post your chicken coop pictures here!

Thanks for the quick responses from Junebuggena, MeepBeep and Sylvester017 on my ventilation issue. Hadn't really put a lot of thought into it when building as is my first coop and was more concerned with trying to keep them warm in our South Dakota climate that varies from 100+ in the summer with high humidity and down to 20 below winters. Because I don't plan on getting birds until next year I have time to fix this issue. My plans for coop placement puts it on the north side of my back shop to avoid the summer sun and hot south winds but will face northerly winds in the winter. Placing it facing north does keep the wind from blowing through as the current vents are facing east and west (rarely do we get an east wind but sometimes do get a westerly). Being out on the plains it is not uncommon to get winds going 30-40+ mph and will either freeze you in a New York second or disintegrate you in the same. My question is where would you suggest my added ventilation be placed? I did add up my square inches and they are1134 total. 426 upper end vents, 576 clean out door and 132 for the guillotine door. Any and all feedback appreciated.
What you have is what I would think is a common problem with small coops in cold climates. With a small coop it can be difficult to create an area where the chickens can have ventilation but still stay out the draft. In my view the best option to get a good air exchange going without undue draft is to have a long and deep coop with the ventilation on one end and the roost area at the other which would create something akin to a "pocket" of protected space in the roost area. This is basically what P.T. Woods and H.H. Stoddard designed for their fresh air poultry house styles...deep pockets of protected space but with a large expanse of screened window to allow warm moist air to escape and for fresh air to enter. This is not like a flow of air through the coop that passes from end-to-end but rather a more subtle exchange of good air for bad air at one end of the coop....from many peoples reports it works quiet well. In your area of strong wind and severe cold I believe a setup like this would work well for you. You may wish to build a baffle of sorts to place in front of the vents to help block blowing snow from entering. In the summer simply open all vents and maybe replace the solid door with a screened one.

Since you have some time you might want to read P.T. Woods "Open Air Poultry Houses for all Climates". The book that is linked to is the public domain version, there is another version with a few refinements to it that is printed by Plamondon Press that can be purchased in print (I like paper so I bought it :) ). Here's the link to the free one... https://books.google.com/books?id=o...=onepage&q=stoddard fresh air poultry&f=false

Hopefully this will help and hopefully even more that I haven't been too confusing.
Best wishes,
Ed
 
Here are the last of my build pictures it is complete now kind of. I pressure washed it today and in a couple days I will spray some wood preservative on it but all construction is now done. The last step was trim and bats on the board and bat siding. I am so glad it is done and I am still waiting for that first egg they are 17 weeks old now. That coop looks AMAZING! I wish i could build a coop like that for my chickens.... Mike
 
That is BEAUTIFUL! The dark brown looks really sharp on it and i like how to roofing part is clear so the chickens get more sunlight during thebday.
I'm pretty new to the game here. I built my coop and got my first chicks earlier this year. My coop is almost entirely made from free recycled materials (almost all of the lumber and lots of odds and ends came from a Haunted House attraction that was being torn down just north of where I live). My wife and I had a blast building it and will post more detail in the "Coops" section as soon as my account is cleared to do so. Until then, here are a few pictures! [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR]
 
I'm pretty new to the game here. I built my coop and got my first chicks earlier this year. My coop is almost entirely made from free recycled materials (almost all of the lumber and lots of odds and ends came from a Haunted House attraction that was being torn down just north of where I live). My wife and I had a blast building it and will post more detail in the "Coops" section as soon as my account is cleared to do so. Until then, here are a few pictures!


Good planning! Having a roofline over the egg box and the open window during rainy days will be nice. A log stump or old chair or child's small table will give the hens a place to sit/stand should the pen floor get muddy in rain. Paver stone walk to keep shoes from mud while collecting eggs and it's done! Will the hens have opportunities for some free-ranging?
 
Chicken update
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I think the last bits we need is another roost another set of nest boxes a dust bath area and a roof over the run cause it rains a lot here
 
Chicken update




















I think the last bits we need is another roost another set of nest boxes a dust bath area and a roof over the run cause it rains a lot here

Don't know how tall your run is but we used a pop-up canopy over ours with legs buried a little into the ground so it didn't para-sail in the wind. We tried to get away with just a heavy tarp over the coop/run but found the canopy less hassle and we didn't have to stand in the rain to collect eggs.
 
I'm pretty new to the game here. I built my coop and got my first chicks earlier this year. My coop is almost entirely made from free recycled materials (almost all of the lumber and lots of odds and ends came from a Haunted House attraction that was being torn down just north of where I live). My wife and I had a blast building it and will post more detail in the "Coops" section as soon as my account is cleared to do so. Until then, here are a few pictures!
















Wow Nice tj Looks like you really got it together making a really nice coop for your chickens. Theres light and shade with a safe fence to keep other dogs out behind. It's simple but well thought out. You have a nice door to walk in to clean the run and a big door on the coop for cleaning. Your chickens are so lucky. Are you a carpenter?
 
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We had to put her down though due to water of the lungs so you will have to update me with what color of eggs she will lay I was so excited to see what color she would lay but then the unthinkable happened
 

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