post your chicken coop pictures here!

[ghiaman64]

This is my tractor before I installed the wire on the run. I can pull it around with my lawn tractor. It sits on steel ski's and has a built in hitch. Can't free range because the neighbor's dog plays rough.

 

[Sylvester017]

I may try that plastic fencing ro keep my chickens out of certain areas of the woods. I dont mind them on our property but they like to get close to the neighbors and I dont want them to.

Also on the note of training chickens, is it possible to train a mean chicken? She bullies the others and even pecks me. She'll fly out of no where to attack the buff orps. And has pecked me in both the gums and the eye. Now with that it could have just been the shiny object thing chickens have but stil l she seems a little scared of me sometmes and i dont blame her because i always assume she is mean and chase her away or am extra cautious, or used to be,but still.

Our rabbit fencing has been so successful for 5 years I can wholeheartedly recommend it if you have the gentle patience to remove the hens from the wrong side of the fence until they understand the barrier is not to be crossed. Or you could use taller chicken net fencing like on the Omelet website:
https://www.omlet.us/ or similar netting sold in hardware stores or online.

You know, I've had so many nice chickens that I don't have the inclination to work with a snotty hen. All 13 of the chickens we tried in the last 5 years have not been nasty to humans but I had 3 that were horrible to their flockmates. At first we tried to work with one of our favourite White Leghorns that had been nice for 3 years as flock leader and then went bonkers on her flockmates. We gave her a chance to settle down but reluctantly re-homed her before she got more aggressive.



Then we had to re-home a Buff Leghorn who only at one year of age turned cannibalistic toward the gentler docile breeds and we didn't wait but immediately re-homed her to an egg-seller's flock.



We had a mean Cuckoo Marans who plucked off the feathers of Silkies on the roost and when she outright viciously attacked a little Silkie pullet in the yard, the Marans was re-homed immediately.



After these 3 bad attitude hens I no longer get heritage or dual purpose popular breeds because they are more assertive and heavier than our gentler docile breeds. I have gentle oddball varieties of chickens that are gentle and get along with each other now. They aren't prolific egg layers like Legs, RIRs, BRs, Wyans, Marans, Orps, Lorps, etc, but we get enough eggs from our gentle breeds for just the two of us - our happy little quad consists of two Silkies, a Breda, and a Blue Wheaten Ameraucana. None of them are "production" layers, are all 5-lb-&-under breeds, but supply us with more eggs than we need, They peacefully share a 4x4 Barn Coop. Surprisingly our Silkies are great layers of good-sized eggs for bantams.

AMERAUCANA BLUE EGG 2.3 OZ -- BREDA WHITE EGG 1.75 OZ -- SILKIE TINTED EGG 1.25 OZ



LINE-UP OF EGGS -- MARANS (brown egg), WHITE LEGHORN (white egg), BUFF LEGHORN (tinted egg), 3 SILKIE EGGS ( 3 tinted eggs to far right - not a bad size for bantam eggs )



We as owners all have different situations, environments, breeds, and expectations, so sometimes it takes personal experimenting to find what works best for us. I like your net fencing idea for containing your foraging chickens but be aware that the netting will not be safe against predators. Some owners in rural areas use electric fencing for predator protection. GL!

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

I finally got my first broody hen. I took my baby chicks out with her she isn't bothering them so I am going to keep checking on her and see how they do the baby's flew out of the nest though and is taking a dust bath in the sand on the coop floor

 

[gpeters3]

Rhode Island Red was just an example as a less docile bird compared to the Silkie

Almost all the hens picked on the bantams (I had 3) but that isa red was their buddy. When I put the black one (not a bantam) in with the other hens she was really bullied. She was rooster damaged so timid anyway but now she is in the middle and pecks back. She is even getting used to me in the coop and stands her ground when I approach her on the roost to look for eggs etc.. The most aggressive one is, I believe, a production red with full comb. She's not mean but isn't afraid of me and will hop right up on my arm to get the corn. She is really interested in the chicks so could either be a potential threat to them or a brood mom. Time will tell I guess I'm really looking forward to getting them all out and running around the run. I have 9 or 10 breeds now plus the turkeys. They will be a colorful flock I think

 

[nfowler76]

Well for our first attempt at building ha chicken coop I think we did pretty ok. It is about 97% finished, we have some trim pieces E to put up and chicken wire to put over the vent openings but overall I am very pleased how everything turned out!!!

 

[perchie.girl]

Well for our first attempt at building ha chicken coop I think we did pretty ok. It is about 97% finished, we have some trim pieces E to put up and chicken wire to put over the vent openings but overall I am very pleased how everything turned out!!!

awesome build .... you might rethink your perches though. once your birds are grown up they will sag right in the middle. Unless you are raising Seramas....

 

[Sylvester017]

Well for our first attempt at building ha chicken coop I think we did pretty ok. It is about 97% finished, we have some trim pieces E to put up and chicken wire to put over the vent openings but overall I am very pleased how everything turned out!!!

Awesome build! We had poultry chicken wire on our coop and two stray dogs broke our fence gate and attacked the chicken coop. They mauled the cheap chicken wire beyond repair and would've got into the coop thru the cheap wire if a good neighbor didn't chase the mutts off! You might consider cattle wire or heavier hardwire along the bottom perimeter of your chicken wire to reinforce it. Believe me, you'll never believe it when a critter tries to get to your flock! We never knew we had raccoons either until driving home one night at 2 a.m. we saw one the size of a goat crawling out of the sewer drain. I hate to say it -- but I love it when I see raccoon or possum roadkill in the neighborhood streets!

 

[Latestarter]

Well for our first attempt at building ha chicken coop I think we did pretty ok. It is about 97% finished, we have some trim pieces E to put up and chicken wire to put over the vent openings but overall I am very pleased how everything turned out!!!

Great looking build! Welcome to BYC! Being in Jax, FL, LOTS of hot weather ventilation will help immensely. You might want to put wire behind that top opening area so you can just leave it open most of the year. Just a couple of suggestions/recommendations;

The first deals with the roosts; they are way too small a diameter to be comfortable for the birds... even bantams. Chickens don't "perch" like typical song birds. They stay pretty much "flat footed", so for a roost, you'd be far better with a 3"+ diameter round fence rail/ log/ tree limb, or a 2x4 with the 4" side up. They can then stand on it and curl their toes over the edge if they want. The top roost is too close to the wall and the birds will have trouble on it as they like to be able to turn around. They will also be pooping all over the wall. Finally, they are too close together vertically. The birds on the upper roosts are going to be pooping all over the birds on the lower roosts. I would recommend only doing 2 roosts... nail/screw a 2x4 on edge, 4" side up at the very back of the 2nd stair risers, and another at the very front of the lower risers. That should give adequate vertical clearance, and more than adequate roosting space for the number of birds that will fit in that coop/run set up.

The second deals with the use of "chicken wire"... It's great for keeping chickens/rabbits in or out of a particular area, but is pretty much completely useless as a defense against chicken/rabbit predators... Raccoons will reach through (large ones can tear through) it to grab a bird. Foxes can rip through it. And probably the worst culprit and number 1 killer of chickens and rabbits... dogs; yours, the neighbor's, and strays, can tear through that wire in less than a minute, and most times they don't just snatch a bird and leave, they will slaughter every bird they can grab. I would highly recommend you cover the existing chicken wire with something more substantial... either 2"x4" welded wire fencing (won't stop reach through, but will stop/delay tear through) or most would recommend 1/2" hardware cloth (expensive, we all know). I see that you have the entire coop resting on what appears to be concrete pavers, but some animals are diggers and will tunnel right under that; possums, skunks, foxes, weasels/ermine/mink. It would be a good idea to use some of the hardware cloth/2x4" welded wire fencing to lay down an "apron" extending a foot or 2 out from the bottom to prevent diggers (mink/ermine/weasels can go through a 2x4" hole easily). You can then cover the apron with dirt to let grass grow through it so you can mow around the coop if you wish.

Finally, I see what appears to be milk crates, which I assume you plan to use as nest boxes. They'll work great, but a couple things to look out for; If you place them on the floor, they will eat up floor space, which the birds will want during bad weather when they don't want to leave the coop. Birds WILL rest/roost on top of them and since they have holes, they will poop right down into the box below or bird in the box below, and that's a mess you really don't want to deal with. Since the walls aren't solid, the birds feet might get uncomfortable walking in them, which could lead to them not using them, so placing a sheet of thick plastic (like that under a desk roller chair on carpet) or thin plywood/particle board scrap will fix that. You could also cover the top with the same to prevent poop from falling down through them. Or ideally, build a sloped roof above them to keep the birds off the tops entirely.

Great job so far! You should share some pics of your birds once you get them "installed"

Edit to add Sylvester and I must have been typing at the same time. I'm just slower or more verbose... maybe both?

 

[ShrekDawg]

I like the idea of putting them in a new place and see what she does and then if the still does it separate her for a week int eh old coop and u don't want to let them see her or her see them when in this process

I will try that.

Our rabbit fencing has been so successful for 5 years I can wholeheartedly recommend it if you have the gentle patience to remove the hens from the wrong side of the fence until they understand the barrier is not to be crossed. Or you could use taller chicken net fencing like on the Omelet website: https://www.omlet.us/ or similar netting sold in hardware stores or online. You know, I've had so many nice chickens that I don't have the inclination to work with a snotty hen. All 13 of the chickens we tried in the last 5 years have not been nasty to humans but I had 3 that were horrible to their flockmates. At first we tried to work with one of our favourite White Leghorns that had been nice for 3 years as flock leader and then went bonkers on her flockmates. We gave her a chance to settle down but reluctantly re-homed her before she got more aggressive. Then we had to re-home a Buff Leghorn who only at one year of age turned cannibalistic toward the gentler docile breeds and we didn't wait but immediately re-homed her to an egg-seller's flock. We had a mean Cuckoo Marans who plucked off the feathers of Silkies on the roost and when she outright viciously attacked a little Silkie pullet in the yard, the Marans was re-homed immediately. After these 3 bad attitude hens I no longer get heritage or dual purpose popular breeds because they are more assertive and heavier than our gentler docile breeds. I have gentle oddball varieties of chickens that are gentle and get along with each other now. They aren't prolific egg layers like Legs, RIRs, BRs, Wyans, Marans, Orps, Lorps, etc, but we get enough eggs from our gentle breeds for just the two of us - our happy little quad consists of two Silkies, a Breda, and a Blue Wheaten Ameraucana. None of them are "production" layers, are all 5-lb-&-under breeds, but supply us with more eggs than we need, They peacefully share a 4x4 Barn Coop. Surprisingly our Silkies are great layers of good-sized eggs for bantams. AMERAUCANA BLUE EGG 2.3 OZ -- BREDA WHITE EGG 1.75 OZ -- SILKIE TINTED EGG 1.25 OZ LINE-UP OF EGGS -- MARANS (brown egg), WHITE LEGHORN (white egg), BUFF LEGHORN (tinted egg), 3 SILKIE EGGS ( 3 tinted eggs to far right - not a bad size for bantam eggs ) We as owners all have different situations, environments, breeds, and expectations, so sometimes it takes personal experimenting to find what works best for us. I like your net fencing idea for containing your foraging chickens but be aware that the netting will not be safe against predators. Some owners in rural areas use electric fencing for predator protection. GL!

Wow those are some good sized eggs!!! I haven't had a problem with my birds, they're little babies, besides the Australorp. They do sometimes squabble but nothing more than wing flaps. My Lorps can be mean. But I'm going to give them a second chance though with the bigger coop and run. Maybe it's just because we don't really have any smaller or timid breeds?

 

[koopmaster]

Chicken math has gone WILD! On GoodFriday my wife and our youngest daughter picked 6 Isa brown chicks up at TSC. Since then they got 6 more black star chicks and this past Thursday we got these new laying hens!!! This is the koop I thru together with some s rap materials I had around. Since Friday, these ladies have provided us with 7 eggs!

We are living the chicken dream!!!