post your chicken coop pictures here!

[tntchix]

Only 2 of the girls would use the ladder and it was at the very top or the last rung. It took up valuable space so I removed it. It's a great idea if you have room and they want to use it. Mine just didn't. I like the idea of clamps and boards across it though.

 

[MickeysChicks]

So far all 13 girls are on the ladder, it's so cold that I think they've figured out sharing body heat is not a bad thing! The backside of the ladder has two braces plus the paint bucket shelf, the frontside has seven steps plus the top . I like the c clamp idea! will have to let my engineer aka my hubby play around with that idea! We are talking about adding some more roosts on the end of the nestbox rack. It has been interesting to observe who ends up on the top of the ladder every night, I just knew it would be the largest, most vocal bossy leghorn......so far she's been consistantly on the bottom! The first night it was the littlest but nosiest Red Comet, last night it was the quietest and littlest leghorn, tonight it was our favorite Red Comet, Gertrude McFuzz ( so named because she's rather proud of her 1 curly tailfeather and we read alot of Dr. Suess!, she's also the only girl who has an official name!) And we got 11 CLEAN eggs today! Woohoo!!!!

 

[tntchix]

13?

It's funny when we think we know who the boss is and we are totally wrong. Flock dynamics are fascinating. My big mouth always chose the lowest rung too. LOL If your hubby changes the ladder setup I definitely want to see it.

 

[MickeysChicks]

I will take pictures if (or when) we make anymore changes! And so far there's been a different girl on the top roost every night. WOW, I have polite hens! They have learned to take turns, lol! Now if my kids would just do that!

 

[bemory13]

Still a work in progress but my chickens seem happy. Walls of barn have plywood lowers that extend 10 inches into the ground and have tin siding. Walls inside the barn have same plywood bottom buried 10 inches down and extend 14 inches up. Walls are fenced with poultry netting. Yes I know the potential risk. I have 160 square feet in closed giving the goal 10 chickens 16 square feet each.

 

[jtbass2756]

Well, there are a few things that I need to take care of but my ladies don't care one bit about them. They seem to be really happy, especially when the hear the car door close, and when the hear my engine start up. Then, they fly the length of the run to get in the front. Really makes no differenc since I feed in the coop although every once in a while I will treat them out in the run!......We are all sending our "nite-nites" to all of you....

(well, I wrote this last nite but when I sat down this am....it was still there!

 

[iwiw60]

Boy, can I relate!!!

 

[mairead]

I will post pictures of my coop once its built! right now the chickens are in a coop but its falling apart and looks horrible...i am having one built by the Amish and they should be here to start building it sometime this week!!! i am so excited its designed as my dream coop lol

 

[HighStreetCoop]

We had rats in the neighborhood because we live close to a freeway and it's lined with trees and shrubs to shelter rat populations. As a neighborhood we cleaned out our sheds, garages, wood piles, thick brush, and chopped down all our old and dying trees. None of my bordering 5 neighbor yards have a tree left standing. It cut down on tree hopping from yard to yard by the local squirrels, raccoons, possums, stray cats, rats, aerial predators, etc. Because of our pet chickens we couldn't chance using poison and rats are too clever at avoiding snap traps. We resorted to large glue traps and we caught 1 sparrow (my DH let him free), 3 rats, and 2 mice, and our Leghorn found a baby rat nest and chewed them up all over the yard! We leave the patio night light on beside the coop and no night critters have visited our backyard in the past two years - the light seems to deter them. The rats couldn't get into our coop but they were chewing through my veggie garden bed netting and were destroying my neat garden. I was so glad to get rid of the rodents and wouldn't hesitate to spend the money to get more large glue traps again if I need to. We had a cat for 17 years that brought us only one rat and one mouse in all that time - usually she brought us birds and lizards so we never replaced her with another cat when she was gone. The glue traps work best for us for rodents (the glue catches a lot of spiders and insects too).

I lived in a neighborhood like that a few years back (one yard wildly overgrown with blackberries). I ended up buying a Rat Zapper. It worked SOOOOOOOOOOOO well! Not cheap, but endlessly reusable and worked for both rats and mice.

 

[Sylvester017]

I lived in a neighborhood like that a few years back (one yard wildly overgrown with blackberries). I ended up buying a Rat Zapper. It worked SOOOOOOOOOOOO well! Not cheap, but endlessly reusable and worked for both rats and mice.

Rats are clever. If one rat sees or smells a dead comrade they tend not to trust the device to enter it in the future. It's a constant battle trying to outsmart these rodents! Hey, anything is worth a try so thanks for the input!