post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Sylvester017]

I just ordered this one last night, they say it's big enough for six chickens, but I wouldn't house more than four in there at a time. I'm excited to pick it up and get it assembled!

Oh yeah! I made sure to get the extension that goes with it. TSC is having a great sale and deals on coops and such, and I'm hoping to let the ladies free range for a while each day (SAHM/college student so I'll have plenty of time to keep an eye on them)

I hope it all works well for you. The main concern about the pre-fab coops is that the manufacturers overstate the amount of hens the coop will house. Whatever they advertise for number of hens, cut that number in half. My large 4x4x6 Barn Coop was advertised for 15 chickens and I put no more than 4 hens it. I personally figure only 4 hens in a 4x4 floor space coop - I have a run below the coop with an added run for days I can't let my girls free-range but it's still small IMO. Great that you will get more run space. Chickens get bored being penned so the free-range time they will look forward to it. What a lot of owners get concerned about with pre-fab smaller coops is the ability for strong predators like raccoons, stray dogs, coyotes, foxes, etc, can easily damage or break open a small coop that isn't enclosed in a larger sturdier fence or pen. I've read some owners of pre-fabs will use extra braces in corners/joints when assembling smaller coops to make it sturdier. Enjoy your chickens! and think safety first for them and aesthetics last.

 

[FringsFam]

Man so many nice coops out there!!.. Just finished our first coop. Used the back of our workshop for a wall. First day with the chicks out in there coop. Had to show off the hard work

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[FringsFam]

Wow,so many nice coops!!.. Just finished our first coop. And we just got the chickies moved out there to. Had to show the hard work.

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[perchie.girl]

I just ordered this one last night, they say it's big enough for six chickens, but I wouldn't house more than four in there at a time. I'm excited to pick it up and get it assembled!

When you get it go over it with a fine tooth comb. make sure all the wire is fastened well and any loose joints should be secured. They are made close to me so I see them in feed stores. You can make it work but it will take some work.



Welcome to BYC and

from San Diego High Desert.

deb

 

[ShrekDawg]

I got one at TSC on sale too, it was the last one they had on black Friday, but its smaller than that and had no run. Well, just this tiny little 2 or 3 foot thing. and it looked way bigger in the pictures but my dad wanted something fast for the chicks. It's pretty crowded and the roosts are only a few inches off the ground so zero floor space but mine is also only maybe 3x3 and we have 8 and yours looks bigger. But it also is hard to clean cause of all the corners and cracks and small doors and i bump it or squeeze through the door and can hear/see it shifting slightly. Just not the sturdiest thing, most are Chinese made. BUT. This isn't too scare you and yours could be fine and is bigger and probably sturdier but just a warning. We also took off the run and put it inside a 6x12 dog kennel. Speaking of which, that's a oretty easy way to make the run bigger if you want. We are hopefully going to start building a new coop and run soon. The coop I'm thinking will be 4x8 and about 2 feet off the ground but we may go with something a little bigger and/or a shed type thing. Not sure. The run will be 8 feet by 50 or so feet, probably closer to 52-54, or extend it to 60. Not sure on that either. But that's the current planned location. I might decide on a different location if we go the shed route instead of the 4x8 thing and so the run might wind up a different shape. But yeah, mine have only free ranged a couple times but they definitely get bored locked up so need to have a large run or provide things for them to do or both. Doesn't need to be anywhere near 50 feet like mine but does need space and things to do. Stumps, swings, tires, dust bathing, etc. Or go with a deep litter thing of like 3 inches of wood chips (chips not shavings, different particle sizes) then 3 inches of leaves, grass clippings, pine needles, etc. and anything else. It will eventually make wonderful compost with the poo for gardening and stuff and form a sort if environment with all sorts of bugs and stuff and the chickens can enjoy scratching through it even if they can't free range that day. I haven't done it yet but am going to with my new run. Plus it's great with your injuries since it requires zero maintenance and cleaning out, all you do is add more dry material when it starts to smell. Maybe toss a few treats occasionally to help stir it up more. Also you could always use pallets or recycled wood or discount stores. May be good for a budget or injuries. Good luck with them. And also its 4 sq ft inside 10 outside and even with free ranging i would follow that as a minimum. I am very obviously below that now that my chickens have grown up (20 weeks) which is why i need the new cool asap, but they occasionally fight. More space makes less issues for you. Less behavior problems, less health problems, needs cleaning less often, etc.

 

[gpeters3]

I have 10 nest boxes and roughly 100 sqft with 12' ceiling and 2, 9' roosts with 5 hens. When my chicks are grown I will have 18 hens and roughly 5.55 sqft per bird and I can't see them staying in there for long without problems so I plan to add another 8' section to the coop and eventually a run since I can't range them anymore. I will have to add some ventilation as well but so far I am very happy with my coop. The added 8' will only require one post and 8x9' of metal barn siding and a roof. This will bring my coop to half way on the barn leaving 24' to expand. Like to put a run on but haven't figured out the best configuration because I don't want to chop up my yard or have complicated access. Simplest run would stick out the back some 20' or so and leave access through the barn only. I am going to move the rocks and blocks this week and haul a couple of loads to the dump to make room for the expansion. Here's a pic:

 

[bruceha2000]

Very nice! I don't see any hardware cloth from the ground part way up the sides to keep critters like coons from reaching in and grabbing a hen. Won't be able to get it out but they will rip the head of a chicken sleeping against the fencing.

I just ordered this one last night, they say it's big enough for six chickens, but I wouldn't house more than four in there at a time. I'm excited to pick it up and get it assembled!

First, understand that anyone here poo-pooing only want to save you time and money. $200 is not a huge amount of money. I have no idea how long it takes to assemble all the parts. But if you end up having to spend a lot of money, time and effort "upgrading" it later, you haven't saved anything.

Near as I can tell from the TSC site

• the whole thing is ~6' long, 3' wide and 4' high. They claim 6-8.
  
  Given those dimensions, the coop part is 3'x3'x3' (at the peak which means 2' max at the sides). Measure that 3'x3' footprint out on your kitchen floor understanding that the nest boxes "steal" 1' of it and there really isn't any floor space with the "roosts" only 1" above the cleanout tray. If you have a rainy day with any wind, the chickens may not want to be out in the run and they won't be comfortable in the coop. I don't know about anyone else's chickens but my 16 spend no time at all on the roosts except when they are sleeping at night but they have ~120 sq feet of floor space in the coop and a much larger area inside the barn for their indoor 'run' when they aren't out free ranging.
• A review said it needs to be painted before being used outside, it is only primed.
• You would need to add some sort of lip to the front of the nest boxes. They show a small amount of hay (fake I think) shoved in the back and suggest the hens lay on the flat board in front of it. Nope, those eggs are staged. And, my open nest box originally had dividers about that height but the girls messed with each other and I ended up making them tall enough the birds can't see each other.
• I can't tell but I'm not seeing any ventilation in the coop other than the light gap around the outside egg access door. There might be some in the gable end but there are no pictures of that.
• Look at the chickens in the run under the coop. 12" isn't enough standing room unless you have bantams so the area under the coop isn't overly usable.
• I also see that they put the water under the coop about half way back. The birds can use it there but are you going to remove the ladder and crawl under there daily to fill it?

Man so many nice coops out there!!.. Just finished our first coop. Used the back of our workshop for a wall. First day with the chicks out in there coop. Had to show off the hard work

Looks like a nice size space.

How many hens? I count maybe a dozen birds. 11 nests is a lot and how do you expect them to get to the 3 purchased ones up top? I have 6 nests for 16 hens though only 2 of the older girls regularly use the enclosed 4' long community box and I might have to make modifications if all the 9 nearly 4 Y/O hens start laying again. At the moment only a couple of them are laying and only a few times a week. Unless my chickens are weird, they lay at any time of day depending on when they last laid AND they prefer to lay in a box another chicken has already laid in (thus the fake eggs). That said, some have their favorite nests and will jump in with another girl, the one lower in the order usually moves to another nest.

You will need a lip on the nest boxes a few inches high to hold in the nesting material and eggs. You will also need an access perch for them. Clearly not a "must do now" thing since they won't be laying for another 4-5 months.

Are the closet rods on the left for the chicks to roost on until they get bigger? You want the roosts higher than all the nests or they will sleep in the nests. They naturally want to roost high (presumably for predator protection) and will choose the highest place in the coop. You might want to block off the upper nest boxes until they are laying so they don't get in the habit of sleeping in them.

 

[gpeters3]

I know I'm slow but just figured out the purpose of this type of coop. It's a space saver. There isn't really any other purpose to the run below the coop. Makes sense for a true, city back yard chicken project. Simple construction, small foot print, easy access (hopefully) and inexpensive as well as moveable (Tractor if you add wheels?). Mine was not really cheap but fit right into my barn project and can be converted to any kind of shed when the chickens are gone so was perfect for my purpose. I think I overdid it with the chicks but they were so cute and colorful and I just passed up some Jersey Giants this week when begged by my mother in law to get some more. The only reason I got so many is because my last purchase lost some to various things so expected some to die on me. So far they are all very healthy and if the older hens don't kill them I'm going to have to go into the egg business Here's the latest pic of the brood pens:

 

[gpeters3]

Someone mentioned egg laying, all mine have typically laid 1 per day (the statistic I heard was every 23 hrs) during warm seasons but stop laying in winter. Red light is supposed to keep them laying in winter but mine didn't work this winter for some reason (only one kept going last winter) I have 5 hens and at least 4 of them are laying every day since it warmed up. In my experience, even healthy hens don't necessarily lay every day. And, BTW the fake eggs really work. Mine are using all the nests now and I marked the fake ones with black x's so I can tell them apart. (They are very realistic ) Been doing this 4 or 5 years now and still learning new tricks

 

[gpeters3]

This just came across my FB feed. Too funny not to share

Responding to his T shirt logo, my wife originally asked me if she could have "a" bird. I'm thinking parakeet in a cage. Who knew" Now I have to expand her coop and from the original 4 chicks we now have 18 and then there is the garden and she wants some grape vines and now she's couponing.....