post your chicken coop pictures here!

[Latestarter]

@Gpeters3 "The reason I know so much about it is because I have made every mistake in the book and lived to learn from it. (you know what 110 feels like on a rainy day when standing in a puddle of water.......????)"

I too thought I had made every mistake ... only to find out I hadn't LOL I find that the older I get, the less I know. But I DO know what it feels like to ground out in water... It's rather painful! I also know what it's like to have a lightning bolt pass 2" above my shoulder and blow out every fuse in the fuse box of an old house (while standing in a puddle at the basement door)! Now THAT was wild! The thunder left me almost deaf for hours.

 

[Beekissed]

I would love some pictures for ideas for my husband when he builds this next one. I've got orders to go buy some chicks tomorrow and I've got eggs going in the incubator as well. This will never happen again if I have to keep them inside for the first 5-6 weeks.

A cattle panel hoop coop is fairly an inexpensive coop build and is very versatile. For the money spent you can get a larger coop and be able to brood them right in the coop once again. I brood mine right in the coop in a hay bale brooder...and have even done so using a heat lamp without any mishaps. Plenty of places to secure a lamp when the whole structure is composed of high tensile wire.

 

[gpeters3]

I would love some pictures for ideas for my husband when he builds this next one. I've got orders to go buy some chicks tomorrow and I've got eggs going in the incubator as well. This will never happen again if I have to keep them inside for the first 5-6 weeks.

Ok, here are a bunch of picture of my lighting, the building etc.. Keep in mind my choice was pretty much chiseled in stone since I already had the pole barn to build off of. As you can see, the coop is a lean-to shed on the back of my barn and takes it's power from the load center in the barn right behind the work area door.

I don't want to fill up the system with pictures but my work area is at the left end of the shed and takes up about 4'. It allows me to access the nest boxes and the feeders from outside the coop area. Much of the design of the layout came from this forum, along with my own experience with a couple of other designs I built. Here is the work area before I finished the outside wall. It has a barn access door and an outside door seen in the coop picture.:

The 2 heat lamp pics are from the brood pens and are not accessible from the coop area where the adult hens are. Just wanted to show you how I mounted them and stretched the wire to prevent falling all the way to the floor to cause a fire. They won't be in there much longer because it's warmer now and the chicks are getting big enough to cause damage.

 

[peastix]

I love the coops guys but all I can beg is DO NOT USE A HEAT LAMP INSIDE THE COOP!!!
My entire coop went up in flames last night. 16 dead and I'm not sure how many injured. If anyone knows what to use if they are burnt please let me know.

So so sorry for your loss.Especially after all your hard work! Hugs

 

[FarmerPhronc]

I live in rural Colorado, have seen it get to -30*F. I have to admit this is my first winter with my own chickens however I worked on a ranch with over 250. I don't use heat lamps. My 5 hens seem to keep each other warm and with the ventilation I have no sign of frostbite. Some might say this is a little small for 5 hens however they just go up to roost at night or to lay eggs. Even though there is 2 nest boxes they all seem to like laying in the same one... imagine that.

As you can see I added some additional run space... about 100 sq ft total when you include the space under the coop.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Very nice I am also a fan of the dog kennel run I am going to be building a breeding pen here soon something just like that size for bantams

 

[FarmerPhronc]

Very nice I am also a fan of the dog kennel run I am going to be building a breeding pen here soon something just like that size for bantams

Thanks! Not shown in the pic is 1/2 in gal. wire running 2 ft up and 2 foot out to keep predators at bey.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

I don't worry about predators getting in there run because there house is pretty strong builds it stood up to 60 mile hour winds and and plus if there is something trying to get in ere is motion lifght son every wall and above each door

 

[TJordan]

Again TJ... I'm truly sorry. I know you were just trying to keep your young flock warm, but what a price to pay. It's so sad. I'm sure they would have come through just fine, even at below 40. You'd be amazed how they'd just all pile up and keep each other warm if they have any feathers at all. I'm also sad that it took you so long to FINALLY get that coop, and now you're put right back to waiting again. I'm truly THANKFUL that the fire didn't spread and do damage to other structures of yours or your neighbors. That would have been horrendous!

This is true. I probably wouldn't of put it in if I wasn't so sick yesterday. My fever just hit 102.7.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Well if I had the money I would buy some supply's and send it ur way but sadly I don't but we're are ur chickens going to stay until u get another built hopfully u get better soon I forget what I a
Was going to say but hopfully I remember