post your chicken coop pictures here!

[bruceha2000]

I think I would just go and enclose the the upper porch area from the railings on up with hardware cloth, and go with a covered roof over that area. That way you would have a secure coop and enclosed run area for girls to get out and exercise during the day if you leave them locked up when you're away. Maybe get some cheap linolalim to put on the floor to protect the floor and make cleaning poops easier.

Plus, with your climate in Alabama, you're probably going to want something pretty open and airy for ventilation on those hot Alabama summer days. You'll have a lot of shade from the tree, but plenty of airflow for them will help as well.

I agree, making the whole upper part predator proof will be enough space for your 13 birds. You can lock them in the hard walled playhouse at night. Predator proofing the roof with a tree trunk in the middle will be a challenge, love to see what you come up with.

Thank you so much..... which door do you have? I have to look at these doors and figure out which one we should get...

I have the pullet-shut. It is a very well made and sturdy auto door that swings open on the side (you order right or left). Drill 4 holes in the wall and cut out the opening, bolts in place. Really easy. My coop is in a barn but if someone's door will be open to the elements (and they have snow), they might want to make an enclosed "porch" to keep the snow away from the door. It runs on a 12V battery and you can get a battery with either a plug in or solar charger. I've been running mine on 2 6V lantern batteries wired in series. It doesn't use much power. You can open or close the door any time you want with the provided magnet.

Programming the door open and close times is rudimentary - you open it at the time you want it open and the same day close it at the time you want it to close. Canceling 1 cancels the other. That is really the only drawback of the door, it would be great if they offered a programmable timer that could go in the port for the light sensor switch. I got the optional light sensor control so it opens relative to sunrise and sunset year round. I like that better than having to constantly reset the times as the seasons change. We get 15.5 hours of light this time of year but less than 9 mid December. I wouldn't want to have the girls stuck in the coop until 8:30 AM this time of year and wouldn't want the door open until 8:30 PM in December. You can put the sensor out in the open for the earliest and latest open/close (and it has to be pretty darned dark to close) or put it in a more light sheltered area to have it open later/ close sooner.

 

[Jjfester]

There are some really amazing coops here and is giving us some great ideas.

I have to be honest too and say, some of these coops are nicer looking than my house

 

[perchie.girl]

There are some really amazing coops here and is giving us some great ideas.

I have to be honest too and say, some of these coops are nicer looking than my house

x2

 

[Sylvester017]

Very attractive yard and love your raised beds too. Plenty of garden boxes to raise veg's for the chix. I notice you had to construct your own chicken ramp for the Eglu - that was one thing I didn't like about the Eglu plus their flimsy wire pen option - you did good to put the Eglu inside an enclosure. Chickens only use the coops to lay an egg or roost for the night. I never got the Eglu Cube but I did get 3 Eglu Grubs to put in our coop to use for water - we had a Leghorn that kept standing in the drinking water and the Grubs were a good solution to keep her from standing in water. We later changed to nipple waterers. You have a nice option to tarp the enclosure roof so the chickens can still scratch around in rainy weather!

I hope your bird dog pet is good around your chickens. Neighborhood dogs broke our gate and attacked our coop's poultry hex wire and mangled it beyond repair and would've got to our chickens if a good neighbor hadn't chased off the dogs. The hex wire is only twisted around itself and comes apart very easily by dogs or raccoons. The hex wire also bows out or mangles if an animal jumps on it or something falls against it.

I love the chicken on top of your rock hill

 

[CrazyChickLady7]

English setter?

 

[bigmrg74]

I agree, making the whole upper part predator proof will be enough space for your 13 birds. You can lock them in the hard walled playhouse at night. Predator proofing the roof with a tree trunk in the middle will be a challenge, love to see what you come up with.

Some hardware cloth tented up around the trunk should do the trick there. you would want a little slack to allow the tree to continue to grow in the future, but still predator proof.

 

[Granny368W]

I agree, making the whole upper part predator proof will be enough space for your 13 birds. You can lock them in the hard walled playhouse at night. Predator proofing the roof with a tree trunk in the middle will be a challenge, love to see what you come up with. 


I have the pullet-shut. It is a very well made and sturdy auto door that swings open on the side (you order right or left). Drill 4 holes in the wall and cut out the opening, bolts in place. Really easy.  My coop is in a barn but if someone's door will be open to the elements (and they have snow), they might want to make an enclosed "porch" to keep the snow away from the door. It runs on a 12V battery and you can get a battery with either a plug in or solar charger. I've been running mine on 2 6V lantern batteries wired in series. It doesn't use much power. You can open or close the door any time you want with the provided magnet.

Programming the door open and close times is rudimentary - you open it at the time you want it open and the same day close it at the time you want it to close. Canceling 1 cancels the other.  That is really the only drawback of the door, it would be great if they offered a programmable timer that could go in the port for the light sensor switch. I got the optional light sensor control so it opens relative to sunrise and sunset year round. I like that better than having to constantly reset the times as the seasons change. We get 15.5 hours of light this time of year but less than 9 mid December. I wouldn't want to have the girls stuck in the coop until 8:30 AM  this time of year and wouldn't want the door open until 8:30 PM in December. You can put the sensor out in the open for the earliest and latest open/close (and it has to be pretty darned dark to close) or put it in a more light sheltered area to have it open later/ close sooner.

Thank you so much.... I'm ordering mine right now!!! I love the information you gave, I'll order the sensor too...

 

[Ruby Rivers]

Thanks Sylvester. We put the ramp to the Eglu because we had small chucks at the time but we've since taken it away and they jump up the Eglu steps easily enough. Good idea to tarp the area, we may well do that. They roam free in the garden during the day and take shelter under a caravan but they are undermining it huge dust holes )

Our English Setter was fascinated with them at first and brought our Bantum to me in her mouth a couple of times but now (not a problem, as she has a soft mouth and good nature - I recommend this breed to anyone with chickens or small children) but now she is scared of the chickens!

We can get our chucks to use the Glug nipple water dispenser. Any advice?

 

[yolksonus]

This is AWESOM! Now, if only I could convince hubby to put our coop in an enclosed COVERED area like that! A pic of our coop is below.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Thanks Sylvester.   We put the ramp to the Eglu because we had small chucks at the time but we've since taken it away and they jump up the Eglu steps easily enough.   Good idea to tarp the area, we may well do that.  They roam free in the garden during the day and take shelter under a caravan but they are undermining it huge dust holes  )         

Our English Setter was fascinated with them at first and brought our Bantum to me in her mouth a couple of times but now (not a problem, as she has a soft mouth and good nature - I recommend this breed to anyone with chickens or small children) but now she is scared of the chickens!     

We can get our chucks to use the Glug nipple water dispenser.  Any advice? 

Take out the other waterer, then spend some time with whatever bird is the most curious and show that one what the nipple is for. Once one figures it out, all the others will follow their example.