post your chicken coop pictures here!

[ErinsFlock]

God how I hate irresponsible dog owners.  It's bad enough fighting off the wildlife from our premises but irresponsbile selfish individuals are too d*#n lazy to keep their mutts confined!  My DD and SIL have a rescue Pitbull mix who doesn't get along well with even another dog and loves killing critters that get into their yard yet she's sweet with humans.  However my DD has a double gate at both sides of her property to make sure their Pit never gets outs.  We have since put two gates on both sides of our property to keep out irresponsible neighbors' stray mutts.  First year we had chickens for only a couple months when two stray mutts (one a German Shepherd) actually broke down our gate to get at our coop.  Thank goodness we had paver stones walkway all around the base of the coop so they couldn't dig under and a good neighbor chased off the mutts.  Gave the chickens a good scare though!  Since that experience we've been putting $$$ into being secure secure secure and worry about making everything pretty later.

The worse part of this story is a friend callede because he found the pitbulls yesterday at the sportsmens club, so only 6 days later those dogs are out running again! It is so frustrating because those dogs deserve a better life but I am also frustrated because I want to give my animals the life THEY deserve! The animal shelter and the dog catcher are aware of these dogs and the owners have been fined but still, they are out running. You would think dogs that live several miles from our property should not be my problem!

 

[Sylvester017]

[B]https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/6545103/width/200/height/400[/B]
This is my coop, I live in bc, close to delta bc. We rarely experience temps below freezing and summer is coming to an end. With a few adjustments im interested in any thaughts for winterizing. I have air flow boarded at the bottom, have plans to tarp the roof as its not 100% waterproof. Is it necessary to have an enclosed area for them? Or can I drape a thin blanket over their roosting area....to the left? I have 2 white sussex & 2 rhode reds.....the youngest is soon to lay the rest are older and already do.
any Ideas greatly appreciated [IMG]https://www.backyardchickens.com/styles/byc-smilies/smile.png))))

Picture is so tiny can't even figure out what your question is about. We use tarps during the winter over our coop roof plus put a popup canopy over it - but our coop is only 4x6 and 3 sides are open wire - we're in SoCal where heatwaves are more prevalent then rain. In winter we do cover the 3 open walls with tarp because it can get to freezing on a few nights. Our girls use the nestboxes to sleep in - they feel more secure than on the open roost.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

You guys said I needed to replace my dowels for 2x4's for roosting. So, I went to Lowe's today. While there, I figured 2x8 would be even better if what they like is to sit on their feet. So, do you agree, before cut the wood and install it, that they will love the 2x8?

 

[LindaB220]

You guys said I needed to replace my dowels for 2x4's for roosting. So, I went to Lowe's today. While there, I figured 2x8 would be even better if what they like is to sit on their feet. So, do you agree, before cut the wood and install it, that they will love the 2x8?

Prim, I would say no. Because they will poop on the roost that wide. Sorry.

 

[Sylvester017]

@rubie
Thank you! It's been working pretty well. I put in a little storage cabinet in the coop when I built it, but I grossly miscalculated the need for storage. It's nice to have a place to keep the garden supplies that are most commonly used too, our real shed is a bit further from our yard, at the other end of the property (we live in a semi detached house).

Quote:
Supplies and equipment were never things we realized when we first got chickens. We just figured a container for feed and one for straw bedding, but we didn't calculate the storage for Oyster Shell, bags of whole wheat and groats, scratch, storage for our food handling gloves, litter scooper, tools for raking the coop floor, poultry maintenance health supplies, etc. Our garage is crowded with all this stuff and barely enough room to park the car! We have a double door storage cabinet on the patio but it is filled with seasonal garden supplies and tools. We have a very small property and had we thought about it would have opted for storage space with the coop.

 

[Sylvester017]

We have a small steam about an acre away behind our house with a good tree line beside it. We have all kinds of varmits coming thru following it. Just killed a good size racoon the other night that was acting too friendly and just this am I saw a groundhog that was every bit as big as the racoon! LOL. Doesn't count all the normal kinds of wildlife!

Quote:
You don't need a creek or stream running through wooded area to attract wildlife. My SIL and DD's property butts up against a small wooded wildlife preserve with NO running water and this is the wildlife they get - Occasionally a Mountain Lion (Cougar/Puma), Black Bear, Deer, Raccoons, Oppossums, Gophers/Moles, Rats, Mice, Skunks, Rattlesnakes, Rabbits, Bobcats, Coyotes (no Foxes or Wolves yet) and stray Cats and Neighborhood Mutts. Never saw Weasels of any sort but that doesn't mean they aren't around. For aerial predators there are Red-tailed Hawks and Cooper's Hawks (chicken hawk). Other large wildbirds like Mourning Doves, Woodpeckers and Crows seem to only visit the yards that leave wildbird food out for them.

 

[Sylvester017]

I can sit and relax while keeping an eye out on my girls.

Do your girls every free-range the yard or would they get themselves lost in that wooded area? To keep our girls in a confined area to range and not get into our veggie garden we use a roll of rabbit fencing that we can easily move around the yard. At first a couple jumped/flew over the fence but we gently lifted them or slowly ushered them back into the confined area and the smart girls realized to respect the barrier after that. Of course we don't have flighty or wild-temperament fowl so our more domesticated breeds adjusted to barriers quickly.

 

[iwiw60]

You guys said I needed to replace my dowels for 2x4's for roosting. So, I went to Lowe's today. While there, I figured 2x8 would be even better if what they like is to sit on their feet. So, do you agree, before cut the wood and install it, that they will love the 2x8?

No way...they'll poop on it for sure. All they need is a plain old 2 x 4 laying flat. Just make sure it is smooth ... I've seen bumblefoot start from irritation of splintered wood.

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks! It's still a work in progress but it's been a fun summer project. Once the trim is up I'll start in on making a covered run on the front side that can be detached for easy moving and I'll rearrange the kennel panels off to the left to give them more room when they can't be out ranging and so I don't have to enter the run to access the coop.

We used the metal bars type kennel fencing. Sure saves the hassle of building a pen from scratch plus the kennel panels can easily come apart and get configured differently if needed. Once assembled the panels are very sturdy against predators. Ours came with a roof assembly that we wired securely before putting on the UV tarp roof that came with it. For extra weather protection from rust we sprayed an added coat of Rust-O-Leum on the panels before assembling. Put a couple low shelters like boards propped on blocks for hiding places in the pen from aerial predators and/or plant some stickery bushes like evergreen, rose, or berries for the girls to hide/snooze under. We found in our open yard to scatter shelters like popup canopy, old wheelbarrow, bench, planks on blocks, a couple doghouses, and stickery roses for our girls to duck under when the Cooper's Hawk visits.

 

[Sylvester017]

You guys said I needed to replace my dowels for 2x4's for roosting. So, I went to Lowe's today. While there, I figured 2x8 would be even better if what they like is to sit on their feet. So, do you agree, before cut the wood and install it, that they will love the 2x8?

My Ameraucana LOVES sitting on wide planks. I'm sure your girls will love it but it might catch more poop than a 2x4!