post your chicken coop pictures here!

[MeepBeep]

a drop door is easy you can cut a square of 16 x 16  or 12 x 12  for smaller birds
you can use a rope or dog leash    to open it

For those that have to deal with raccoons be aware that any type of pull string or pretty much any kind of pull mechanism can be figured out by a raccoon or team of raccoons in time, unless it includes a keyed or combination lock to secure it shut... Also if the door does not lock in the closed position, if a coon gains entry to the door they might be able to simply 'lift' it open by pushing up against it...

 

[Flock In Texas]

For those that have to deal with raccoons be aware that any type of pull string or pretty much any kind of pull mechanism can be figured out by a raccoon or team of raccoons in time, unless it includes a keyed or combination lock to secure it shut... Also if the door does not lock in the closed position, if a coon gains entry to the door they might be able to simply 'lift' it open by pushing up against it...

Will a raccoon be able to figure out a carabiner in a hasp?

 

[quailling101]

Most coops have both a large people access door for cleaning the coop, and also a smaller chicken pop-door that slides either side to side, or open/closes like a little door with a lock, or has a cable on top of the pop-door to pull it up or down when you need to secure the chickens for the night. Your choice as to what works for you. How you would access the 2nd floor when a person has to clean the 2nd floor inside coop is another issue you need to work on. Maybe there's a way to lay the playhouse on it's side on foundation blocks so there is no 2nd floor anymore might work better eliminating the need for a tall chicken ladder to a 2nd story. Any way you look at it DIY coops or modifications will require work. I did it the lazy way and got coops already assembled or nearly assembled. Buying coops can cost as much as building one yourself once you count up the modification materials needed for DIY plus your time building should be calculated at minimum wage into the total cost of a DIY build. Depends on whether you have more time or money. Our first coop was already custom-built by a customer at the feed store and was delivered complete to our yard: Our next coop was partially assembled and just needed the 4 walls bolted together and the roof screwed on: Windows, pop-door, vents, egg boxes & underneath run came assembled on each wall panel and just needed bolts through the connecting hinges to connect the 4 walls.

Thank you very much for reminding me of the people door to the second floor to clean!! I was just thinking to make a small door open to the blue slide and shuffle the shavings and poop down the slide but never thought about how to get inside first. Stupid me, haha!! Any suggestions to put in a people door up on the second floor? Maybe up the ladder next to the slide? I welcome any input from you all. If you don't mind, can you tell me where you got your second coop? And about how expensive is it? I would love to have something like that. The reason I want to use the playgym is because I want to spend as little as possible to start this chicken addiction. I am still gathering as much information/suggestions/materials as possible before I tell my DH what I want. I really appreciate everyone's suggestions.

 

[MeepBeep]

For those that have to deal with raccoons be aware that any type of pull string or pretty much any kind of pull mechanism can be figured out by a raccoon or team of raccoons in time, unless it includes a keyed or combination lock to secure it shut... Also if the door does not lock in the closed position, if a coon gains entry to the door they might be able to simply 'lift' it open by pushing up against it...

Will a raccoon be able to figure out a carabiner in a hasp?

Yes... A good rule of thumb is that if a 5 or 6 year old child can figure it out a raccoon can figure it out...

There was an excellent study by Cole in 1907 about how well they can manage and defeat 'locking devices' it's a long read but a good one, especially the locking device section... What I find incredibly interesting was that the raccoons not only learned how to defeat the locks but they also learned in what order they needed to do the locks for it to work, but even one year later with no practice or seeing the locks they were able to figure out the locks in nearly the same amount of time with the same level of accuracy, meaning they have a high degree of memory retention once they figure something out...

https://archive.org/stream/jstor-1412576/1412576_djvu.txt

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you very much for reminding me of the people door to the second floor to clean!! I was just thinking to make a small door open to the blue slide and shuffle the shavings and poop down the slide but never thought about how to get inside first. Stupid me, haha!! Any suggestions to put in a people door up on the second floor? Maybe up the ladder next to the slide? I welcome any input from you all.
If you don't mind, can you tell me where you got your second coop? And about how expensive is it? I would love to have something like that. The reason I want to use the playgym is because I want to spend as little as possible to start this chicken addiction. I am still gathering as much information/suggestions/materials as possible before I tell my DH what I want. I really appreciate everyone's suggestions.

I had the little coop for 5 years while saving up for the bigger Barn Coop which was not cheap. My little 4x6 coop was built by a private customer at the feed store and cost $489 total which included delivery 5 years ago. It was made out of cheap OSB flake board but I managed to keep it in good enough shape and passed it on to friends who wanted it. Absolutely do not use OSB flake board for any kind of chicken building - it deteriorates from weather and/or moisture from chicken poops/urine. Our little coop stayed in decent shape because it was open wire on 3 sides so moisture from chickens was not a problem. However, it was a bear to protect it from harsh sun or rain downpours - we used a pop-up canopy over it during rainstorms. It was only 4 feet tall so getting inside to clean out the floor was very inconvenient.



Our bigger Barn Coop by Cove Products I custom-ordered on the following website http://www.chickencondos.com/ - prices vary depending on what options you want/need plus there is a shipping charge (Utah) - there were some options I absolutely did not like and they custom changed some of them per my request. They recently made an easy-to-clean all-plastic with insulated walls Urban Coop with optional wheels and predator-proof ground guards - all optional features. I got the wheel package for my Barn Coop because it needs to be moved around our yard while remodeling the property. The new Barn Coop is in the same location as the little coop picture above; however we have built a patio slab and patio roof to protect it from weather. I just walk out the sliding door to collect eggs every day without having to worry about getting soaked in the rain or having to deal with rain leaking into the coop!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Quote: Yes... A good rule of thumb is that if a 5 or 6 year old child can figure it out a raccoon can figure it out...

There was an excellent study by Cole in 1907 about how well they can manage and defeat 'locking devices' it's a long read but a good one, especially the locking device section... What I find incredibly interesting was that the raccoons not only learned how to defeat the locks but they also learned in what order they needed to do the locks for it to work, but even one year later with no practice or seeing the locks they were able to figure out the locks in nearly the same amount of time with the same level of accuracy, meaning they have a high degree of memory retention once they figure something out...

https://archive.org/stream/jstor-1412576/1412576_djvu.txt
raccoons are tough smart voracious critters that will kill for the fun of it

 

[Sylvester017]

raccoons are tough smart voracious critters that will kill for the fun of it

Raccoons' adrenalin is heightened by the frantic panic of their prey which makes it look like they kill just for fun. Raccoons like many animals are territorial and killing chickens, or cats, or any other easy prey, means there is more food left that won't be consumed by the animals they kill. That's why they murder and often don't eat their kills. They only want to eliminate the competition of other animals that are perceived as encroaching on the territorial food supply. Stupid raccoons love eating eggs and by killing off chickens don't realize they are killing off their egg food source too!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Never heard me say they are genius right

 

[Pundamilia]

Hi @penny1960

I was responding to someone who asked if I had plans for my coop. It wasn't just a random statement - sorry for misunderstanding.

 

[Milagro02]

Milagro02, As long as those down feathers are not wet or damp they do a superb job as insulation...nice and toasty. Get them wet and they mat down and become more or less useless. Thus the preceding cautions (by several) about providing adequate ventilation. Moisture *will* build up in badly ventilated coops. Drafts and ventilation are two different things. Drafts can be deadly for chickens but lack of ventilation can, too. Ventilation can be looked at as an "air exchange"...an exchange of moist ammonia-laden air for fresh outside air. Many folks provide ventilation that is located above the chickens' heads so that no draft blows upon the birds. Another way is to have a deep coop fairly well sealed on one end (the roost end) and an open end at the opposite side...more of an open air coop that has a large expanse of opening for air exchange but still provides a protective pocket of air at the back of the structure for the birds to get out of the wind and precipitation.


A concern of mine with this setup is your reported depth of snowfall. How will you get to the chickens for regular maintenance...feeding, watering, egg-retrieval, litter management, etc.,? It seems to me that you will need some type of a sloped roof...3-4 feet of snow would reach toward the top of the latticework, wouldn't it?...might take a substantial roof to provide working headroom.

Is the drip line of the roof toward the near wall (not over the steps)? Do you walk down those steps when there's 3-4 feet of snow? Will you walk down them *every* day there is 3-4 feet of snow to check on the chickens? Sylvestor017's ideas of building a roof over the area isn't a bad one.

The challenges that I see... Keeping water from freezing. Creating a draft-free, but ventilated coop. Assuring access to the coop for management.

The coop design is a good use of space *if* the space can be used in your particular environment and weather conditions.

Best wishes,
Ed

@Intheswamp had some excellent points/thought provokers.

You aren't even 160 km north of me and my chickens are fine with no heat. BUT their coop is a converted horse stall in an ancient barn so there is plenty of air movement without any part of the coop being exposed to the weather. Thus you will have to work harder to make sure there is ventilation without air and snow blowing on the birds on the roost. Snow is a very good insulator, your issue will be in keeping it out of the coop while maintaining adequate open ventilation ports.

Still, unfrozen winter water is a big deal for me and anyone else that lives where it goes much below freezing. I ASSUME that white PVC pipe connected to the black pipe is the water source? I guarantee you, aquarium heater in the vertical pipe or no, those pipes will be solid ice when it gets cold, and cold in this case means likely -5C or even warmer given the distance from the white pipe to the heater. You will have cracked PVC pipe and when it thaws, water running everywhere.

You can search this site for winter water ideas. When it gets down to those -20C, -30C temps no heated water dish is going to keep up. What I did was build a water pipe with nipples (*) built into the underside of the 4' long nest box (maintenance mistake there) insulated by rigid foam. That is connected by clear tubing to a 5 gallon Igloo drink cooler ('self insulated') directly on the other side of the coop wall (outside the coop so easy access to add water). The cooler is in a cheesy plywood box that also has some rigid insulation though not all that well insulated. Inside the cooler is a really small reptile waterfall pump that continuously circulates the water through the tubing from one end of the pipe and back to the cooler from the other end. I have a 250W stock tank heater in the cooler that keeps the nipples from freezing down to about -10C. It is self regulating, meaning it turns itself on and off based on the water temp. Below that I turn on an aquarium heater set to about 24C and that usually keeps the nipples from freezing down to probably -30C.

* I have saddle nipples but people have seemed to find that the horizontal nipples are less likely to freeze. If I ever rework the system, I'll try the horizontal nipples, there is a lot of distance between the pin and the pipe in the saddle nipples which makes it harder to keep warm water in contact with the pins.

Maybe you need a trap door in the porch floor for easy access to your chickens

Good luck!

MG, listen to what Bruce is saying as he has to deal with much the same weather as you do. I've never had to contend with the temperatures and snowfall that ya'll deal with....down here a one or two inch snow can get folks a mite confused.

Some thoughts... Without a lot of construction, it might be better for your water to use a basic bucket-type waterer in the winter...two of them and rotate them out each day. You might consider a cookie-tin water heater. Basically a metal cookie box with a incandescent lightbulb burning inside and the chicken waterer sitting on top of it...simple construction...check the forum for examples.

If you could lean some 2x4's up against the house and brace them at ground level against the edge of the sidewalk you could stretch a tarp over the structure. This would basically created a lean-to protecting that side of the coop. You could go further and put an upright post or two on the open triangle and stretch plastic/tarp over that end. The opening against the house could be used for your entrance. That would create sort of a vestibule area to work in. The rest of the latticework coop walls could be covered with plastic sheeting...but not to the degree that you create a sealed environment...a poor job of sealing would be the best job. BUT, insure the roosting area isn't drafty...shielded from the wind but open to the air of the rest of the coop. The vestibule area should allow plenty of air in. Standard recommendation is for one square foot of permanent ventilation per chicken...more is better (as long as it's not drafty). In the summer more ventilation is definitely better!



Best wishes,
Ed

I was thinking of some type of construction like this but trying to figure out a way to not block the nestbox door.

Also, I figured that my watering system was more suitable for about 12hens than just 2 silly me thinking that they drink a gallon each per day. Got the tin can, got the bowl, only need those lightbulb that generate heat.. not that easy anymore to find with all those LEDs.

I'll let you know how winter's going when we get there

Thanks for the infos and the ideas, they are much apreciated