post your chicken coop pictures here!

[TJordan]

Well. The old broken roof is gone, we chainsawed the trees and bushes from our desired run area and we are going to leave the half built coop where it sits vs trying to move it. Thank God for that.

Now.... we need to build up the fence by about 3-4 feet, cover that with bird betting and complete the coop. Anyone want to donate $$$ for the final stages

Oh and one of my silkies figured out he was a rooster this afternoon. Crowing comp between my large black australorp and my bantam when suddenly he looked around and crowed. Those other two Roos stopped and looked at him like

what the?!!!

 

[bruceha2000]

I've got to come up with a coop plan for my Seramas....don't think I want to have them in the front porch all winter....noticed a cloud of bedding coming from the window side of the cages....the little red pullet was having a good time taking a dust bath....wow what a mess! They need to go outside....with supplemental heat....but out!

Why do they need supplemental heat? If they are fully feathered they already have the means to keep themselves warm.

 

[TJordan]

Why do they need supplemental heat? If they are fully feathered they already have the means to keep themselves warm.

I agree. Just make sure they have a roost bar OFF the ground. I use 2"x4"s on the 4" side. Plenty of room and they can cover toes completely.
Just please don't use a red heat lamp. If you want heat then I suggest one of those brooder setups or just place some big, flat rocks in the direct sun every day and put them in there for heat.

 

[cavemanrich]

Quote:

Quote:
Bruce, I can see you are in cold country, Jordan, You are not. Does Bruce own seramas and keep them in outdoor coop?
I have had seramas in the past. My avatar shows one of them. I house my chickens during winter inside Garage, with a wood stove maintaining temps at or above freezing.
Poppster, you are way up north , It does get mity chilly in the winter. If you are willing to gamble freeze dried seramas, it's your choice. I'm going with Jordans second part answer. Set up something like a brooder. The heated cave option set to low would be my choice. Seramas do not have much mass in their small body. As far as I know, they are a tropical breed so not very cold hardy. Maybe they all wont die?

 

[TJordan]

 


 


Bruce,  I can see you are in cold country,  Jordan, You are not.    Does Bruce own seramas and keep them in outdoor coop?
I have had seramas in the past. My avatar shows one of them.  I house my chickens during winter inside Garage, with a wood stove maintaining temps at or above freezing.
Poppster, you are way up north ,  It does get mity chilly in the winter.  If you are willing to gamble freeze dried seramas, it's your choice.   I'm going with Jordans second part answer.  Set up something like a brooder.  The heated cave option set to low would be my choice.   Seramas do not have much mass in their small body. As far as I know, they are a tropical breed so not very cold hardy.  Maybe they all wont die?

True. I'm in south Alabama. I just had a coop fire this spring and that's why I say avoid red bulb lamps. To easy to lose everything.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

Check out the educational incubating and hatching thread Sally just shared a great way to provide a heat source for chicken coops

 

[cavemanrich]

True. I'm in south Alabama. I just had a coop fire this spring and that's why I say avoid red bulb lamps. To easy to lose everything.

Sorry to hear about your fire loss. I read many of your posts here, but do not remember reading fire. You did make an effort to get help with your coop. If I lived near your locale I certainly would stop by and offer to help/share extra materials that I do have. Try Craigs list for things that you may get free or very reasonably priced. I am very much into repurposing things. My coop is a LIL Tykes Childrens playhouse.
Here is a pix. Obviously nothing to brag about but it works. I only keep chickens as PETS.

 

[TJordan]

Sorry to hear about your fire loss. I read many of your posts here, but do not remember reading fire. You did make an effort to get help with your coop. If I lived near your locale I certainly would stop by and offer to help/share extra materials that I do have. Try Craigs list for things that you may get free or very reasonably priced. I am very much into repurposing things. My coop is a LIL Tykes Childrens playhouse. Here is a pix. Obviously nothing to brag about but it works. I only keep chickens as PETS.

Thanks

we had everything we thought we needed but some of our wood was 'borrowed' don't ask.... men!!!

anyway. We are doing the set up and have the frame and 3 of the 4 walls up on the coop so far. The wood for the roof needs to be replaced. I told him to just get plastic or sheet metal but idk. Well. Pray things get moving soon. My girls have started laying some. First 1 going strong. Second started with 1. Tastes good

 

[bruceha2000]

Quote:
Bruce, I can see you are in cold country, Jordan, You are not. Does Bruce own seramas and keep them in outdoor coop?
I have had seramas in the past. My avatar shows one of them. I house my chickens during winter inside Garage, with a wood stove maintaining temps at or above freezing.
Poppster, you are way up north , It does get mity chilly in the winter. If you are willing to gamble freeze dried seramas, it's your choice. I'm going with Jordans second part answer. Set up something like a brooder. The heated cave option set to low would be my choice. Seramas do not have much mass in their small body. As far as I know, they are a tropical breed so not very cold hardy. Maybe they all wont die?

It is fair to say that I have never had a Serema

I did have 2 Cubalayas though (*). They are similarly a "game bird" type, originating in Cuba. They did fine in the unheated coop/barn/outside even when it got down to near -20F. At those temps, it is often colder in the barn during the day than it is outside in the sun. None of my girls like snow (other than to eat it off my boots!) so they hang in the barn a lot during the winter. They make little "day beds" in the shavings on the dirt floor of the barn alley. They also make many dust bath craters there. But they always go up on the roosts in the coop (converted horse stall) for the night. BTW, this is a VERY old barn and not at all air tight. And the upper 3' of the stall is open (2x4 wire and 1/2" hardware cloth covered) on 3 sides, wood on the back. There is no wind blowing through the coop but there is no way the birds are heating it with their little bodies. They COULD choose to sleep in the nest boxes but they don't (I am happy about that, chickens poop all night).

I have to ASSUME that Seremas, like other birds, have down under their outer feathers. At very cold temps, my Cubalayas were as big as my other hens are in the summer. In the summer, they are about 2/3 the size of the other girls when none of them are "puffed" for trapping heat.

Like TJordan, I am quite leery of heat lamps in a coop. The fire danger is real as she has experienced.

* #$%^ raccoon killed them this last summer at 4 Y/O. One known, the other assumed.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Finally working on the coop again LOL putting in windows today