post your chicken coop pictures here!

[PrimroseMom1]

This is our little A Frame, build from reclaimed wood off the road

Love your A frame. I love best the things I build with wood off the side of the road. Congrats.

 

[Massey]

Here is my coop, still have to add a window and paint it, its a little rough around the edges but its getting there.

 

[bigmrg74]

Guys there is a neighbor that gave me some old single glazed windows do you thing i could paint them and use them????? cause they will cover a big part of the cst if they get in use..

How many do you have? if you have enough, you might have enough to make a small green house with them.

 

[Sylvester017]

Sorry to hear about the doves... We plan to put up a privacy fence and set up a pin for the dog... Better separated than dinner....

There are some suitable flock dogs specially trained around birds (one being the Maremma Sheepdog guarding Penguin flocks in the Antarctic). Many bird guardians are usually not people-oriented breeds and focus on their guardian duties which doesn't make them very suitable as family dogs. So it's good to keep a Domesticated Puppy well divided from backyard chicken and duck pens. Face it, most domesticated dog breeds are goofy dogs and only occasionally display an ounce of intelligence and are only endearing to their owners. The top 10 breeds in the dog intelligence list are so hyper that they have to be kept command busy to keep from being destructive (like our old Rotties). Our Border Collie made it at #1 on the top 10 intelligence list and boy did he get into trouble with me when I was a little kid! He loved it when I threw the neighbor's coop eggs to him to catch in mid air! He developed such a taste for eggs we couldn't keep him since our farm was stocked with chickens, ducks, and geese! Training helps but some breeds are naturally hyper and too intelligent for humans to trust unsupervised.

Having backyard chickens kind of discouraged us from getting either a dog or cat now since the cottage yard is not big enough to separate the animals either comfortably or securely. Half our yard is taken up with gardening veggies for the chickens and for ourselves - and the other half remaining is the chicken's foraging domain. We'd rather deal with chicken poop that's recyclable rather than dog piles or buried cat poop in the veggie garden. I've loved my dogs and cats and indoor pet birds over the last few decades but we've found the chickens very therapeutic pets as well as functional pets so passed on reintroducing any other animals into the household.

You're wise to keep your puppy separated from your flock. Just remember to make it a tall barrier as most animals are clever at getting into places you don't want them to. I was watching a deer documentary where frustrated home owners couldn't keep the white tailed deer out of their gardens with 6 and 7-foot-tall fences - they jumped the fences like they weren't even there! Canines like coyotes and wolves have no difficulty making tall jumps either as my DD & SIL discovered. Happy chickeneering and be well!

 

[vader]

Chillin

 

[chicken chickie]

There are  couple of kinds of species of cedar tree some are worse than others....  If they smell very strong I would relegate them to the area around the coop...  there is a reason they are excellent bug deterrents....  for that same reason they are an irritant to some animals.... Dogs cats, birds... birds are more susceptible because of their respiratory system...  I am reading from memory here.... 

If they don't spend much time in them that's why you aren't getting a reaction...  But there are several options besides cedar which I have used Over the years.  Pine shavings come in a couple of varieties.  if you are getting them at the feed store you will be able to see options... 

There is a large flake which is great for horses but they pack down with moisture...  There is a mini flake which still looks like a flake but is more like corn chips soft corn chips.  I haven't used those.  Then there is a micro which is made of even smaller chips but they are thicker i am told they are the least offender for packing down. 

IF you have available to you Rice hulls I very much like those.  Not only do they not compact they also are water resistant and if you get a leak or water spill only the bottom layer will remain wet....  Once the water is removed they dry out.   They are small and break down in the compost well.  My horse LOVES them... because they stay soft and cushy for bed time....  I bought them for her and happened to use them in the coop...  The chickens love digging through the rice hulls and finding little bits of rice...  LOL so did the horse... till she found out how much work it was.

Another excellent option is sand.  It doesnt compost but hay there are trade offs.  The poo just disappears....  Sand doesnt pack down especially with active chickens in there.  You can rake it very nice and clean in a very short time.  It also deals with moisture very well.  It will allow rain and accidental run off to make its way out from the coop and into the soil  OR if you put a water barrier under it... sloped of course... it will allow the water to simply drain away.  It also can be used in the coop where the nest boxes are and can be cleaned with a kitty litter scoop.  I know of some people that use it in the nest boxes too.  A choice i have yet to try.

Mind you I am talking from my own experience of raising chickens and horses and live in a very dry climate....  I don't do compost because I dont Garden.... I also know there are certain things that arent possible to do in other climates...  Just offering out some stuff to take or leave.

deb

thank you so much for the info ...I was able to get pine that was specially made for small animals..I cleared the cedar all out and cleaned their " bedroom " as I like to call it lol ...I feel so much better now ..I was so worried ..I really love those girls like my kids

 

[Sylvester017]

There are couple of kinds of species of cedar tree some are worse than others.... If they smell very strong I would relegate them to the area around the coop... there is a reason they are excellent bug deterrents.... for that same reason they are an irritant to some animals.... Dogs cats, birds... birds are more susceptible because of their respiratory system... I am reading from memory here....

If they don't spend much time in them that's why you aren't getting a reaction... But there are several options besides cedar which I have used Over the years. Pine shavings come in a couple of varieties. if you are getting them at the feed store you will be able to see options...

There is a large flake which is great for horses but they pack down with moisture... There is a mini flake which still looks like a flake but is more like corn chips soft corn chips. I haven't used those. Then there is a micro which is made of even smaller chips but they are thicker i am told they are the least offender for packing down.

IF you have available to you Rice hulls I very much like those. Not only do they not compact they also are water resistant and if you get a leak or water spill only the bottom layer will remain wet.... Once the water is removed they dry out. They are small and break down in the compost well. My horse LOVES them... because they stay soft and cushy for bed time.... I bought them for her and happened to use them in the coop... The chickens love digging through the rice hulls and finding little bits of rice... LOL so did the horse... till she found out how much work it was.

Another excellent option is sand. It doesnt compost but hay there are trade offs. The poo just disappears.... Sand doesnt pack down especially with active chickens in there. You can rake it very nice and clean in a very short time. It also deals with moisture very well. It will allow rain and accidental run off to make its way out from the coop and into the soil OR if you put a water barrier under it... sloped of course... it will allow the water to simply drain away. It also can be used in the coop where the nest boxes are and can be cleaned with a kitty litter scoop. I know of some people that use it in the nest boxes too. A choice i have yet to try.

Mind you I am talking from my own experience of raising chickens and horses and live in a very dry climate.... I don't do compost because I dont Garden.... I also know there are certain things that arent possible to do in other climates... Just offering out some stuff to take or leave.

deb

While on the topic of the types of wood and shavings around chickens, does anyone have an opinion about the safety of all-fiberglass built coops? Eggstremecoops makes all fiberglass coops and we weren't knowledgeable about toxicity levels when the coops are closed up in the evenings?

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I an expert with regard to composite materials and the fabrication of such. Fiberglass by its self is inert. Problems arise when the particles that break off touch the skin.... Rinsing with COLD water keeps the glass fibers from migrating into pores. So... if you are cutting on fiberglass keep your body covered and wear eye and hand protection.... We have been using Fiberglass and its components since the sixties or before.

But that being said. The epoxy that is used for manufacturing fiberglass is benign once its cured. Curing is the process of chemical reaction between the plastic and catalyst. Usually mixed in a gun of sorts prior to spraying on Fiberglass sheets in the lay up process. Curing in this case is a matter of minutes to a couple of hours.

I will look up Extreme coops Yep its as I thought... Fiberglass panels... Non issue.

The coloring process is a gel coat process that is done in the mold. then the Fiberglass is layed in the mold with some of the epoxy as part of the process.... then the whole thing is sprayed with two part epoxy like I described above.

There is a second step that can be done to seal the product completely... which I dont know if its done....
The following is the link to the manufacturer.

http://www.eggstremecoops.com/

Like I said.... benign... You should smell no smell or detect any chemical once it leaves the production facility... If you do... it will be gone within a day or two.... but it will not be there unless a problem occured in the epoxy mixing process.

deb

Oh and for what its worth the skylite panels you buy for coops are fiberglass.... And there are other forms called Pulltrusion which contain Glass fibers for strenght but are made of either polcarbonate plastic or HDPE... both are inert once the manufacturing process is done.

deb

 

[konichek1]

Here are my chicken tractors for my X's

 

[cwrite]

Here are my chicken tractors for my X's

Those are fab looking tractors for X's. Your birds look like they are in great shape too. : ) I can't see the wheels so was wondering how easy they are to move?