post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Tomahawk]

While a rarely post critiques or comments in general, When I do so, it is NOT to degrade the person or to take away from their pride in a job well done. The whole purpose of this site is to exchange information, to share "best practices" and to help each other to improve in our animal husbandry skills and to help us all improve our personal and our animals health and well being.

If I have said anything that has been taken personally or as a slight, then I apologize profusely as that was and is never my intention. I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings either.  Being that the person IS new... and apparently inexperienced with chickens and chicken keeping in general, I rightly or wrongly thought that a couple of constructive suggestions might be appreciated as it could save her from loss down the line. I could have said nothing (and someone else most probably would have) and had something bad happened, I'd feel bad that I hadn't warned the person that these things could happen, but could be easily avoided.

Sending someone you've never met or spoken to/with a PM to make suggestions about how they could improve, to me, sounds like a personal intrusion and I would (personally) be a little miffed if someone did that to me. Why wouldn't they place their comments out in the open forum for all to see? Were they so unsure how their input would be received that they were afraid to voice it in public? I would hope that people wouldn't be so thin skinned as to take suggestions as a personal affront. Just MHO. Now back to lurkdom...

Sometimes, correcting/advising someone publicly can be humiliating to them. Some have thicker skin than others.

 

[MarissaGayle]

I understand what everyone is saying, but personally I think it's helpful to get a little critique here and there! Though it can be discouraging to realize that after all the hard work you've put into something there still needs to be some adjustments, I think it's important to recognize what can be made better. Latestarter gave me some good info, even though there's not much I can do other than try to convince my dad of the hardware cloth. I'm new to chickens and have done my research, but still hope to learn as much as I can through experience and help from the BYC community. After all, I just want a safe and comfortable place for my chickens to live long, happy lives.

 

[Teila]

I also understand what everyone is saying and agree with both sides … sometimes the critique can be a little harsh but to not say anything at all and have the OP lose their birds to a predator would be heart breaking.

I shared a picture of my coop a long time back and definitely will not be showing any of how it looks now .. all these beautiful coops in here put mine to shame

Some comments I might receive could be “the run is too low; “that wire will not keep out predators”; “that hook is too easy to open” and depending on where someone was “too much ventilation” or “not enough ventilation”.

The point I am trying to make is that; I have bantams and while the run is low, I have no trouble accessing it and it is fine for bantams; we do not have predators that can tear or chew through chicken wire; we also do not have predators that can open doors and living in Aus, my coop and run needs to be extremely well ventilated and shaded.

So, rather than assuming the OP will have a predator problem, problem with height, problem with ventilation etc, would it not be preferable to ask them in question form…

“Hey, that is a really good looking coop, do you have predators in your area?”

Not singling Latestarter out but just using a recent example …

“That run looks a bit steep; are you chickens using it yet?”

Then, the OP, rather than maybe take it as a criticism would either 1. Ponder the predator question or ask more questions or 2. “Ah, the chickens are not using that ramp, it might be too steep.”

Asking more questions about location, predators, climate, type of chickens going to be kept in it before making comment might be an idea.

OK, that is more work on the part of the responder but as Tiller suggested, for those who have just posted pics of their coops that they are proud to have made, probably a bit more gentle?

Just a thought and I will go back to lurkdom after the following comment:

It took me a long time to ‘raise the courage’ to post some of the techniques I use with my flock because some of them can be different to the norm and I was fearful of possible criticism of my methods but, as Latestarter has mentioned the purpose of this site is to share and what works for some will not work for others.

 

[lynnehd]

I understand what everyone is saying, but personally I think it's helpful to get a little critique here and there! Though it can be discouraging to realize that after all the hard work you've put into something there still needs to be some adjustments, I think it's important to recognize what can be made better. Latestarter gave me some good info, even though there's not much I can do other than try to convince my dad of the hardware cloth. I'm new to chickens and have done my research, but still hope to learn as much as I can through experience and help from the BYC community. After all, I just want a safe and comfortable place for my chickens to live long, happy lives.

MarissaGayle, you have been very gracious.

Since this is an educational site, I do think sometimes critiques need to be suggested. That way, when a new person searches for information, they will learn the best way to care for their chickens.
Constructive criticism is good for us!

I do think that how it is said is very important. Sometimes it's hard to say the same things over and over, and still be nice. So be it, but then, don't say it. Take a break and let someone else say it.
I also think that the majority of persons on this site are very kind.

 

[Sylvester017]

Just finished building this for my chickens! I still have to finish up some painting and plan to do some landscaping, but I'm really happy with how it turned out

I haven't opened up the nesting boxes yet, but I think they should start laying in another month or two.

I even made them a swing! I might lower it a little, it seems a bit high for them right now.

Absolutely darling coop and looks well-built.
With the wooded area around the coop you are going to get visiting predators. Poultry hex wire is flimsy and will keep chickens inside but not critters outside. Our wire got mangled beyond repair when 2 stray dogs got in the yard to attack our coop. They couldn't dig under the coop because we had a paver stone walkway around the whole pen but they chewed up the wire and would've got to the scared chickens if a good neighbor hadn't chased off the stray mutts!

 

[Sylvester017]

I was looking for a simple chicken coop and went to the local feed store and they were asking over $1100.00 for a little 4'x8' coop that was only 4' high. So I decided to build my own coop making it 8'x12' with a 3/12 slanted roof. The price was just under $1000.00 and turned out pretty good.

Is the coop for chickens or the goose/duck in the picture. What breed is it? I'm thinking ducks are hardier than chickens and if I ever lost my flock I'd consider ducks in lieu of chickens next time! Welcome to the site!

 

[StarTan VA]

Almost done!

 

[Elginchickens]

Absolutely darling coop and looks well-built. 
With the wooded area around the coop you are going to get visiting predators.  Poultry hex wire is flimsy and will keep chickens inside but not critters outside.  Our wire got mangled beyond repair when 2 stray dogs got in the yard to attack our coop.  They couldn't dig under the coop because we had a paver stone walkway around the whole pen but they chewed up the wire and would've got to the scared chickens if a good neighbor hadn't chased off the stray mutts!

most people are saying that chicken wire just won't due to keep out predators but what most people don't realize is that the chicken wire is just on the run and chickens are only in the run in the daytime abd most predators of chickens are nocturnal so there's no big worry there...that chicken wire will hold up perfectly fine to chicken hawks now as of dogs I have two dogs that kill anything that move and we live on7 acres of woods do there's lots for them to kill which has left them kind of wild.. and they tried a couple times to get through my chicken wire and no success...although I notice you have the 2 inch gauge and I used the half inch gauge trust me as long as you spend time outside and no dogs come around and you make your presence known to any other daytime predators you won't have no problems with that chicken wire working....mine are in a 20x20 run made of nothing but chicken wire ..half inch gauge around bottom four feet tall then a 2 foot piece of 2 inch gauge like yours and a completely enclosed top of 2 inch gauge chicken wire...and I haven't had one single problem and as I said I live on 7 acres of wooded area

 

[Elginchickens]

Almost done!

**** that looks amazing...your coop makes me jealous...really good job...like how you ran the ramp off the side and enclosed it...

 

[StarTan VA]

**** that looks amazing...your coop makes me jealous...really good job...like how you ran the ramp off the side and enclosed it...

Thank you