post your chicken coop pictures here!

[lynnehd]

Anyone have suggestions on where to buy 1/2 inch hardware cloth? It seems so expensive through the main places (Lowes, Home Depot, TSC, and Menards)

I agree. Shop your local feed store first, then Amazon or wayfair.com

 

[Elginchickens]

People always take the space thing way to seriously...I had 25 birds to start with before I culled some for dinner. And they stayed in a 6x6x4 coop and I have never had any problems with bullying or disease or none of that.there run is a 20x20 so that helps a little but yeah the chickens only sleep in there abd they like to sleep side by side so there's no problem with space in the coop

 

[bruceha2000]

It was interesting to read a few posts ago that Wynadottes are a dominant breed.
In my case, my 2 Wynadottes are on the bottom of the pecking order.

What other breeds do you have in with them? I'm sure "dominant breed" is relative. I don't have Wynadottes but I'll bet my Anconas (one of the Mediterranean breeds) would likely top them. They constantly feel the need to "remind" the other girls who is on top and who isn't. They don't care if it is my biggest girl (a Black Australorp) or smallest - the Cubalayas, only 2/3 the size of a regular large fowl breed. It doesn't seem to matter that all my chickens came as day olds in the same box 3 years ago and the pecking order is long established.

Anyone have suggestions on where to buy 1/2 inch hardware cloth? It seems so expensive through the main places (Lowes, Home Depot, TSC, and Menards)

When I got mine 3 years ago, Amazon was the best choice. AND the only place to get long rolls.
http://www.amazon.com/Mat-Midwest-3...29409&sr=8-3&keywords=1+2+inch+hardware+cloth

36" x 100' roll is $110 - Affordable only because shipping is "free" - it is HEAVY!

Lowes carries a WUSSY 36" x 10' roll for $16, TSC carries the same thing for $18.

So you can spend $150 to $180 for a bunch of 10' rolls, likely to have lots of waste unless you design for it SPECIFICALLY, or spend $110 and not have to waste a bunch on odd increments and overlaps. For instance if you put a 3' door in your run and the run is in multiples of 8', you now have 7 feet that is not going to reach between posts. AND when you run your 10' roll from the first post to the second, you have 2' of leftover.

Go big or go home

 

[Ilene]

Responding to Bruceha.
I have them with 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 SLW & 2 GLW.
I will be adding in a few weeks 2 Ameracaunas, a salmon favorolle & a Brahma.
I hope they all get along.
Are any of these breeds known to be very dominant and/or aggressive?

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Lots of space... Bullying happens with all flocks... its the nature of Chickens. Though I have always had between three and four roosters they seem to break up the really serious squabbles.

 

[bruceha2000]

Responding to Bruceha.
I have them with 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 SLW & 2 GLW.
I will be adding in a few weeks 2 Ameracaunas, a salmon favorolle & a Brahma.
I hope they all get along.
Are any of these breeds known to be very dominant and/or aggressive?

I don't have Orps but I have EE and Favorelles and the EE is the second largest bird. Neither of those are aggressive in my flock. In fact, their beards and muffs get pecked off every year

 

[Sylvester017]

Responding to Bruceha.
I have them with 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 SLW & 2 GLW.
I will be adding in a few weeks 2 Ameracaunas, a salmon favorolle & a Brahma.
I hope they all get along.
Are any of these breeds known to be very dominant and/or aggressive?

Hi Ilene - I'm not Bruceha - however I did a research project of my own regarding gentles and/or non-combative breeds for my own backyard because we got tired of having to re-home our aggressive breeds. Surprisingly I found a link of gentles usually having one or all of the following qualities: bearded, crested, tassled, tufted, feather-footed, pea/walnut comb or no comb (like Bredas), vulture hocks, and 5-toed breeds. The gentle non-combative breeds that fell in these descriptions I found were Ameraucana, Araucana, Barthuhner, Brahma, Breda, Crevecoeur, Dorking, Easter Egger, Faverolles, Houdan, Lincolnshire Buff, Pavlovskaja, Polish, Silkie, Sultan. (Forgive me if I inadverdently left out a breed - perhaps some of the Slav, Polish, Styrian, or Russisn crested breeds of which I know little?). Since gentle breeds are basically non-combative and several are noted good layers I hesitate to stress them in a mixed flock of combative temperaments.

Many owners say that Orps, 'Lorps, Sussex, Jersey Giants, Dominiques and many other popular dual-purpose breeds (RIR, NHR, BR, Wyan, etc) have had gentle demeanors but without one of the gentle physical characteristics of the above paragraph I would hesitate to mix any of the two groups together. Since we have eliminated straight-combed breeds from our flock it has been incredibly peaceful. I've researched Wyans as 50/50 about gentle vs dominant temperaments, Leghorns and Sexlinks can get downright aggressive later as adults (we had a gentle white alpha Leghorn that went ballistic out-of-the-blue on her flockmates at 3 y/o), our friend's Orp was very bossy, and ours and our friend's Marans of different varieties have been bullies in our flocks. The only rose-combed breed we personally had was a Dominique but she never lived to POL so I can't say what she would've been like in our backyard flock; however an acquaintance had a rose-combed gold Hamburg in her flock and said she was one of her best hens (only hearsay and not my personal experience).

Hope this info sheds some light or similar experience with other owners?

 

[kidsNchicken]

 

[HollyBchicken]

Thanks for all of these great ideas! We're in Baltimore and our coop has to be moved frequently. This is a challenge because we happen to be in a wooded area where there are foxes, hawks, owls, snakes, and raccoons, never mind dogs and cats. Still trying to figure out how to make it mobile but really secure. From my understanding the hardware cloth for a pen needs to be dug into the ground to keep critters from digging under and nabbing my birds, but I don't see that it is possible... So our coop is done, but the run, not so much....

 

[perchie.girl]

Responding to Bruceha.
I have them with 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 SLW & 2 GLW.
I will be adding in a few weeks 2 Ameracaunas, a salmon favorolle & a Brahma.
I hope they all get along.
Are any of these breeds known to be very dominant and/or aggressive?

Not Bruceha.... Just like many of us we each have experience with some breeds not all. My one on one experience was with Light Brahmas, Easter Eggers, Wellsummers, Barred Rocks, Araucanas (a rumpless breed which was the foundation for Blue egg laying breeds of chickens). As well as Silkeys... What a funny funny breed they are.

I have also had mixed flocks of bantam and large fowl crosses. My personal fav by the way.

All of my personal experiences with chickens I have only had two Openly aggressive chickens.... One was one of those barnyard mixes which was a little roo. He must have all the fighting cock genes thown into his little egg because he tried to take on my turkey... It didnt end well for the roo....

The other was a Silky roo. He was funnier than heck when hed get loose because he couldnt fly but he could jump and flap and get himself about two feet off the ground... Who did he go for... My Wellsummer roo which was about two times his height and three times his weight. I had to grab my silkey roo up and hold him by the feet and he came away with Hackle feathers from my Wellsummer....

... My Wellie Roo just stood there looking at him.... like " What the Bleep just happend...."

There has been alot written about personal experiences..... with different breeds. Its not written in stone. In general large fowl are a bit slower and peaceful... The term Pecking order was adopted by observing chickens...

This is really a discussion list for housing and building coops and runs....

deb