girls are 19 1/2 weeks old and due to begin laying at around 26. My roost is low, I have heavy breeds, I would like to raise it up, but how high is to high? I am hoping that they will use it if it is higher. I also need to add a second roost, as I removed the ones that came on the kit part of the house. I think roosts are better in the addition, a larger space we built off the back. Their food is in the kit part, also the nest boxes. Water is in the back room. Is there a better way to arrange all that stuff? How should I space two 2x4 roosts? I don't want them to poop on each other. Here is a picture of the house I had on here before, just so you have an idea of what I am talking about. Any input would be helpful. I really want them to sleep on the roosts. They do like to "roost" just not inside the house it seems. They try to sleep on the roof a few nights a week. I have been moving them when they do.

We just put our pullets in a new coop and they would sleep in a nest box. So at night after they settled in we'd go out and move them to the roost a free two or three nights of moving them they have done it on their own for 3 nights. I guess it helped teach them this is where they should sleep.

 

[moss farm]

We just put our pullets in a new coop and they would sleep in a nest box. So at night after they settled in we'd go out and move them to the roost a free two or three nights of moving them they have done it on their own for 3 nights. I guess it helped teach them this is where they should sleep.

My girls sleep on there roost every night but the past week I have one that's been sleeping in the nest box and laying an egg every night. She use to lay around 10 am or so but after she molted she has been laying at night.

 

[LindaB220]

My New Breeding Pen.

Great breeding pen. Thanks for the pictures. Kudos

 

[Sylvester017]

My little man found his first egg today!!! He saw it and crawled under the coop to get it lol...

That is so cute!

If you want the chickens to lay consistently inside the coop and not outside the coop - keep the hens inside the coop for a solid 2 weeks (no free-ranging) and they will get the idea that the coop is for laying eggs. It seems cruel but it works effectively. We had our chickens in the coop for 4 weeks when we first got them and they have never layed an egg outside a nestbox.

 

[Sylvester017]

I love this...wish my dh would help me out.....wouldn't even ask him to do it....Just some help please. (to say the least...he is not a chicken person) LOL
Would definitely put some 1/2" wire around the lower portion of the run. Predators are known to grab a chicken and pull them thru the wire ...one piece at a time.. not pretty.

 

[Sylvester017]

That is a great looking coop! Well designed, but I'm compelled to address a few things for the safety of your flock. First you used 2 x 4" welded wire. As you live in Georgia, aka predator heaven, that wire will do nothing to deter predators such as raccoon, fox, weasel, etc. They will tear through it like it was butter and there goes your flock. Also, with raccoons, which is your major predator there, they will "team tag" with another raccoon and while one is creating the chaos with the birds the other one will sit on another side reaching in and ripping their heads off, which is their favorite thing to do. I would highly recommend re-thinking your wire and switch over to 1/2" hardware cloth everywhere. You should 'apron' it also such as these example pics:


This will deter the diggers. On the window(s) I can't tell from the picture but assume you have covered the opening with hardware cloth? Just a few ideas for you, and I wish you all the very best.

 

[Sylvester017]

My girls sleep on there roost every night but the past week I have one that's been sleeping in the nest box and laying an egg every night. She use to lay around 10 am or so but after she molted she has been laying at night.

My girls come out of their moult all weird in attitude and behavior. They settle back into their old routine eventually.

What I have problems with is that some breeds have come out of a severe moult or broody session and gone ballistic on the other flockmates. We've had to re-home a Marans and 2 Leghorns who are aggressive breeds anyway.

Give your hen 2 or 3 weeks to get back into the swing of doing things like she used to. Sometimes it seems like a hen is laying at night but what's really happening is that just before dawn when the chickens are waking she stays in the box to lay her early morning egg rather than dropping it from the perch. Hens instinctively want to protect their eggs to gather them for hatching after building up a clutch so she knows laying an egg from a high perch will damage it - she wants to safely lay those eggs in the nestbox rather than take a chance she'll drop it on the floor at dawn when many chickens begin their daily laying. My guess is that's what's happening. If her laying changes to mid-morning she'll probably start using the perch again for roosting at night. All my hens sleep in the nestboxes. After the hens come out of the boxes in the morning, one Silkie stays in the nestbox because she knows her cycle is to lay very early in the morning. She comes out about 6 a.m. after laying her egg.

My Mom's philosophy always was that the animals knew best.