post your chicken coop pictures here!

[bruceha2000]

The cord is attached to a outdoor power strip and timer. The timer kicks on a light at dusk that draws the hens back into the hen house for bed time. It will also provide power during the winter to heat their water.

Some would be concerned about an extension cord running across the yard as a permanent electrical supply.

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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

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The roof on our house is standing seam on top of 8" SIPS - Exterior OSB sandwiching 8" of rigid foam on top of the ceiling - 3/4" pine. We hear the rain JUST FINE. I would have thought that 8" of foam would be pretty sound deadening but nope. I think you could need to have some air gap between the metal roof and the insulation.

Quote:
I have an external community box which is now being used by the Anconas when they lay (4 years old so only every few days) and some of the 1 year old girls. Plus the open 3 nest box unit in the coop. BUT while several birds are using the community, they do NOT do it at the same time even though it is 4' long. All the eggs are on the left side even if I put a plastic egg on each end. The one on the right end gets moved to the left side. Classic "want to lay where another hen decided was a good place" behavior.

The access to the community is a single hole in the center of the 4' length. I think I will add a second hole on the right side and see if that will increase the chances of concurrent use.

This thread was so fun! I have coop envy.

Here is ours. Home to my three little birds.

My hubby built and designed it. The run isn't crazy big, but they are only in there when we are gone, which is extremely rare. We have our entire backyard surrounded with thick, 6' privacy fence and I have multiple gardens back here. The girls get to run free all day.

I have no idea why you have coop envy, your hubby did a very nice job.

Run progress pics from today. Finally just about done.

You know Terry, if you weren't such a slacker, you could have a nice looking place there!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Ya my cousin has a 4x8 coop with 13 hens in and they all lay and are happy and healthy so I wouldn't see why not. Say right now I have the 20 hens in that same size coop and I am only getting 1-2 eggs a week because they are crowded so I wouldn't get carried away like i did now I have to build a new coop. Not that I am complaining :cd

Wow that's a lot of birds! And wow only 1-2 a week? You don't mean day? Wow that's almost no production hah hopefully they start soon!

Some would be concerned about an extension cord running across the yard as a permanent electrical supply. 


The roof on our house is standing seam on top of 8" SIPS - Exterior OSB sandwiching 8" of rigid foam on top of the ceiling - 3/4" pine. We hear the rain JUST FINE. I would have thought that 8" of foam would be pretty sound deadening but nope. I think you could need to have some air gap between the metal roof and the insulation.

I have an external community box which is now being used by the Anconas when they lay (4 years old so only every few days) and some of the 1 year old girls. Plus the open 3 nest box unit in the coop. BUT while several birds are using the community, they do NOT do it at the same time even though it is 4' long. All the eggs are on the left side even if I put a plastic egg on each end. The one on the right end gets moved to the left side. Classic "want to lay where another hen decided was a good place" behavior. 

The access to the community is a single hole in the center of the 4' length. I think I will add a second hole on the right side and see if that will increase the chances of concurrent use.


I have no idea why you have coop envy, your hubby did a very nice job.


You know Terry, if you weren't such a slacker, you could have a nice looking place there!   

It's interesting they won't go at the same time. Mine are semi the same. The have 3 boxes but usually there is only one hen in there at a time. Occasionally there will be a second in another box but they all want the best boxes. They used to lay in all 3 boxes but now they only lay in 2. Usually most of the eggs are in one. Sometimes if they can't get the one they want they lay in the coop corner or in the run but that's rare

 

[Sylvester017]

That whole 'open water' thing I find to be tremendously dirty... Yeah I know there are ways to moderate the mess but it's always going to be more work and mess than nipples for the chickens...

I have three ducklings in a brooder right now and it requires daily cleaning and water maintenance, while a comparable sized chick brooder could go a week or more with no basically no maintenance or cleaning...

I have two potential re-homes already set up for the ducklings if we decide not to keep them, but if we do keep them they are going to share the barn with the llamas and goats, they won't be sharing the coop...

I love geese, ducks, and chickens - never had any other poultry - and I love them for different reasons. Each animal has it's own pros/cons and the owner has to decide what they want to "tolerate" in the pros/cons of each poultry breed. I settled on chickens for our small cottage backyard because of the noise factor - of all poultry I found chickens the most economical to feed and were least noisy for bothering neighbors. Ducks are adorable but I'm too old to be cleaning out kiddie pools for them to swim in every day. As for geese they are great watchdogs but their honking gets very annoying unless they are quite a distance from residences. I agree that ducks sharing a coop with chickens can get pretty messy. There's enough coop ammonia to ventilate with just chickens that you don't want to add smelly duck poop to it.

 

[Sylvester017]

DH & DS helped rearrange and clean the yard for the contractors to come next week. We'll see if they show up to start the patio roofs.

During yard remodeling last year the coop was located by the sliding back door and tarped from winter winds and rain.


When the coop got moved away from the sliding door we had a confused Silkie looking for it. But smart chickens figured where it got moved and climbed into it for the night. The girls must really like their coop to find where it moved to.


This is the "people" patio slab that will have a roof over it - chickens not allowed!


This is the coop slab that will have a patio roof built over it and ultimately have the kennel run attached last.

 

[0wen]

Link to coop in signature...

 

[Sylvester017]

The roof on our house is standing seam on top of 8" SIPS - Exterior OSB sandwiching 8" of rigid foam on top of the ceiling - 3/4" pine. We hear the rain JUST FINE. I would have thought that 8" of foam would be pretty sound deadening but nope. I think you could need to have some air gap between the metal roof and the insulation.

You've confirmed with your experience what I've been thinking all along. We had a tin-roofed shed on my folks' farm and it was really noisy when the rain poured. Can't imagine how deafening that would be to chickens in a small coop space.

 

[Sylvester017]

Link to coop in signature...

I assume the kids crawl under the coop to collect any broody eggs that don't get layed inside nestboxes? Chickens are notorious for finding the most difficult locations to lay eggs. Nice roomy hoop coop!

 

[magicstorm]

Still have roof, trim, more perches, paint and run. But it is coming along nicely. Rain is holding up progress at the moment.

 

[cabinchicky]

Still have roof, trim, more perches, paint and run. But it is coming along nicely. Rain is holding up progress at the moment.

Wow, what size is it?

 

[gpeters3]

Well, my favorite of all my chickens was the grey,silver,brown,white Auracana i was hoping to get colored eggs from and now appears to be a spurless rooster. She/he is crowing and strutting. I have to find my rotisserie roaster soon so i can start eating all these roosters.... It looks like at least 2 of the turkeys are toms....so much for turkey eggs.

I gave up on pasteurizing eggs and not washing them so im back to washing them in dilute dish soap just to be safe.

I may consider rehoming some of them to cut down on the congestion. I cant believe how big the turkeys are getting. They look bigger every day.