post your chicken coop pictures here!

[junebuggena]

the White house...our president IKE and 9 first ladies enjoy sand floor totally enclosed with hardware cloth even under the run. Added DE and ash so there is no odor...no flies. Chicks are 3no.

Pretty coop, but that run is pretty small for 9.

 

[MeeMa Brown]

It's 11 ft total. Yes we are full, but making a chick tractor for around our 4+ acres, garden etc.

 

[MeeMa Brown]

We would eventually like to plant some pots of sunflowers and other pretty plants around this coop, but here it is right now.

Still a work in progress.  We just built this over the past month.

Suggest you have pots of herbs...sage, oregano, lemongrass for nest boxes

 

[junebuggena]

Each medium sized hen needs at least 10 sq ft of run space, each and every day. Overcrowding stress is serious, and can cause all sorts of behavioral and production problems.

 

[MeeMa Brown]

We really liked the Amish stype coops and their Barn coops were nice too.  Some people have put curtains over the nestboxes for real privacy but you'll soon figure out what your girls will like best.  We've seen the Amish style coops made out of fiberglass walls too.  But we had to pass up on Amish prefabs because of our infernal hot humid SoCal climate and invested in a k9kennels chickencondo with more open wire.  We're still working on its assembly since weather is not cooperating - either drizzling humid days or 100 degree heatwaves!!!

very nice

 

[lynnehd]

the White house...our president IKE and 9 first ladies enjoy sand floor totally enclosed with hardware cloth even under the run. Added DE and ash so there is no odor...no flies. Chicks are 3no.

The coop is beautiful and looks well thought out. I like the way the overhang extends over the nest boxes; that should help prevent leaks.
Is there any way you could extend a day time run off the front and out a ways, where there is already sand?
They really will need a lot more room.

 

[Latestarter]

Hey @MeeMa Brown

Really nice coop there! Obvious a LOT of work went into it

Bet your birds are real comfy in it.

I notice that you used gate style latches for the access doors. Do you put a lock or something through the bolt hole to keep them from being accidentally opened? I ask because if you have raccoons around, they are very dexterous and will have no problem opening them to get a chicken dinner. I've had them (those style latches) open simply by banging on the gate. The vibration causes the latch to jump up and there ya go.

 

[Granny368W]

...

Suggest you have pots of herbs...sage, oregano, lemongrass for nest boxes[/quote

If you can't grow the sage,oregano or lemongrass, can I purchase it at the store..... then do you cut it up and put it in the nesting boxes? Will they eat it?

 

[Sylvester017]

We would eventually like to plant some pots of sunflowers and other pretty plants around this coop, but here it is right now.

Still a work in progress. We just built this over the past month.

I love green and white - adorable coop! We had potted plants and then had to fence them off because what the chickens didn't chew or damage out of curios pecking, they alternately jumped into the pots to take a dust bath! Chickens are curious and clever birds and can damage the most unusual things in the backyard! Tomato plants are toxic to chew on and usually chickens avoid the plants but they have jumped into my raised beds to take dust baths and dig up roots so I had to rabbit fence my garden as off-limits.

Quote:
These are nice potpourri for the nest boxes along with lavender and rose petals, etc. There's commercially sold nestbox herbs if you want to sprinkle herbs in the nestboxes. Even if the chickens ate some of these herbs it won't hurt them. We grow herbs but don't use them in the nestboxes - we find a fresh change of straw very sweet smelling and the hens love fresh straw to scratch around in. Finding what your hens love is half the fun of owning a flock!

 

[cabinchicky]

[COLOR=0000CD]These are wonderful herbs in the garden to feed the bees and butterflies and hummingbirds but if the chickens can reach these plants there won't be much left![/COLOR]

[COLOR=0000CD]These are nice potpourri for the nest boxes along with lavender and rose petals, etc.  There's commercially sold nestbox herbs if you want to sprinkle herbs in the nestboxes.  Even if the chickens ate some of these herbs it won't hurt them.  We grow herbs but don't use them in the nestboxes - we find a fresh change of straw very sweet smelling and the hens love fresh straw to scratch around in.  Finding what your hens love is half the fun of owning a flock![/COLOR]

Tomato plants avoided? I have a speckled Sussex who has been eating the tomato beside the run. She is crazy for tomatos! She will jump and flap wings to get to any part of the plant that is through the fence. I have not noticed any problems with this hen yet, she keeps going around like normal. She stares at the tomato plant wondering how to get it though.