What are your coop regrets?

[mainely-chick]

A suggestion that has worked out terrific for me was
adding a droppings pit under the roosts - rest of coop
stays relatively clean and is a snap to shovel out
Good Luck

 

[coffeelady3]

Hey Jen,

One bit of advice I have for you is to go visit the Habitat for Humanity Restore for supplies before going to the big box store. I found a whole lotta stuff really cheap. Hinges, closures, screws, drill bits, paint (the paint I got was a whole 50 cents!). There wasn't that much wood, but I saved a bunch on incidentals.

 

[jessica117]

As so many others have said, I wish mine was bigger. We've already doubled it once and are collecting supplies to double that.

Jess

 

[PoultryPedia]

Love, love, love, love, LOVE my chicken coops! That could be because I've personally invested close to...um...probably 150 hours...in them

in addition to the many hours invested previously by others.
The only 3 things I would change:
1. Make sure that I could easily access every part of the coop where a chicken could be.
2. Not say "Oh, don't bother" to my husband who was going to cut holes and install screens on the cupboard doors we have on the front of one pen (That would have let in a lot more light, let us see chickens more easily, & let them look around more freely).
3. Not spend 150 hours on coops!

 

[La Banan]

Quote:
Ha Ha! In case you are serious DH means Dear Husband and DBF - Dear Boy Friend or Dear Best Friend. I avoid these and the one that means you are laughing (by the way does anyone really laugh not out loud?). I use "my guy" or "Ron", and for my best friend - I have never found it too much trouble to spell it out and she would do the same for me. Of course I am not legally married to my guy so maybe if I was I would call him DH but I doubt it - I was married before and never called that guy - my "hubby" as many did back in the day.

Thanks for allowing me to spill on this topic!

 

[Oblio13]

Quote:
Ha Ha! In case you are serious DH means Dear Husband and DBF - Dear Boy Friend or Dear Best Friend. I avoid these and the one that means you are laughing (by the way does anyone really laugh not out loud?). I use "my guy" or "Ron", and for my best friend - I have never found it too much trouble to spell it out and she would do the same for me. Of course I am not legally married to my guy so maybe if I was I would call him DH but I doubt it - I was married before and never called that guy - my "hubby" as many did back in the day.

I call my wife "DP" - Disposable Plaything.

 

[La Banan]

Quote:
Ha Ha! In case you are serious DH means Dear Husband and DBF - Dear Boy Friend or Dear Best Friend. I avoid these and the one that means you are laughing (by the way does anyone really laugh not out loud?). I use "my guy" or "Ron", and for my best friend - I have never found it too much trouble to spell it out and she would do the same for me. Of course I am not legally married to my guy so maybe if I was I would call him DH but I doubt it - I was married before and never called that guy - my "hubby" as many did back in the day.

I call my wife "DP" - Disposable Plaything.

YIKES! Ron isn't cheap and I can hardly get him to do anything - he builds houses for a living and doesn't take kindly to me assuming he'll build me a chicken coop especially as I keep telling him how he's going to! I have promised to not help him but to do the run without him - he hates digging.

 

[mylittlehof]

We used old windows from our house remodel and turned them upside down and opening outside - so the opening is on the top and we can raise and lower them from the outside. I have to prop a 2/4 under the window to keep them up, but in TX that is not needed too often - I stapled chicken wire across the opening of the window for protection. The windows give a lot of ventilation and light.

One thing I have had to modify is that at first we left the 2x4 solid at the door (to keep the shavings in). But I found that if I wanted to hose out the coop the water wouldn't go out, so I had to cut away an opening to spray the gunk through.