post your chicken coop pictures here!

[perchie.girl]

I think sometimes we get carried away with details. Wild birds stay warm in winter no matter where they are. They instinctively seek out a spot with some ground cover for their feet and some brush or tall grass to block the wind. They naturally free range. So all we have to do is provide the same things they would have in the wild. A building of some kind to stay out of the wind, some bedding to keep teir feet warm and a place to lay eggs large enough to move around to get comfy and a food and water source that they cant get dirty no matter how hard they try. They naturally roost somewhere at night but they can find all kinds of things to roost on, even chicken wire or a board edgè stickin out from the wall (bantams) i know because ive seen them do it when being bullied.

Now its just a matter of how extravagant we want to get with those basic needs ive picked up a few useful tips here such as wood rather than pipe for perches, avoid chicken wire surround where predators can get to it, 2 sqft per bird in the coop IF.... they have a run or free range. All good info but after all they are just animals and their needs are simple. I do hàve one question though, i see many coops set up on stilts with fencing around the bottom and access through the floor. Just curious what that does for them?

eggcellent post. But there are a couple of other factors to consider. Wild birds VS Domesticated. When we mess around with their original design we get chickens that dont go broody or are this color or that color Size vs being able to fly... yata yata....
We remove Some of thier wild instincts doing this.

Now I have completely open coops and I am like you KISS is my mantra. Yet there are some that require special attention Silkies for one because for the most part they cant fly. But encouraging them to get off the ground is a good idea.

To be honest most coops are built for the coop Keeper. What they need for convenience whether collecting eggs, Feeding and watering, and Keeping the coop clean... OR all of the previous. So the IDEAL coop fills both... My needs and my chickens needs.

The IDEAL coop for someone else may be wayyy different.

deb

 

[gpeters3]

To be honest most coops are built for the coop Keeper.  What they need for convenience whether collecting eggs, Feeding and watering, and Keeping the coop clean... OR all of the previous.   So the IDEAL coop fills both... My needs and my chickens needs.

deb

That was somewhat my point. They can livè comfortably in almost anything we can work in comfortably. My goal with my last coop was to have dry storage for the straw and feed and easy access for food and water for both me and the chickens. I also wanted sturdy, functional people doors and an easy way to get dirty bedding out. All i need to do now is complete the run/greenhouse across the back of the barn but, for now, they have plenty of room and I can build my flock to 10 or 12 comfortably and ill be back to giving away some eggs this time i will focus on variety to make it more fun.

 

[Latestarter]

I do hàve one question though, i see many coops set up on stilts with fencing around the bottom and access through the floor. Just curious what that does for them?

I'm located on the front range in Colorado. the sun gets very intense... year round really. The birds go under the coop to get out of the sun and the weather in general. Because it's shaded, there's no real plant growth under there so they also can dust bathe under there. It's also a great hiding place from hawks and such.

 

[bruceha2000]

Yha
Thanks Bruce! Yes... The plans call for 4- 2ft. nest boxes.. I'd like to use greenhouse panels for the solid part I want to extend from the wall, up. The ventilation will come from space left at the top in the back (hardware cloth).. We have a regular afternoon off shore breeze from the ocean that should keep things fresh. My question is... Where should I put a roost, if any, outside the boxes...or should I just keep them low? I don't mind low- my girls can get the eggs easily then too. I am planning for a ladder roost, 5'x6', with 4 rungs.

The nests can be any height as long as they are lower than the roost so the birds don't choose (for the most part, some are outliers) to sleep in the nests. Some people have made nests from square cat litter containers or litter boxes and the like sitting on the floor. My community box is attached to the outside of the stall and the opening is about 18" above the coop floor with an access perch about 14" up and 6" out. That makes it easy for ME to collect eggs from the outside without bending down too far. The access perch for the inside box is about 18" off the floor and the top edge of the nests about 6" higher than that. Two reasons for this: The nipple water pipe is built into the bottom of the box so the birds have to be able to get under it ... and it is easy for ME to collect eggs without bending down too far

Personally I would make the bottom of the nest boxes ~18" minimum anyway because if they are too low they take up floor space (lack of headroom even if they aren't on the floor) that the chickens could otherwise use.

... I do hàve one question though, i see many coops set up on stilts with fencing around the bottom and access through the floor. Just curious what that does for them?

To a great extent I think that is a space saving design. If you don't have enough room for a "people can walk in" coop, you want it high enough for daily chores. Who wants to crawl on the ground to deal with things in the coop? As Latestarter said, it provides some covered run space, out of sun and rain. And the "door in the floor" ensures no rain comes in the open door and the ramp stays dry. But you can make a "porch roof" over a side door or cover part of the run to do the same thing. Plenty of people have posted nice "raised" coops with sides that open up for easy maintenance.

 

[Kirbzilla]

There she is in all her glory! I'll be posting a detailed "how we built" soon!

 

[Megsswm]

Ours was a tree house at one point and previous owners left it so it's now our giant coop with enough space I side for 20. Outside roofed covered run with an additional 1/4 acre fenced behind to range on. We call it chicken Swiss family Robinson house

 

[gotro17]

Ours was a tree house at one point and previous owners left it so it's now our giant coop with enough space I side for 20. Outside roofed covered run with an additional 1/4 acre fenced behind to range on. We call it chicken Swiss family Robinson house

That is so cool!

 

[RJSorensen]

Nice blue and tree coop just above… good job folks!



I was just out clearing the walk and snapped this view of my banty coop. A few girls are out enjoying the sunshine this afternoon.

RJ

 

[Megsswm]

That is so cool!

Thank you! It does the job !

 

[mairead]

here is mine
i have a more detailed thread about here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/sunset-ledge-farms-chicken-coop-design-lots-of-pictures