post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Jack-Girl]

That is funny!

 

[iwiw60]

We are using the heaviest gauge hard wire, I raise Lion Heads and have a custom hutch as well. We own a stone company, so I am going to cover the interior flooring of the play pen with interlocking pavers, and cover those with a nice soft surface.

You said you're using the heaviest gauge hard wire .. do you mean you're using 1/2" hardware cloth? I'm not following exactly what you're meaning. That is great you have a stone company! Please consider using them around the perimeter outside your run also to cover your aproning of the hardware cloth...that will be a great deterrent for predators.

 

[MobyMack]

Just finished our little suburban coop! Our new little ladies moved in this week and seem to be settling in just fine!

 

[DixonFamily2545]

I grew up raising 100-150 hybrid meat chickens each year. We always kept 10 or so around through the winter for eggs and would start again each spring. About three weeks ago our neighbor brought us four chicks from her dad's farm. Two Barred Rock and what appears to me to be two Black Japanese Bantams. My 8 yr old and 6 year old daughters love them and have turned into good little mothers. I built a mobile run, closed in on all sides and the top but portable so they get fresh bugs every now and then. My little coop is an homage to my great grandad, it's built entirely out of found items. Hope you enjoy our pictures!

 

[Jack-Girl]

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It's coming along nicely! So happy!

 

[moss farm]

I grew up raising 100-150 hybrid meat chickens each year. We always kept 10 or so around through the winter for eggs and would start again each spring. About three weeks ago our neighbor brought us four chicks from her dad's farm. Two Barred Rock and what appears to me to be two Black Japanese Bantams. My 8 yr old and 6 year old daughters love them and have turned into good little mothers. I built a mobile run, closed in on all sides and the top but portable so they get fresh bugs every now and then. My little coop is an homage to my great grandad, it's built entirely out of found items. Hope you enjoy our pictures!

That's cool. I'm thinking about building a chicken tractor. I have them a nice size run and let them out to free range a few hours a day but stress out when they are out so a tractor would be good for them (& me) to get a new place to scratch around

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks... Sadly the coop is way to small right now for anything but overnight... I've drawn up plans for a 4'x8' coop but my husband keeps procrastinating because bills are due this week ... So I went, salvaged a bunch of wood and now all he has to get is 4 2"x4"s for solid frame and the hinges for the doors and lift side for cleaning and egg collecting... Let's see if he gets them today lol....

I can understand - I'm forever salvaging and asking friends/relatives for their discards. If you can ever swing the all-day coop idea it will help to get those eggs layed in the nestbox where they belong. Good luck! You've been progressing so nicely so far!

 

[Sylvester017]

We let our chickens free range, but when in the morning or in the evening they are in here

this picture was taken from one of the egg cubbies

Our chickens free-range from dawn to dusk and mid-day snooze under the old wheelbarrow under the shade of the popup canopy in the yard. On hot days the Orbit Mister is going slowly to keep the area cool. However by mid to late afternoon they meander back into the coop for an hour or two. I don't know if it's because the coop got shadier or breezier in the afternoon or if it's because it's closer to the back door where we come out to bring their treats, but they have their little pattern of habits that I dont even begin to try to understand. As long as they're safe with a lot of shelters, doghouses, canopies, and bushes to hide/sleep under in the open yard we don't worry. You have a large tree right outside of your chicken ramp and maybe your flock is hiding from an aerial predator in that large tree. During the heat of day predators are usually not flying around but in the early mornings or late afternoons. Maybe that's why your chickens hang out in the safety of the coop morning and evening when the predators are flying around? Humans can't always spot predators that can camouflage well but chickens have excellent vision to spot them.

 

[Sylvester017]

Nice list of critters....

Different areas of the U.S. have different wildlife but the one growing menace common in every rural and city community is the American Raccoon that is propagating like roaches and getting smarter surviving in cities, housing developments, and any place that has food or hiding places for them - trash cans, chickens and eggs, fruit groves, vegetable gardens, city sewers, alleys, easy-to-squeeze into garages, sheds, coops, and even homes using pet doors to access inside houses to eat pet food or kitchen pantries, etc. They do damage in the millions if the U.S. damage was inclusively totaled from the Southern U.S. all the way to Alaska. They are too clever where ordinary barriers and fences keep out most wildlife the American Raccoon figures ways to get around these barriers to do their damage. What's worse is that they are aggressive not backing down from humans or other animals. And they love to kill for the sheer pleasure of the frenzy and not necessarily for food. I heard the distinct chittering sounds of a Raccoon just this late evening and my DH and I are trying to figure where we can get a trap to catch the bas*#%d !!!! I don't want it breeding 6 more kits this year!

 

[Sylvester017]

We are currently under construction! This is a great design with a good sized play yard...Also critter proof, we are in the country.

You're using hardwire cloth right?? If not the rest of the flock here is going to swoop in and start pecking at you about using chicken wire with horror stories of critters tearing right through it and taking out the whole flock.