post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Sylvester017]

I forgot to mention: When my FIL was growing up the family had chickens. I think pretty much most everyone had backyard chickens in the 20's. Apparently his older brother was in charge of letting the chickens out of the coop. He rigged up an alarm clock - the old key wind type so that when it went off, the string winding around the key shaft would pull the chicken door open. You could always do that though I think I'd pull the bells off the top.

There was a website showing someone making a door opener with just a clock but the mechanism looked too complicated to do something so simple. We figured we'll just keep opening/closing the door the old fashioned way with a pull string and our own arm power

We don't travel or stay away from home for more than a few hours and we're always back home to close the coop for the night. Circumstances can change so we'll keep the clock opener in mind but for now there isn't much out there in the way of battery openers.

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry Bruceha2000 first time trying to post.

No need to be sorry Terry, glad you're here!

and welcome to the thread! Feel free to jump in w/questions as they arise. There are plenty here who are more than willing to help.

 

[jneerwin]

Hi all! I thought I would post a picture of our coop and run since this is where we got our inspiration! It's not quite finished yet, still need to add some finishing touches to the coop and cover the bottom with the hardware cloth. But we're so close! We built the run in panels so that it can be easily taken apart to add on or perform maintenance.

 

[Sylvester017]

Hi all! I thought I would post a picture of our coop and run since this is where we got our inspiration! It's not quite finished yet, still need to add some finishing touches to the coop and cover the bottom with the hardware cloth. But we're so close! We built the run in panels so that it can be easily taken apart to add on or perform maintenance.

I didn't know any of our coops can EVER be finished. We're constantly modifying so don't be surprised that 3 years from now you are still adding on, modifying, reconfiguring, etc etc etc! Your coop is nicely raised off the ground and the run will be good for when the girls wake up in the morning before being let out for free-range. Our girls mill around in the pen for 10 or 15 minutes before they lose patience and start squawking to be let out at about 5:30-6:00 a.m. Because of opening the egg box to collect eggs in the rain we put up a popup canopy over our little coop so the nesting boxes didn't get wet. A prefab awning or a self-built extention from your coop roof over the nest boxes might help keep rain out. I know you aren't finished yet but you might like having a paver stone walkway to the nestboxes to avoid muddy day treks to the coop. Keep us posted. We love pix!

 

[Sylvester017]

Hi all! Just wanted to post my pics and get some feedback. The coop has been modified from a quail coop. Its 8' long by 2' wide with about 30" floor to ceiling. The 3 roosts are 2" b 4"s and are 12 inches apart and they are 10.5" from the bare floor. The roosts are about 22" long. There are four doors that open and two windows. The windows have 1/4 inch hardware cloth behind them and the long bottom door is for cleanup access with floor boards that are removable. We have 6 RIR hens that are four days old in a brooder. I wish the coop was a foot wider but I have to work with what I've got due to cost. The enclosure will go between the three fences shown and will be 11.5' by 6.5'. The enclosure will have 1/2 inch hardware cloth on top and in the front. There will be a framed door in front that will have a latch. The coop will be placed inside the enclosure on the left side.

Nice build. Nice and high off the ground from snow or rain!

Be sure to seal that particle board. Moisture is its worst enemy. We protected our OSB walls but it's a challenge. Our new coop will be metal and plastic and under a popup canopy for protection from UV rays and/or heavy rain because our nestboxes will be outside the coop with a lift-up lid - anyone who knows us knows we don't like standing in the rain to collect eggs or getting the nestbox material wet! The new coop doesn't have the 4" roosting planks so we have to do some minor tweaking.

Your hens will love their new digs.

 

[jneerwin]

We just talked about this being a never ending project right after I posted last night! We literally just built the run, and after seeing it by the coop for a couple of days, we've decided that we're going to double the size at least! Haha! It just looks so small once it's put into perspective. So glad we built in panels already. Oh and part of the run will be covered also. And yep, we'll be adding pavers going to the coop and all around the run too. It doesn't get too muddy because of all the sand (it used to be a playground area), but in really heavy rain it can get a bit sloppy. We were also going to put our garden beds in that area at some point. This is so much fun, I secretly never want it to end lol. Here are pics of our tractor (still needs wheels). Also built in panels. The top comes off like a giant lid too. It will primarily be for our meat birds, but also for the hens at times.

 

[cfack]

V

Nice build.  Nice and high off the ground from snow or rain! 

Be sure to seal that particle board.  Moisture is its worst enemy.  We protected our OSB walls but it's a challenge.  Our new coop will be metal and plastic and under a popup canopy for protection from UV rays and/or heavy rain because our nestboxes will be outside the coop with a lift-up lid - anyone who knows us knows we don't like standing in the rain to collect eggs or getting the nestbox material wet!  The new coop doesn't have the 4" roosting planks so we have to do some minor tweaking. 

Your hens will love their new digs.

What part should I seal and with what? Should I paint the whole inside or just the floor?

 

[bigmrg74]

V
What part should I seal and with what? Should I paint the whole inside or just the floor?

All of it.

 

[Sylvester017]

V
What part should I seal and with what? Should I paint the whole inside or just the floor?

There is much discussion/recommendations about safe paints and sealers way back in this thread and might be worth your while to peruse all the posts. People have talked about the type of safe caulking to use, the safe sealers, the best paints, etc. Yes, it will be a chore searching for them but there are just too many posts to list them for you. I got onto this thread when there were only about 150 posts and now there's over 700 and there's a lot of discussions about materials and I seriously recommend perusing the posts! Really, that OSB particle board stuff is murder around chickens -- moisture from their poops, weather, humidity, etc. It's the reason we're replacing our 3 y/o OSB coop with a metal/plastic one -- even then we'll probably Rust-O-Leum the powder-coated kennel walls to add protection from rust like we did our powder-coated ASPCA kennel walls when we got them last year (and never got around to using I might add!). So much stuff to do when you retire! I thought life got more relaxing as I aged but it's only become busier than ever!

 

[WthrLady]

Another 8 hour day. Weather was good enough today, will be awful for the next week. Trimmed the outside back wall and front wall. Trimmed front two side windows and front giant open window. Devil wire cloth on all windows. (Stupid stuff) and built the pop door and trimmed and hooked it up. Big door. Tired of watching orpingtons squeeze through tiny holes.

Thanks for looking.