post your chicken coop pictures here!

[KensingtonHens]

mine is still a work in progress. We actaully are making one side for the chickens and the other for the rabbits.

Very nice coop! . Will you add a run later or just freerange? What kind of chickens are you getting ( or have!)?

 

[bruceha2000]

You make a good point about the "runway', I'll have to think of something. Any ideas?

I plan on leaving the top open like in the picture with some chicken wire for comfort
Now my coop seems too narrow. Bummer! What I'll do is look for ideas and then probably let the hens guide me. Maybe lower the perch to nearer the bottom poo box. Hummmm...

I wouldn't lower the roost pole other than for headroom since you need it to be higher than the nest boxes. You might be able to put a pole perpendicular to the roost pole and about half the height off the floor. They could use that for staging both morning and night. Short hop both up and down and they would have a bit of horizontal floor distance from the lower pole.

 

[aatx]

We redid our run cover this past weekend. We had been using a cable and cheap garden netting. We changed over to square tubing for the main line and we added 3/4" pvc across to give us more headroom, more like a hoop house. Then we added two 50' x 50' aviary nets over the top. Our run is approximately 20' x 60'. Their run is part of a larger pen that has been used for multiple things, so it's multiple layers of goat fencing, chicken wire on the inside, and a hot wire on the outside.The dogs patrol the outside for ground predators and the net protects from any aerial predators. We do lock them up in the 8' x 8' coop at night - don't want to tempt anything. We built 4 grazing frames to try out this year and are starting to finally see some sprouts coming up. Feeder in the middle is just used for shade, to attach original shade tarp, and we have uprights going up to the square tubing off of it. We still need to add back our large shade tarp.

 

[KensingtonHens]

I wouldn't lower the roost pole other than for headroom since you need it to be higher than the nest boxes. You might be able to put a pole perpendicular to the roost pole and about half the height off the floor. They could use that for staging both morning and night. Short hop both up and down and they would have a bit of horizontal floor distance from the lower pole. 

A great idea! I just put the pole lower and it is even with the nest boxes with I thought might be a problem. The perpendicular pole would allow them to hop a short distance to and from the higher perch. Thank you!

I wouldn't lower the roost pole other than for headroom since you need it to be higher than the nest boxes. You might be able to put a pole perpendicular to the roost pole and about half the height off the floor. They could use that for staging both morning and night. Short hop both up and down and they would have a bit of horizontal floor distance from the lower pole. 

Something like this? Great idea! Thank you so much!!

 

[smthgrly]

Very nice coop! . Will you add a run later or just freerange? What kind of chickens are you getting ( or have!)?

Adding a run (hopefully next week or two). I just bought 6 Rhode island reds. Last week I had received my first order of white leghorns but due to USPS delivery and shipping SNAFU they all died. Couldnt find any local leghorns so decided to change to next best layers and got the reds.

 

[KensingtonHens]

We redid our run cover this past weekend. We had been using a cable and cheap garden netting. We changed over to square tubing for the main line and we added 3/4" pvc across to give us more headroom, more like a hoop house. Then we added two 50' x 50' aviary nets over the top. Our run is approximately 20' x 60'. Their run is part of a larger pen that has been used for multiple things, so it's multiple layers of goat fencing, chicken wire on the inside, and a hot wire on the outside.The dogs patrol the outside for ground predators and the net protects from any aerial predators. We do lock them up in the 8' x 8' coop at night - don't want to tempt anything. We built 4 grazing frames to try out this year and are starting to finally see some sprouts coming up. Feeder in the middle is just used for shade, to attach original shade tarp, and we have uprights going up to the square tubing off of it. We still need to add back our large shade tarp.

Very nice. Large area for those hens! How many do you have?

 

[KensingtonHens]

Adding a run (hopefully next week or two). I just bought 6 Rhode island reds. Last week I had received my first order of white leghorns but due to USPS delivery and shipping SNAFU they all died. Couldnt find any local leghorns so decided to change to next best layers and got the reds.

So sad for the loss of your leghorns. the Reds should lay beautifully, right? I'm expecting 5 bantams hens from Cackle on the 25 th. They better get here safely!! My postman is aware of the order so I hope that helps. And no snafus!!

 

[bruceha2000]

We redid our run cover this past weekend. We had been using a cable and cheap garden netting. We changed over to square tubing for the main line and we added 3/4" pvc across to give us more headroom, more like a hoop house. Then we added two 50' x 50' aviary nets over the top. Our run is approximately 20' x 60'. Their run is part of a larger pen that has been used for multiple things, so it's multiple layers of goat fencing, chicken wire on the inside, and a hot wire on the outside.The dogs patrol the outside for ground predators and the net protects from any aerial predators. We do lock them up in the 8' x 8' coop at night - don't want to tempt anything. We built 4 grazing frames to try out this year and are starting to finally see some sprouts coming up. Feeder in the middle is just used for shade, to attach original shade tarp, and we have uprights going up to the square tubing off of it. We still need to add back our large shade tarp.

Nice large space, your chickens have a good life

Adding a run (hopefully next week or two). I just bought 6 Rhode island reds. Last week I had received my first order of white leghorns but due to USPS delivery and shipping SNAFU they all died. Couldnt find any local leghorns so decided to change to next best layers and got the reds.

Could you put your location in your profile? It helps us to not ask stupid questions like:
- was there bad weather between you and the hatchery?
- which hatchery?
This is an iffy time of year to ship chicks (and other temp sensitive stuff) in some parts of the country. My wife was expecting some medicine, VERY temp sensitive, about a month ago. Shipped Monday, UPS web site on Tuesday said it was out for delivery even though there was a lot of bad weather happening in New England. No delivery, web site later that night no longer said "out for delivery". Same thing Wednesday. Near as we can tell from talking to the local UPS place Wednesday evening, it had likely been sitting in a tractor trailer on their lot for the past 2 days with the temps down around zero. It was delivered late Thursday evening. I had called the mail order pharmacy Thursday morning and the pharmacist decided the stuff was likely no good given it had been out of their hands in uncontrolled conditions for 3 days already. They shipped another package Thursday morning, delivered Friday evening. These packages are clearly marked "do not freeze". I don't know who paid for it but the UPS guy came back a week later and took away the unopened package he left Thursday evening that originally contained $8,000 worth of now worthless drugs.

A great idea! I just put the pole lower and it is even with the nest boxes with I thought might be a problem. The perpendicular pole would allow them to hop a short distance to and from the higher perch. Thank you!

Something like this? Great idea! Thank you so much!!

Yep. And since it appears the drawer bottom is the floor of the coop, I bet they will appreciate the bar for ramp access as well. If your chickens are like my chickens, "single file, first come first served" is NOT the way it works. The bar will give them somewhere to move when a dominant bird decides THEY want to go in/out when another is poised to do the same.

 

[aatx]

Very nice. Large area for those hens! How many do you have?

We have 11 bantams now. 4 Silkies, 3 Bantam Easter Eggers, 1 Bantam Dominique, and 3 Bantum Buff Orpingtons. We do plan on letting the Silkies raise a few chicks this year if they decide to go broody again. I would feel comfortable with about 20 chickens in this space. (I want them to have plenty of room.)

 

[TJordan]

I've found my chicken thief!!!!

kill the fox!!!!! He was climbing my fence when I went out to lock the girls up....