I told my son his room stinks he just closed the door!
Tour de Coop - Let's see them!
LMAO
That is one of my girls too. She is too busy to clean it up. She plays the "Youngest" card. I need help! Dosnt work though!!!!
sewin your coop is superb! Praise to your husband for such fine carpentry. I know you will enjoy it along with your flock.
INN How are your chickens doing?
Thank you InnBetween! I will tell my husband. He loves to here compliments. It really keeps him going and encourages him. He really worked hard. I am thankful.
Your is huge. The mansion for chickens. Do you clip wings??? The fence does not look that high. Is it 4 ft? Mine is 6 ft and they fly right out. I think they r part pigeon. They taunted me until we put the wire roof on the run. They would wait til I got in the house then fly to the top of the fence and look around. I would go out and scold them and put them back down on the ground. They really wouldnt go far though. Their man is bottom heavy and cant fly at all. How do you keep yours in? My only solution was the wire roof. It is needed anyway because of preditors.
My girls will fly a 4 foot fence in no time. There is one of the three that is more adventurous. She always leaves first, then she beckons for the others to follow. I read they wouldn't fly as much as they plump up. So now that they are getting their winter fat, I'm hoping they will stop. Then again, I'm also putting a top on their run for when I have to leave -- aka Thanksgiving.
The leader of the gang huh? She is guilty as charged, wreckless endgangerment of fellow chickens! Too funny. There is always one in the bunch. That was always my smudge. She would start the trend and then...monkey (chicken) see monkey (chicken) do! So when you leave you are putting on a top? what type? wire?
There are several reasons I had to put a top on mine though. Preditors is #1. My DH does landscaping (soft and hard) for a living and we just bought this house not too long ago and he just put in all the landscaping. He hates to come home to holes in the scape and mulch thrown threw the lawn. LOLThey dig up the flowers and everything! Its cute to watch but not fun to try and fix before DH gets home. My neihgborhood dogs often stop by for treats also. They are good around the chickens when I am out there but they chase them when I am in the house. It stresses them out. :( So its lock up! For their own good. Is a 20x10 run big enough for 15 chickens? What is the rule of thumb there?
My girls typically have free range of the yard. My husband is a stay at home dad and artist with a home studio. Our yard is fenced, so there are no unexpected visitors. My neighbor has had issues with heron and hawks with his koi and doves, but I haven't seen one yet.
My long term goal is to have half of the run covered with the corrugated clear plastic, so that they have somewhere dry to hang out on really rainy days, and the other half covered with poultry netting or chicken wire.
Since T-Day is only a week away, I'll probably throw up whatever I have over the weekend -- I'll take a pic and post it when I'm done. My main goal for now is to keep them out of trouble while there is no one around to supervise during the day. The same neighbor is going to come over and let them in and out of their hen house at dawn and dusk.
I'm not sure about space requirements for a run. I know a hen house is 2-4 sq ft per bird, depending on bird size. The one thing can watch for is boredom (which leads to feather plucking) and a really messing run. My run is approximately 10'x7' and they are only being kept in that when we are not around to supervise and I have less birds, but I notice they get bored and start picking on each other more when they are left in there. --I'm trying to think of things to leave to keep them occupied over T-Day.
Chicken play ground? Anything new they spend time checking it out.
Your chickens are lucky to have free range though. Mine would love it. They use to before the coop and run were done. I use to let them out for several hours a day.
Maybe you dont see the heron and hawks because your nieghbor is keeping them busy. :/
Poor koi!
bump (for green)
I LOVE the coops! All of them. We started in the spring, mostly finished in the fall. Got one coat of primer on the outside and barely a coat of color before the hard freeze set it. I thought i was going for practical, but i guess i was going for funky. Maybe we can re-engineer in the spring. Yesterday i dragged a bazillion-foot exterior extension cord so i could keep them warm at night. I'll have to get more pix of the interior. This is DBiL (brother-in-law) with scrap door from the garage.
Oh Wow Toltin - I love the curved roof and all - that is so cute! It is just adorable and I am sure the chickens love it. I didn't get mine painted either before the freeze set in. The best laid plans of women and hens...
That is so cute! A little gingerbread house! Happy chickens!
Toltin,
we thought about doing one with a sunken roof like that. yours looks like it turned out beautifully! I just love it! thanks for sharing! Can't wait to see pics when it has siding and the door's on. :-)
Heres my new Amish made coop.
Inside its divided down the middle...one side for the birds and the other side for feed n' stuff.
Love it!
Oh Cottage Rose! I love it! How very handy to have that other side right there! No traipsing back and forth from one building to another with feed. Very useful. Did they build it for you on site or did you have it transported?
Very nice Cottage! The convenience of that added room. I am green with envy!
Alvin made it to my specs on his property and it was delivered on a big flat bad trailer. On the other end, that you can't see it has a little chicken door and another window. I do like the storage side. I have all my grain for all my birds stored in galvanized garbage cans that hold 50-100# of feed each. Plus I have 1/3 of the storage side partitioned off for my 12 Marans chicks. I have tarp over their area with 2 - 250 heat lamps and its keeping them plenty warm even though we've been having bitter cold weather.
I just feel sorry for the little buggers living like that all winter. :(
This coop is just for my chickens.
I also have an old shed we use to have for our horses (that we no longer have) that is now used for my ducks and geese.
It has 6 box stalls with an isle down the middle where they all go in at night. They all know which stall is theirs. Plus I have 2 - 75' x 50' loafing pens off one end of the building and another 25' x 25' breeding pen on the side of the shed and my hubby built me 3 new breedings pens this past summer. I still want to make another 75' x 50' pen for the raising my goslings.
One can never have too many pens. ;o)
Despite all the pens my birds free range as much as possible.
Heres one of the pens...
Back of the shed that opens into the big pens.
Wonder if I got them a nice pool like that would ducks stay out of DD's?
My ducks and geese love their pools.
I have one in each pen and 2 out where they free range.
They get filled with fresh water daily, except during the most bitter cold weather. Its important for waterfowl to have water to bathe in to keep their feathers in good condition.
I also use these black rubber tubs which you can stomp on to get frozen ice out of.
I put up 2 ft high garden fencing, creating bounderies to keep my birds away from my house, lawn and garden areas.
We have a driveway going through the bird space. I'm still puzzling out how to corral them without closing off the parentals' driveway...
Here is my chicken house. We call it the :"Petite Trianon du Poulet" after
Marie Antoinettes Petite Trianon at Versaille.
Anyhow, thats how it seems to me and the chickens. : )
We have a divided section in it with separate doors for baby chicks, and
meat birds, we keep them separate from the laying hens.
Our roost is high, over 6 feet, and very rough barked limbs. The chickens
love it! They are safe at night. The turkey (Pete) sleeps on a roost
in front of the nest boxes, she can't make it up to the big girls roosts.
I have the limbs set up 12 " apart, and 3" down from each other. We have
big chickens, and don't want anyone to be pooping on anyone else. Underneath,
it is easy to rake out the dried festering poo. ugh. we now have a sand base
in the chicken house, and that keeps it much drier than the dirt and straw
we had last year.
The door windows mostly have broken out, so we need to put some plastic over
them. That door is wobbly! LOL.
This winter I have the waterer outside the chicken house, to encourage them
to get out more during the day. Also, the feed bowls are outside to get em out.
this year we took down the 4" high cattle fencing surroun ding the chicken
pasture. It wasn't doing anything anyhow. They just flew right over it, and I
can't keep up with the chicken feather cuttings. I get confused over who got
cut feathers. DH wants to put up very tall poles this year and make the
chciken yard 6' hight, but even that they can fly right over. I guess the
only solution is to cut their flight feathers. sigh. I got some high flying chickens
and ducks! My Mallard girl flys around the house and yard, in the autumn
she flew about 50' high and around about 5 acres, with dear husband runner
duck calling piteously from the ground. I don't think she is going to leave him
after all.
Sheri
A great coop! And I love the name! Marie Antoinette would be proud! LOL! A few years ago I spent New Years Eve at a restaurant by the Trianon, and it was divine. One of those nights I will never forget.
I have the same issue with the cattle panels - they just keep the goats in - the chickens go where they like!
Hi everyone, I forgot all about this thread. It's great to see all the coops. We all have very lucky chickies. My fence is about 4 ft. I clip wings when they are young and then they don't know they can fly over. Except for my Andalusians. They fly everywhere and I just gave up. you asked how my chickens were. most are doing ok, but I have a few that are coughing. I also have 3 that I think are coming down with wet pox. I am going to vaccinate the whole croud this coming week. What a job. 200 birds. I am going to vaccinate for broncitis and pox as well while I'm at it.
Hope everyone elses are doing well.
Here is the "playhouse" I'm building.. still workin on it.. but it's getting there.. a weekend project.. and I'm doing it alone, so it's slow.
It's not huge, but perfect for the bantams or a small breeding pen. I'm putting the corrugated panels on the roof now.. I will be adding 2 external nest boxes later.. I need to use it real soon.. so I may be using it before I put in the nest boxes.
This will be the inside..
Very nice ZZ!
Wow ZZ you do beautiful work. Is the wood stained? That's just gorgeous.
Thank you! L_L
L4Jesus, I used Thompson's Water seal.. red something.. I can't remember the name.. It makes it a nice stained look.. and water beads right off! I used a towel to rub it in.. a gallon was way more than enough.
It's great looking at all your coops but it would help to know how many chickens the various types hold. We usually have between forty and fifty hens, and we need to build a new coop for them. Our old one was on site when we bought our place in 1972 so it doesn't owe us a thing.
We have also been having trouble with predation recently - redtails and Cooper's hawks in particular. It has eased up since we put the geese back with our chickens, but our new coop should have a covered run for the young ones now. For our last batch, the older hens were very aggressive when we mingled the chicks in with the others, and until we figured out a better way of feeding them the young ones, especially the salmon favorelles, just didn't put any weight on. So we also want a way to keep them separate for a longer period of time. Lots of things to think about!
By the way, Lazy_Ladies, I'm a painter too, with a detached studio across the driveway.
Greenhouse_gal, I saw in one of the books a "creep" feeder.. like we use for the horses in pasture.. the openings are too small for the bigger ones to get in.. the feed is inside and the smaller ones can fit through the slats easy.
Here is a link to a site with a lot of free plans. The links are at the bottom on the left.. There are a lot of sites there.. Gives you some good ideas.
Even with purchased plans.. there are a lot of things that come to mind that you'd like to change.. so my advice is to PLAN 10 times more than you think you need to! LOL
http://www.freechickencoopplans.com/
ZZ. Its turning out to be so nice. You sure are a handy person!!!
Thank you Sewin!! It's almost done and I can't WAIT!!
LOOKS AWESOME!!!!
Wow. Not postin mine after this listing!!!
LOL *blushin* LOL
Really.. the floor is butcher block tile.. it's getting out of hand.. I need to move it and get some chickens in it.. (so I can start on the next one)
The door inside can be opened by lifting the chain and hookin it on the ring at the top.
All I need to do now is that ridge at the top, some trim and the nest box.. I reeeeealy wanted it to be done today.. but it was pourin rain and I had to do the Santa thing with the kids..
See that exterior siding up against the house? That's already cut for the next one... LOL I love these lil things!
AND I love building.. it's such a blast.. until I can't figure out what to do..
You certainly are good at it zz. Did you make the door too? It's stunning. How did you learn to do that? I need some lessons.