post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Bowleggedcowboy]

After all the grass is gone you will need some type of bedding in the run. Helps with the smell. Use builders sand or some type of straw or hay

 

[Bowleggedcowboy]

Almost forgot if you use pine shavings watch for termites

 

[Sylvester017]

I call it the Wellhouse Coop because it looks like the well house on my property. I got this for free, along with my hens, and I've made some minor changes and built add-ons with repurposed materials. Don't worry about the size, it only has four residents!

The fencing is not the best, its quite old. However, it's only to keep them in while I'm not home, otherwise I free range them. Predators aren't a concern as I lock them up in the coop at night, plus I only have cyotes (not sure how to spell that...) and they only mill around the edge my field, very far away from the coop. I have lived here for 13 years and never once have I seen a raccoon. It sure isn't pretty but it works, and I can't complain since I didn't pay for or build it myself. I do plan on building a new and more efficient coop later down the road, when my finances and weather allow me to do so.

Predators don't usually come near the property buildings until there's a reason -- like a chicken dinner or two. Stray Dogs, Wolves, Coyotes, Foxes, Raccoons, Bobcats, Aerial Predators too, will start to show evidence around the property with tracks and then with digging and then with chasing the poultry until they catch or tear them apart. Not to be a killjoy but we've all been there. It is crucial to have the sturdiest fencing possible with either paver stones, bricks, or wire buried into the ground to deter digging critters and overhead roofing in the pen as well. The coops can look like crap (btw yours is cute!) but the fencing MUST be solidly secure. We here on BYC have had bad experience with cheap chicken poultry wire - it doesn't keep any predator out of the pen unless you don't mind finding blood and chicken feathers around the yard. Harsh to say this? Maybe? But we want to see all chickens protected from predators we never knew we had until we got poultry.

BTW

 

[Sylvester017]

Just heard on the news that a new strain of the avian flu has been found in 4 Midwestern States with Minnesota getting hit the hardest with 10's of thousands of commercial turkeys dying off in just a few short days. The wild water fowl carry the disease yet are unaffected by it themselves. Water fowl have 4 routes north and south from Alaska with one route along the West Coast, one route through the Continental Divide, one route through the Midwest, and the 4th route through to the Northeastern Coast. What will our poor flocks be exposed to next?

 

[mpmb1227]

Predators don't usually come near the property buildings until there's a reason -- like a chicken dinner or two.  Stray Dogs, Wolves, Coyotes, Foxes, Raccoons, Bobcats, Aerial Predators too, will start to show evidence around the property with tracks and then with digging and then with chasing the poultry until they catch or tear them apart.  Not to be a killjoy but we've all been there.  It is crucial to have the sturdiest fencing possible with either paver stones, bricks, or wire buried into the ground to deter digging critters and overhead roofing in the pen as well.  The coops can look like crap (btw yours is cute!) but the fencing MUST be solidly secure.  We here on BYC have had bad experience with cheap chicken poultry wire  -  it doesn't keep any predator out of the pen unless you don't mind finding blood and chicken feathers around the yard. Harsh to say this?  Maybe? But we want to see all chickens protected from predators we never knew we had until we got poultry.

BTW

I am aware of these dangers, but as mentioned before I have to wait for improvement in the weather and I am a little tight on cash so I can't just go drop $100 on supplies build a superb fence. I do plan on getting to this, but there is honestly very little opportunity for predators. Coyotes are the only pesky animals where I live, I live in rural Washington. Surprising we don't have coons, but all the years we've been here and most our neighbors being chicken owners also say they have never seen them here. Not sure why. Anyway, I free range them basically all day so the risk wouldn't be any different with fencing that reinforced. I appreciate your concern and advice, I am doing my best and only am able to get a little done at a time!

 

[Latestarter]

So I need help. I'm a first time chicken keeper. And I'm going to be adding a run to my chicken coop. And I have no idea what the best way to do it is.

For a while anyway, they will stay in the coop/run all the time. I want to eventually free range them, but my farm is right off the highway and I don't want them venturing too close to the road. So until we make the pasture fence around the farm more chicken friendly, they will be cooped up all the time. I have a coop that is 15ft long and 8 feet wide, and they will have access to the run 24/7. I have 12 chicks right now, who knows how many will be pullets and we will only be keeping pullets for now (I think).

That being said...I want to add a run. I was planning at LEAST 10x10x6ft.
My questions are:
1. Does it need a roof? Or should it be open to the sunshine and such?
2. Should I just let them out on the grass and eat all the grass down and then leave dirt? Or do I need to have some sort of bedding in the run as well (keeping in mind they wont free range at first)

Like I said I'm a first timer, and I have the opportunity to build a run and I want to do it right the first time. I want to do it as cheaply (or should I say as cost-effectively) as possible. But I want my chicks to be happy.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

and the thread! First, that amount of coop space is HUGE for the number of chicks you have. Second, a 10x10 run will be a pretty SMALL amount of run space for 12 birds if they will be stuck inside all day every day. Won't be so bad once they are allowed out to free range. You didn't state your coop was raised, so yeah you could tarp over 1/2 of the run or the whole thing (cheap AND effective), or build a more permanent roof structure if you wish. Will be nice for the birds to have a little shade from the summer sun, keep airborne predators at bay, and maybe keep a little of that white stuff out in the winter.

For the run, you might want to check into the deep litter method... they will wear out the grass within a week or two and since they love to dig fox holes to dust bathe in, there's little sense in trying to keep it luxurious... just throw in your grass clippings, old dried leaves, yard waste/weeds/etc. you can throw in some straw or hay on occasion or some wood chips. It's really only an issue if their run will be sitting where a puddle forms when it rains. Proper drainage is essential. They will scratch and turn everything into the soil and after a year, you can go in and dig out the best garden soil you'll find anywhere, and then start the process all over again

.

 

[perchie.girl]

I call it the Wellhouse Coop because it looks like the well house on my property. I got this for free, along with my hens, and I've made some minor changes and built add-ons with repurposed materials. Don't worry about the size, it only has four residents!

The fencing is not the best, its quite old. However, it's only to keep them in while I'm not home, otherwise I free range them. Predators aren't a concern as I lock them up in the coop at night, plus I only have cyotes (not sure how to spell that...) and they only mill around the edge my field, very far away from the coop. I have lived here for 13 years and never once have I seen a raccoon. It sure isn't pretty but it works, and I can't complain since I didn't pay for or build it myself. I do plan on building a new and more efficient coop later down the road, when my finances and weather allow me to do so.

Yep it looks like my well house VBG... except the doors blew off mine about six years ago... dang wind cant keep gates or doors on sheds....

LOL... all it needs to be is a safe place to git while the weather is bad. and for the night.

We have coyotes big time here in San Diego. They will come up in the neighborhoods and hunt Cats. or dogs... If you have a dog of your own to patrol your property that a big big bonus... They wont or typically wont mess with a big dog... lab or Shepherd...

When you get the money and time to put up a run type yard for them... for those days when they should be in but dont need to be locked in to the coop you can build a pretty respectible run for little to no money. Couple of Tposts and some Welded wire .... check out Freecycle in your area. Usually someone has something spar they dont need any more and offer it up for free if you can do a little sweat equity... Craigs list has a free section too.

For what its worth I live in the desert.... Sixty miles from the nearest grocery store.... sigh. and not a bit of water anywhere near... and yep I have raccoons... I have never seen them in the twelve years I have owned the place. Normally I thought they would be found near water... Yep I got water in my water tubs for the goats and the horse. I even had three separate flocks of chickens before I got guineas. The chickens were decimated by Coyotes at first.... Then a Bob cat took the next flock one a day for thirty days.... special circumstance we had a couple of REALLY big fires in San Diego over a four year period... and the predators from those mountains moved their territories to survive... So sad really.

I put my Guinea keets at about one month old in my coop/run enclosure. Mine isnt even as well secured as yours... Oh it keeps dogs out or in... I use dog kennel panels for the walls and roof and a tarp for the weather. but at the time the top was chainlink.

I put forty Guinea youngsters in the enclosure They were about the size of a very small banatm chicken. I made nice perches for them they love to run along the perch and chase each other... Set em up with food and water for three days... I have to live in town due to family obligations and I was going up every three days to tend my livestock. It was horrible... At first I thought a bobcat had gotten in yes we have bobcat and mountain lion here. But after talking with some old timers and what I was finding of my guineas .... raccoon. Racoons eat only the head or what ever body part they can grab and pull through the wire...

So when you get your area all setup make sure to use hardware cloth in areas where a roost might be next to the wire.... Or you can just do wood or some sort of tin... Raccoons will go through regular chicken wire biting and ripping at it... Unless you are fortunate to have inherited some old time chicken wire that's actually sixteen gauge.... even then....

When I finally secured the coop/run enclosure I had six survivors. and the original four adults. It set my plans to raise Guineas for eggs and Keets back indefinitely. I was devastated both financially and emotionally.

So when we stress stuff its only to help and encourage and offer from our own experience what we have gone through... to forewarn and hopefully save you grief....

deb

 

[sshuman]

This is my coop it's made out of 98% recycled materials (needed to pay for 4 sheets of plywood)

 

[Bowleggedcowboy]

So I need help. I'm a first time chicken keeper. And I'm going to be adding a run to my chicken coop. And I have no idea what the best way to do it is.

For a while anyway, they will stay in the coop/run all the time. I want to eventually free range them, but my farm is right off the highway and I don't want them venturing too close to the road. So until we make the pasture fence around the farm more chicken friendly, they will be cooped up all the time. I have a coop that is 15ft long and 8 feet wide, and they will have access to the run 24/7. I have 12 chicks right now, who knows how many will be pullets and we will only be keeping pullets for now (I think).

That being said...I want to add a run. I was planning at LEAST 10x10x6ft.
My questions are:
1. Does it need a roof? Or should it be open to the sunshine and such?
2. Should I just let them out on the grass and eat all the grass down and then leave dirt? Or do I need to have some sort of bedding in the run as well (keeping in mind they wont free range at first)

Like I said I'm a first timer, and I have the opportunity to build a run and I want to do it right the first time. I want to do it as cheaply (or should I say as cost-effectively) as possible. But I want my chicks to be happy.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

hi there, I'll give you some tips from experience make the run as wide as your coop is. #2 you will want a roof (I used tin). Give it some slope so rain/snow will run off. #3make it tall enough so you can walk in it without stooping over. It will get enough sun thru the sides in the hot summers shade will be good for the chickens. They can take cold better then heat.

 

[lereg15]

Looks like a coop from the 1800's. I love it!

This is my coop it's made out of 98% recycled materials (needed to pay for 4 sheets of plywood)