post your chicken coop pictures here!

[jbblack]

deb,
Totally agree about the roof. I am not sure it would be best for a snow load. We live in Sacramento, CA so snow is not a concern. The plans spec 2x2 purlins I would change that to 2x4's spaced closer if you are expecting snow. Many people have built coops from these plans, I would just do a google search to see what people in snow country have done.
Cheers, Jeff

 

[perchie.girl]

deb,
Totally agree about the roof. I am not sure it would be best for a snow load. We live in Sacramento, CA so snow is not a concern. The plans spec 2x2 purlins I would change that to 2x4's spaced closer if you are expecting snow. Many people have built coops from these plans, I would just do a google search to see what people in snow country have done.
Cheers, Jeff

Kewl.... I get snow but wont be doing these plans... They don't fit in my over all design.... I need a 24 x 24 poultry house for my long term needs.

Last big snow fall we had here DID crush my 20 x 18 horse shelter... Looked like a giant had stepped on a big spider... LOL. Unusual weather for us for sure. It was a car port made of very robust materials... 12 gauge 1.5 diameter pipe sixteen gauge steel roof... I thought it impervious... For the most part it was.... but no truss to tied the legs together.... One leg got pushed out.... it only takes a teeny failure to bring something big down..

Thank goodness the horse wasnt there.... LOL. Any way 90 percent of the materials survived and will be re-purposed for my next coop, um er poultry house.

I work from a walker with wheels so the build will be interesting for sure.

deb

 

[bruceha2000]

I have in the planning stages a run to cover for flying predators... Its going to be 24 x 50 to start and i hope to add another 50 to make a strip the length of my horses corral. I would love to do arches... but I am afraid the span of 24 would be too much for the pvc... So i am thinking Steel cable run from the chicken coop to a tree on the other end of the yard... then maybe hanging the net from that on rings or carabeeners... Most of my chickens wont be allowed to free range here...

I don't think you would want to pay for PVC that would be large enough diameter or wall thickness to span 24' Deb! Neither would likely bend to form the arch. And if you could get it to work, it would be REALLY high at the midpoint and the unions between the pieces would be weak points, especially in your sunny climate. I think the steel cable is a good plan.

Tunnel



Anyway, this might give someone ideas if they have some limitations for free ranging.

Beautiful layout and build Lynne. How many times have you or someone else tripped over the tunnel? I manage to smack my head on things I "know" are there but forget as I work! It might be worth getting some colored flaggers tape to highlight the tunnel. I ended up tying a massive black garbage bag ("contractor" size) to the 18" 'extra' of a 4' clamp that was holding together part of a wall oven cabinet I was making. Smacked my head on it more than once before I figured out I was NOT going to remember to duck it.

Thanks I love it up there... you can see the Milky Way at night... I never thought you could see it without a telescope.

Yep you can! We saw it while watching the lunar eclipse Sunday. Of course we had to look west to see the MW, the moon in the east was too bright. Kind of weird to say that we can see the MW when we are IN the MW!

I bought a gallon of paint and a gallon of Thompson's Deck Water Sealer for the inside of a 4x4 coop. Question: Is it safe for the chickens if we use the Water Sealer over the painted interior - no harmful chemical emissions/fumes in the long term use of the coop?

I don't see anything on my can of Thompson's that says you can use it over paint. I would think it would be used only on unpainted wood so it can soak in and seal it. The instructions tell how long to wait when using on new pressure treated wood and how long to wait after applying it BEFORE painting with latex or oil based paint.

 

[lynnehd]

Quote: You called that one, Bruce! It's finally imprinted in my feeble brain that the tunnel is there.

Yesterday I just added 'flags' of red duct tape all along it. I do have it staked to the ground so it won't easily get dislodged.

I would agree about the Thompson's water seal and paint. I think it would be one or the other. A light colored paint is favored, to help in spotting mites if you ever get them, but whatever color you have is fine.

 

[Sylvester017]

I don't see anything on my can of Thompson's that says you can use it over paint. I would think it would be used only on unpainted wood so it can soak in and seal it. The instructions tell how long to wait when using on new pressure treated wood and how long to wait after applying it BEFORE painting with latex or oil based paint.

So - using the Thompson's would be better as the undercoat on the particle board in your opinion? And the latex as the topcoat?

Yesterday I just added 'flags' of red duct tape all along it. I do have it staked to the ground so it won't easily get dislodged.
That's cute to set out "flags to keep from tripping. I have to put posts at the 4 corners of our raised garden beds to alert me from tripping over the raised boxes. After 4 years of gardening I have become more cautious maneuvering in the little yard but still it's good to put up "flags" for visitors.



I would agree about the Thompson's water seal and paint. I think it would be one or the other. A light colored paint is favored, to help in spotting mites if you ever get them, but whatever color you have is fine.
I have a gallon of Thompson's and a gallon of beige latex paint. So in your opinion you would not use both for the interior of the coop? I wanted the Sealer for thorough protection and the beige paint to hide the ugly particle board surface. What do you think?

 

[TalkALittle]

How about a good exterior primer followed by your latex paint?

 

[Sylvester017]

How about a good exterior primer followed by your latex paint?

Well, the reason we thought the Thompson's Sealer would be good is because the interior walls of the coop arrived with actual cardboard-ish type particle board (not the sturdier OSB stuff you see inside Tuff-sheds). We experimented on one little part of the wall of the coop and the latex paint just soaked into the particle slab and we applied 3 coats and felt the cardboard stuff would disintegrate with any more wet coat applications. That's when we decided to get a can of Thompson's to really seal-up. My main question is whether the Thompson's will give off any chemical fumes over the long-term.

 

[clucklady]

Well you guys asked for a build-along on my armoire coop. Here is the armoire. I picked it up from the resale store yesterday. That's me beside it. It's built from 3/4 " plywood, and it is STURDY. It's about 36" deep, so I'm pretty excited about using it for the purpose I have in mind.

We had to rent a pickup truck for the transport because I only have an electric car and that's no good for hauling, obviously.

After work today, I'm going to the paint store to see if I can find some "oops" paint for cheap. It seems to have several coats of glossy paint on the front and inside, but the outside and top are just raw plywood. I also got a set of shutters that will be the door to the run for human access. We start the build tomorrow. Everybody cross fingers!

 

[tj74roberts]

Well you guys asked for a build-along on my armoire coop. Here is the armoire. I picked it up from the resale store yesterday. That's me beside it. It's built from 3/4 " plywood, and it is STURDY. It's about 36" deep, so I'm pretty excited about using it for the purpose I have in mind.

We had to rent a pickup truck for the transport because I only have an electric car and that's no good for hauling, obviously.

After work today, I'm going to the paint store to see if I can find some "oops" paint for cheap. It seems to have several coats of glossy paint on the front and inside, but the outside and top are just raw plywood. I also got a set of shutters that will be the door to the run for human access. We start the build tomorrow. Everybody cross fingers!

It's going to be GREAT!!!!!

 

[beginnergirl]

I have only heard of the caution towards horses regarding Black Walnut... so I dug a little.


http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1148.html

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/plants-that-are-poisonous-to-chickens.html

and finally a discussion about black Walnut trees right here on BYC

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/671317/black-walnut-tree

I think the consensus here is chickens wont eat it if they are fed well and in foraging they dont seek it out.

deb

We have both black and English walnut seedlings everywhere thanks to squirrels. My three pullets have not touched them and are healthy.