post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Latestarter]

Well our coop arrived this morning!! Very exciting for everyone. The fun started when I had to figure out how to move it about 12 ft over from where they dropped it off the trailer. There is a few trees in the way but they got it as close as possible with the trailer. My God is this thing heavy!!!! After a little thinking and tinkering around in my workshop trying to figure out how to move it I came up with using some left over laminate flooring planks we had leftover from redoing out floors last summer. The planks are thin and smooth enough for the legs of the coop to easily slide on. With the contours in the ground we had to keep adjusting the planks so it took about 45 mins to move it 12 ft but we got it! Now I need to make a appointment with my chiropractor!

I have to work 12hr shifts this weekend so won't be doing anything with the run until Monday. We did pick up some wire and other materials today though. Can't wait to get started

Here's a few pics. The run with go out behind the coop. Plan on using some of the trees as posts to secure the wire to. Saves time and money! Looking to go about 16ft back and then 20 ft to the left and angle it back to the coop. Won't be a square run but I don't think the girls will mind

Beautiful coop! I can see the eggcitement on your son standing right there supervising the unloading! Can tell he can hardly wait! Grats on using a little Yankee ingenuity to move the thing to where you wanted it

I'm sure the birds will love the run no matter the shape.

I would strongly advise against/caution using trees to secure the wire to. Over time the tree will incorporate the wire into the bark and it will be a real PITA to remove it to tighten the fencing, move the run or expand it. Also, and more importantly, attaching it to the trees give climbing predators a very EASY way to get up and over the fencing... Like building a mote and then providing a fixed bridge... My initial thoughts go right to raccoons, who LOVE to kill chickens (just for the fun of it). But where you live, could also include fisher cats or martins who also climb & would gratefully accept a free poultry meal (and although primarily nocturnal, also hunt during daylight hours when hungry).

I imagine you may also have digging chicken eaters as well (weasels/ermine, foxes) so would advise using 5' height 2"x4" opening fencing and bending the bottom 2' out to a 90 degree angle to form an "apron" out from the run then covering the remaining 3' vertical portion with 1/2" hardware cloth 3' high to prevent "reach throughs". Here's an example from my application:



I used the 5' fencing around the base and aproned it out 2' then used 3' height 2"x4" fencing above that to bring the fencing height to ~ 6' total. If you look closely, you can see how I overlapped the two sections of 2"x4" fencing by one square then snipped/cut a vertical riser in 1/2 every 8-10" or so and bent the halves around the other section to hold everything together. I used a pneumatic stapler to initially hold everything together at the posts, then went back and used poultry staples to ensure that only a bear was going to rip through this fencing. The pavers on top might be overkill, but I wanted something to hold the fencing down so I could mow/weed wack close to the fence, and I was getting rid of them from a previous owner application, and couldn't see wasting them (still have many more to get rid of/use).

I know all this raises the cost and amount of work a bit (substantially) but your future eggs are already costing you dearly... adding a bit more cost for the egg producers protection will be well worth it in the end. Good luck and great job so far!

 

[bruceha2000]

I worry about that when I'm at work a lot because my dog is inside with the chicks all day. He seems more interested in (sorry for this, it's gross) eating their poo. Ughck!

It is apparently a quite common dog "delicacy", I read about it on BYC a lot.

Nice looking work there. Any inside pictures?
You might consider a second barrel bold down low in case a predator decides to pull at the bottom of the door.

 

[adkhunter1590]

Thanks latestarter! I agree on the wire against the trees thing and predators. Was planning on using to trees for now just to get the girls outside at first. I plan to build a covered area over the run for the winter months. But I'm going to start that project later this summer. Spent enough money this month! Lol. So the run now is more or less a "temporary" setup. Will be much more fortified by fall.

Surprisingly enough I really don't have many predator issues around my house. We leave garbage bags right next to the shed out in the open until I bring them down to the street and we have yet to have anything tear into it. Mostly just a bunch of squirrels and such. I'm a very avid hunter (I actually used to be a professional hunting guide out in many western states for just about any animal you can think of) so I'm always on the lookout for wildlife. Especially ones I can legally take down. I also do a fair amount of shooting in the immediate area so I tend to wonder if that's what keeps a lot of predators away. They probably dislike me discharging my 12 gauge over and over again while I use my automatic skeet thrower to pitch clays over the cliff that's right off the back porch. Lol. The cliff we have also seems to be a bit of a deterrent to most wildlife. In the coop pics you can see the ground sloping to the left. Well just about where the picture ends there is a huge drop off/cliff that's 400 ft to the bottom. It's not straight up and down but it's gotta be a 85 degree slope at least lol. I cant walk up it if that gives you any idea. Not without ropes and a harness at least. And with our German Shepard running around I'm sure that helps to some degree.

We will defiantly be keeping a close eye for anything trying to get at the chicks but we should be alright. If not I will just have to fix it that's all! Actually I have a few koni bear traps laying around I might set those out around the outside of the run on the far side of the run on the woods edge. That should catch anything coming close!

 

[Sylvester017]

We also love it very much. Our house and my workshop shed is board and batten and was also built by the Amish

. So it really matches the whole Amish theme we have going on here lol. We are in NY so we only see a few weeks of humid weather during the summer months. Having something that will hold up in our brutal winters is a must though. We are fortunate enough to have plenty of land. 18 acres to be exact. I could have a thousand chickens if I wanted but that's a bit much lol. The guy who delivered the coop thought he made a wrong turn at first because our driveway is a half mile long and it's up a steep hill and pretty rough (until we get a little over 300 tons of crusher run stone delivered and spread the end of this month). He thought he might of turned down a off-roading trail at first haha.

I suppose the Amish are only accustomed to cold weather climate and their coops reflect it. If they offered an airy open side wall of 1/2 wire with an open pen area below the coop we would've so seriously ordered one. Another problem for us is that we could not order any 5x6 assembled unit because our yard easement to the backyard in the city is only 4-1/2 feet wide built in the olden days when cities allowed builders to scrimp on space. If there was a way to order an assembled Amish with a detachable exterior nestbox where the nestbox could be reassembled after delivery it would've been perfect. A DIY Amish coop just wasn't in the cards for us seniors.

The driveway incident was funny! NY has some nice rural areas. We have friends that live in a rural area and the wife is a Justice of the Peace there! We've joked that they should have chickens but they are too active in their small community to give up time to poultry care.

How far is your coop located from the house? Our coop is 10 steps away from the kitchen sliding door and we can hear the egg songs to go collect. The 3 girls free-range the small backyard and only use the coop to roost or lay eggs. We have 2 new juveniles to add in a couple weeks. Had to wait until retirement to enjoy the luxury of chickeneering and the birds are more fun to watch than TV. We've never subscribed to cable and ignore the useless "package" deals that include 75% of needless stations to add to the cost of the "deals" LOL

 

[adkhunter1590]

I suppose the Amish are only accustomed to cold weather climate and their coops reflect it. If they offered an airy open side wall of 1/2 wire with an open pen area below the coop we would've so seriously ordered one. Another problem for us is that we could not order any 5x6 assembled unit because our yard easement to the backyard in the city is only 4-1/2 feet wide built in the olden days when cities allowed builders to scrimp on space. If there was a way to order an assembled Amish with a detachable exterior nestbox where the nestbox could be reassembled after delivery it would've been perfect. A DIY Amish coop just wasn't in the cards for us seniors.

The driveway incident was funny! NY has some nice rural areas. We have friends that live in a rural area and the wife is a Justice of the Peace there! We've joked that they should have chickens but they are too active in their small community to give up time to poultry care.

How far is your coop located from the house? Our coop is 10 steps away from the kitchen sliding door and we can hear the egg songs to go collect. The 3 girls free-range the small backyard and only use the coop to roost or lay eggs. We have 2 new juveniles to add in a couple weeks. Had to wait until retirement to enjoy the luxury of chickeneering and the birds are more fun to watch than TV. We've never subscribed to cable and ignore the useless "package" deals that include 75% of needless stations to add to the cost of the "deals" LOL



Our coop is about 30ft from the house roughly...not to far but not too close...I was originally going to go closer but now I'm glad I didnt...was worried the smell of the poop would ruin entertaining on the back porch and it will cut down on noise a bit for the boys sleeping...they are just far enough but not so much that we cant keep a close eye on whats happening out there

I wish I could get rid of tv...i think the kids would lose it on me though! lol Dad would love one less bill each month!

 

[MamaNini]

I just finished it today... Now I need to build a run! At least the peeps are out of the plastic tubs I was brooding them in

 

[Sylvester017]

I just finished it today... Now I need to build a run! At least the peeps are out of the plastic tubs I was brooding them in

JMHO but a rodent-inviting firewood storage shed so near the coop may not be a good idea. We had rats the first year and all 5 of my neighbors and I cut down our trees, stopped leaving out pet food overnight, cleared out the wood piles, cleaned out the sheds and garages (plus we had a Leghorn that loved digging out baby nests in the tall bushes) and it made a big difference to irradicate the problem.

Cute coop!!

 

[SaltyDave]

Here is a picture of my coop. Built it in 5 weeks using no plans, just copied what I found for sale







dave

 

[peastix]

I suppose the Amish are only accustomed to cold weather climate and their coops reflect it. If they offered an airy open side wall of 1/2 wire with an open pen area below the coop we would've so seriously ordered one. Another problem for us is that we could not order any 5x6 assembled unit because our yard easement to the backyard in the city is only 4-1/2 feet wide built in the olden days when cities allowed builders to scrimp on space. If there was a way to order an assembled Amish with a detachable exterior nestbox where the nestbox could be reassembled after delivery it would've been perfect. A DIY Amish coop just wasn't in the cards for us seniors.

The driveway incident was funny! NY has some nice rural areas. We have friends that live in a rural area and the wife is a Justice of the Peace there! We've joked that they should have chickens but they are too active in their small community to give up time to poultry care.

How far is your coop located from the house? Our coop is 10 steps away from the kitchen sliding door and we can hear the egg songs to go collect. The 3 girls free-range the small backyard and only use the coop to roost or lay eggs. We have 2 new juveniles to add in a couple weeks. Had to wait until retirement to enjoy the luxury of chickeneering and the birds are more fun to watch than TV. We've never subscribed to cable and ignore the useless "package" deals that include 75% of needless stations to add to the cost of the "deals" LOL

I'm 65 and recently got chickens for the first time since I was about 9years old! Chicken Tv is great ! Especially with sunshine and a cup of coffee.Never had cable either.Our coop is close to back door however our only [so far ] laying girl doesn't do the egg song.Our girls freerange a part of back yard with a fence to keep them out of vegetable garden.

 

[Teila]

Hi there peastix

My only regret with getting chickens is that I did not do it sooner!

Not that I need therapy but chickens are the best therapy ever! I work from home and regardless of how bad my day is, my gals are guaranteed to put a smile on my face when I go outside to let them out for a supervised free range.

The little buggers can tell time also! 10mins to 4pm, every day they start demanding to be let out of the run and they must have a calendar tucked away somewhere because they seem to know when it is the weekend which means they get to free range all day!

I think my garden is pretty nice, probably because I spend all my spare time out there with the gals, pottering around. The inside of the house, on the other hand, is nowhere near as ‘sparkling’ as it used to be before chickens. I used to spend all Sunday cleaning, vacuuming, dusting etc ready for the new week; I get it done in 2 hours now