post your chicken coop pictures here!

[MI-Homesteader]

Changed the coop around a little bit, moved the nest boxes and installed new roost bars

 

[ShrekDawg]

My chickens have taken to roosting on the roof lately. Usually the same ones but tonight there were more than usual. Usually it's about half of them. They first did it a few weeks ago, no issues for a while, but then a couple did it again. And then some did it the beginning of this week and i think maybe last night, can't remember, and now they just did it again tonight. It's half of them but tonight was 6/8 while the others are inside. Anywah, i think the roosts are getting too crowded plus we now for about a month or so leave the pop door open so after the first 2 weeks, they discovered their new found freedom. I catch them and but them back inside but that doesn't seem to stop them. I think there are insects inside too

 

[ramsburgchicken]

Here's our coop. We've been calling it "The Coopinator" lol! It's actually the basement of our garage. Cement floor and cement walls. Higher Windows, and two large barn doors on the front. Might be a little extreme, but we have a serious problem with coyotes in the backyard, skunks, raccoons, etc. So this offers the best protection for our flock. The silkies like to roost ontop and inside the nesting boxes at night but hubby and I are looking at installing an actual roosting bar for the RIRs and BRs. (Though some of the RIRs like to pretend they're silkies!

)Another upgrade will be refinishing the top of our one nesting box setup. The weight of all the silkies is starting to make it droop.

The coop is partially underground so it stays 15-20 degrees cooler than the outside temp even when the days are pulling 90 degrees. Cement floor is super easy to clean, we just spray it out with the hose.

 

[Sylvester017]

It was making a muddy mess so i had to make some changes. After moving the drink station outboard the floor stayed dryer for an extra week or so but still isnt draining so hopefully all horizontal nipples will keep it dryer.

Your setup is a bit different from mine -- my Brite Tap nipple valve waterers are set up outdoors rather than inside a run. Because I have a Black Silkie that likes to take a "shower" under the valves until she's thoroughly soaked we place pavers or blocks under the valves (1) to accommodate different-sized chickens and (2) to absorb the water drips to keep from forming a muddy mess under the waterer. The warmth of the days and the afternoon breezes dry up the bricks quickly:

 

[Sylvester017]

Just watch with that bottled water here is a video to show you what I mean.

Yes, the popular small bottled water and/or store brands in little bottles are crap. There have been a few videos/documentaries about the way companies bottle their waters and it's really disgusting. I mean, in our particular area the popular bottled waters are STILL better than the crap coming out of our tap -- however, in our case we drink the PH balanced bottled waters in the 8 to 9.5 range. Expensive but worth every penny and because of public health awareness the PH waters are getting popular enough that prices are getting competitive/declining. And before we refill our 5-gallon jugs we run a light bleach solution through them before each refill to deter any possible algae or germs. In Calif we have to take extreme precautions because of our State's water issues.

 

[MeepBeep]

I just really, really really hate chrome because google refuses to add a toolbar.

Can you elaborate on what you feel is missing in this 'toolbar' that you are looking for or can't access by hitting the triple line icon, an ALT or CTRL key combo or using an extension?

Drop down menues went out with ibm's personal editor and bill gates prevented the best browser from running on windows, effectively putting it out of business (netscape) so we are stuck with a microsoft chrome look alike or chrome.

There was never any love between Netscape and Microsoft, but Microsoft never prevented Netscape from running on Windows they just pushed PC manufactures to stop bundling it with Windows machines, but anyone could still go and download or obtain a free copy from Netscape and install it and it ran just fine...

Shortly before AOL purchased Netscape they released the source code to Netscape under the newly branded Mozilla name and then birthed the Firefox browser as a continuation fork of the Netscape Navigator browser code, ironically the last Netscape Navigator release was based on Firefox v2 source code in a flip flop fork... Today there are multiple Mozilla forked browsers out there to choose from if you want the closest thing to a new Netscape Suite SeaMonkey is probably your best option...

 

[Intheswamp]

Only problem is the pipe has to be at least half full to get water to the nipples. You can let it go nearly dry with vertical nipples but you get more leakage. Im thinking of adding another vertical pipe for more storage. It actually works well as is. Im adding roughly half to one gallon less per day, or just over 2 gallons now per day where i was adding nearly 3 to 4 gallons per day, more on hot days.

I can see where this area in the pipe below the nipple location could reduce the available water reserve, resulting in a bit of stagnant/stratified water in the pipes. What size of pvc pipe are you using?...2"? I'm wondering if using a smaller pipe might reduce the non-accessible water issue and also keep the water "fresher" in the pipe. I wonder how 1" or maybe even 3/4" pipe would work...it wouldn't have much storage space in it, but if using a bucket or water cooler for bulk storage that wouldn't be an issue.

I'm glad to hear that the nipples are working out for you and things are drier!

Ed

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Here's our coop. We've been calling it "The Coopinator" lol! It's actually the basement of our garage. Cement floor and cement walls. Higher Windows, and two large barn doors on the front. Might be a little extreme, but we have a serious problem with coyotes in the backyard, skunks, raccoons, etc. So this offers the best protection for our flock. The silkies like to roost ontop and inside the nesting boxes at night but hubby and I are looking at installing an actual roosting bar for the RIRs and BRs. (Though some of the RIRs like to pretend they're silkies!

)Another upgrade will be refinishing the top of our one nesting box setup. The weight of all the silkies is starting to make it droop.

The coop is partially underground so it stays 15-20 degrees cooler than the outside temp even when the days are pulling 90 degrees. Cement floor is super easy to clean, we just spray it out with the hose.

Have you ever had anything get in? And it's a good idea it would keep them cool in the summer.

 

[ramsburgchicken]

Have you ever had anything get in? And it's a good idea it would keep them cool in the summer.

Only chicken predator that gets in is my husband. (He forgets to look down and when there's eggs on the floor they often get crushed.

Out of all the actual predators around, nothing has been able to get in, and we sure have seen them try! Coyotes have done laps around building trying to figure it out, and skunks and coons have come up and tried but it's pretty much predator proof. (I say this and something will happen tomorrow, lol). But in all seriousness we had to have a coop like this with everything around that likes fresh eggs and chicken. Oh, stray dogs too! We've had a lot of those. We taught the flock the emergency "coop up" command so we can get them back fast. Had to use it the other week for stray dog.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Do you have pics of the run also or do they free range