Chicken Coop

I finally got back to scrapping last night after a week of building this chicken coop. My wife thought it was a good idea to get the kids some chicks for Easter, and I thought great another job for me to do. Although I enjoy keeping busy outside of the house, and chickens are a pretty easy animal to care for.

And after i was finished sweeping the mess, I took a magnet to it. Something I have not done in the past. Thanks for the changes everyone.

Nice, could be a weekend retreat for the wife, skip the chickens. Mike.

thanks guys.

I'm hoping the springer stays clear of the chickens, being he is a bird dog.

Originally Posted by devo

Nice job. I built one for my sister a couple years ago, but it didn't look as nice as yours. The one I made sat on 4x4 skids so she could tow it to different parts of her orchard with her little tractor. Worked out great for controlling the bugs in the orchard.

That would be bad, you go out to eat a few bugs and when you come back your house is gone! lol

chicken poop is a great addition to your compost heap, if you have one.

Originally Posted by ScrapYaHerd

Chickens are also great garden cleaners, nice coop do you let them roam 24/7 or just during the day?

Nice coop!

Turn my 6 chickens loose on the garden and within a half hour there will be no garden left!
When the sun starts to set they will return to the coop on there own. It must be locked up or critters will try to get the chickens!

Bravo I see you used field fence. Be sure where they sleep is closed in with hardware cloth. Coons will reach in through and rip the chickens through the fence at night if they can reach them. The chickens will not even try to move once it is dark they sleep.

Originally Posted by happyscraper

Free eggs!!!~

On the Back Yard Chicken Forum a guy did the math after building the coop getting the Waterers and feeders, the food, lights for the chicks and all the other goodies he figured the first dozen of eggs cost him about $400.00

I have topped the $400 so far. When we got the chicks, my wife says, "oh they are cheep." Hmm. Hope we have extra eggs to sell...like over a hundred dozen or so.

I thought about building more coops to sell but not at this moment.

The coop is right next to the garden. I am hoping that the chickens don't rip it up, but rather just eat all the bugs in it. Wishful thinking?

The plan is to let them out every morning and locking them up every night. You think raccoons will be able to get their hands through the wire in the window?

Originally Posted by jbravo54

I have topped the $400 so far. When we got the chicks, my wife says, "oh they are cheep." Hmm. Hope we have extra eggs to sell...like over a hundred dozen or so.

I thought about building more coops to sell but not at this moment.

The coop is right next to the garden. I am hoping that the chickens don't rip it up, but rather just eat all the bugs in it. Wishful thinking?

The plan is to let them out every morning and locking them up every night. You think raccoons will be able to get their hands through the wire in the window?

Yes if a chicken is sleeping near the window a coon will rip em right through. Hardware cloth 1/2"x1/2" will do the job.

Check out Backyardchickens, it is a forum also, but be warned you think these scrappers can be critical wait till you see them cackling hens over there rip into someone! Great info and lots of help there.

You can put up just one row of chicken wire around your garden and they will just walk right by. I let mine out and went in for a beer come out a short time later and they tore everything up, they don't know good plants from weeds! Tomato plants are poisonous to them.

Did you get bantams or full sized? I started with 25 straight run (not sexed) chicks that came in the mail. Went to feed store and ended up with like 6 more from there while getting food. Eleven of them turned out to be roos, I had to dispatch them but kept the quietest one. That one soon learned he was the lone Rooster and got loud fast, I found him a nice farm to move to.

This was 8 years ago! I still have 6 after all this time. They slow down laying after 3 or 4 years, most folks dispatch them as the feed cost more then the eggs produced after a while, but I can not do that. If you want them just for egg production then don't name them! Mine are pets and get along with my chihuahuas and cat.

Good luck they are cool.

Warning they have dippers for house chickens on that forum, and for God sake don't mention PETA, Lol