post your chicken coop pictures here!

[ChickadeeNMe]

There are some pretty awesome pictures of coops here. I just recently decided to try my hand in raising chickens and unfortunately did very little research before hand. I've had a few disasters and losses (raccoons) but I've learned a lot in a short time especially since I found this website. My coop is certainly not pretty but thought I'd share it. I put a lot of work into and am proud of it anyway. I still have to roof it but am using tarps/ chicken wire for now. It started as a fort my kids stopped using a long time ago. I thought this was a good way to re-purpose it. Thank you everyone who has taken the time to post on this website giving your knowledge and expertise to people like me.

Hey there! Just a friendly word of advice from someone who learned the hard way. (unless there already is some there, but I didn't see it) You should put some wire or something on the floor to keep critters from digging a tunnel into your coop at night. Weasels, racoons, fox, all kinds of predators will dig to get to your flock. You probably already know that and if so, i apologize. maybe my comment might help someone in the future. I lost 2 birds when I first started because we used a coop that was already on our property that we moved to. It was built with a dirt floor, nothing to keep predators from digging under.

 

[Tika75]

Hey there! Just a friendly word of advice from someone who learned the hard way. (unless there already is some there, but I didn't see it) You should put some wire or something on the floor to keep critters from digging a tunnel into your coop at night. Weasels, racoons, fox, all kinds of predators will dig to get to your flock. You probably already know that and if so, i apologize. maybe my comment might help someone in the future. I lost 2 birds when I first started because we used a coop that was already on our property that we moved to. It was built with a dirt floor, nothing to keep predators from digging under.

I wouldn't put wire on the floor unless you plan on digging down, placing the wire, and then covering it with several inches (maybe at least 6) of dirt. Chickens like to scratch around and the wire floor could cut their feet. Going down around the outside of the pen 6-12 inches and covering with dirt or straight down a foot around might be better.

 

[Justus80]

Thank you! I've had a few other people tell me to bury chicken wire around the edges I just haven't got the chance to yet. I've placed rocks around it in spots there's a noticeable gap between the ground and running boards. I will definitely take your advice though. I started with 12 chicks and lost 10 of them to raccoon's. First I didn't have the top finished then once I did I only had a hook lock on the door that they popped pretty easily. Since then I've installed much better locks and I found a really nice lady that was thinning her flock down that sold me some 15 month old hens. I still have two of the chicks I started with that are 9 weeks old now and are in the separate pen I added to the back. Once their old enough to join the others I plan to remove the separating wire and it will be one pen. I read in another post on here the "see no touch" method of introducing chickens and luckily I am already doing that. Once again I really appreciate everyone here! Thanks!

 

[Sylvester017]

They're pretty well ventilated. There are vent windows that are covered with hardware cloth from the inside, but open up to allow for more circulation and could be left closed for cold weather. There are vents on all the coops. It depends on the color of the metal too. You wouldn't want to use a dark color metal, but white is best. I never thought about the loud noise from the rain on the tin roof. I've always enjoyed the sound of rain on a tin roof myself. Maybe next time it rains, I'll go investigate to see if it's noisy.

Your coop models are beautiful and obviously very well designed with windows and ventilation. Just goes to show only people who have chickens themselves should be the mfr of good coops!! I love open wired runs for those very humid days we get in summers. It would be nice to know what it sounds like raining on a tin roof to the chickens inside the coop. Someone said they insulated their tin roof to absorb the loud sound of the rain hitting the metal roofs -- plus they said it didn't hurt to insulate under the metal roofs from the heat since metal of any color seems to retain summer heat. I just thought to ask someone who actually mfr'd coops w/tin roofs what feedback they get if any from customers. Because of the feedback I got re: metal roofs I never ordered a coop with metal tops. I guess plywood under the metal roofs would muffle the pounding rainstorms but it would add to the coop weight -- but then, probably no more than a shingled roof weight? Thx for planning to check on the rain sounds

.

 

[ChickadeeNMe]

We build chicken tractors, hence the wire. Our coops are meant to be portable. The wire does not hurt their feet at all. I thought the same thing when my husband first started building them, but it doesn't hurt their feet. I check on them every day so I'd know if something was wrong.. i know a lot of people assume that because I did too, but it's not so. You're right though, if it's a stationary coop, perhaps something else would be better.

 

[junebuggena]

There are some pretty awesome pictures of coops here. I just recently decided to try my hand in raising chickens and unfortunately did very little research before hand. I've had a few disasters and losses (raccoons) but I've learned a lot in a short time especially since I found this website. My coop is certainly not pretty but thought I'd share it. I put a lot of work into and am proud of it anyway. I still have to roof it but am using tarps/ chicken wire for now. It started as a fort my kids stopped using a long time ago. I thought this was a good way to re-purpose it. Thank you everyone who has taken the time to post on this website giving your knowledge and expertise to people like me.

Just a quick word about your choice of using chicken wire. It offers little to no protection from predators. Raccoons, foxes, coyotes, dogs, and bobcats can shred it in just minutes. It costs more, but hardware cloth makes it much harder for predators to get in.

 

[MeepBeep]

 

We build chicken tractors, hence the wire. Our coops are meant to be portable. The wire does not hurt their feet at all. I thought the same thing when my husband first started building them, but it doesn't hurt their feet. I check on them every day so I'd know if something was wrong.. i know a lot of people assume that because I did too, but it's not so. You're right though, if it's a stationary coop, perhaps something else would be better. 

Isolated anecdotal evidence does not equate to empirical data... Bumblefoot is quite common in chickens kept on wire flooring, it's honestly probably the leading cause...

I know a lot of people use it on tractors, but that doesn't erase the risk associated with it's use... The risk is lower in tractors that are moved quite often creating a new vegetation padding so the chickens are not directly walking on the wire, if the tractor is stationary for too long and the vegetation is depleted to the point the chickens are walking on the wire the risk increases quickly...

 

[ChickadeeNMe]

Good thing I move the tractors often and I advise anyone else to do the same. I've never once in 4 years had a bumblefoot incident. Thank goodness for that. I free range as well, so they're not on the wire all day long. Only if I spy hawks do I keep them confined, but even when I do~ no sores on their feet. I always thought bumblefoot was caused by abscess and bacteria from a dirty coop or something like that. That's what I love about a tractor, they are always in fresh grass. good day.

 

[Sylvester017]

There are some pretty awesome pictures of coops here. I just recently decided to try my hand in raising chickens and unfortunately did very little research before hand. I've had a few disasters and losses (raccoons) but I've learned a lot in a short time especially since I found this website. My coop is certainly not pretty but thought I'd share it. I put a lot of work into and am proud of it anyway. I still have to roof it but am using tarps/ chicken wire for now. It started as a fort my kids stopped using a long time ago. I thought this was a good way to re-purpose it. Thank you everyone who has taken the time to post on this website giving your knowledge and expertise to people like me.

I sympathize with you, a lot of us BYCers learned the hard way before discovering BYC for reference. Your coop is huge - lots of space for chickens to run and jump and flap and scratch! Your property is so green and pretty. We don't have rural country predators in the suburbs but we still get city sewer raccoons and possums and loose stray dogs. Two strays broke our chainlink gate to get to our first little coop and they mangled the chicken poultry wire beyond repair. A neighbor chased off the mutts before they got to our chickens so I don't like chicken hex wire - it's useless against predators. The mutts couldn't dig under the coop because we had it set on paver stones. With your dirt floor you might consider paver stones or cinderblocks or boulders around the outside foundation of your run to deter digging critters and to keep the chickens from underminding the foundation when they dust-bathe - although your coop is so large that chickens digging probably won't be an issue. Maybe cattle wire fencing over your chicken poultry hex wire around the bottom half of your run and buried a foot or more into the soil will reinforce the flimsier chicken wire you have on it now. Don't know what predators you have in your region -- ours is raccoons, possums, stray dogs, feral cats. We had to replace our decades-old chainlink property fence with sturdier block wall and iron bar fencing. It's funny how even the stray neighborhood Chihuahua dogs respect the iron bars even though they could easily squeeze through. The cleats/steps on your ramp I noticed are spaced far apart. I noticed this on our own ramp because yesterday one of our hens injured her leg and having closer cleats made it easier for her to step down - poor thing - taking her to the vet today to see why she's limping. Anyway just throwing the step issue out there cuz I noticed your widely spaced cleats. Our ramp was too steep so we set paver stones under the bottom of the ramp to level it more - makes it easier for our chickens to go up and down without having to flap their wings. Some things like old chairs, tree stumps, doghouse, bench, etc inside the run will give the chickens fun places to hide/snooze during the day.

 

[junebuggena]

Bumblefoot happens when the foot is somehow cut. The wound scabs over, sealing in the bacteria, causing the infected 'bumble'. It has nothing to do with a dirty coop. Wire flooring can injure the feet, hence the higher incidence of bumblefoot in birds that are kept on wire.