post your chicken coop pictures here!

[cmccullough1390]

[COLOR=0000CD]That's a LOT of work and money but good to see the protective precautions ~ that wiring is probably the most expensive labor-intensive part of the build!!!  Hope the shed will be well ventilated even in winter with extra windows or vents?  One thing I found helpful in slushy rainy weather is to have a paver stone walkway or sidewalk from the house to the coop entrance to avoid sinking in muddy water.  Will the shed-coop have outside access to the nestbox area or will you be entering the coop for egg collections?  If egg collections are from inside the coop-shed some paver stones leading to the shed door will help during rainy days to stomp off mud from the boots before entering the coop.  Lots to think about and 5 yrs from now you'll still be modifying just as we've been doing LOL!  Have a pop-up canopy outside the run and put a couple folding chairs under it so you can sit and watch chicken TV while sipping lemonade!!![/COLOR]

I'll be going in and getting eggs I'll also be adding sand to the run eventually I like the paver stone idea I'll have to do that it rarely gets down to freezing here or over 99 degrees there are vents and I may add a heat lamp for winter

 

[FarmerPhronc]

I'll be going in and getting eggs I'll also be adding sand to the run eventually I like the paver stone idea I'll have to do that it rarely gets down to freezing here or over 99 degrees there are vents and I may add a heat lamp for winter

I wouldn't think you would need a heat lamp living in California especially when you say it rarely gets down to freezing. I live in the rocky mountains of Colorado. Seen it get down to -30 F. Never used a heat lamp and my ladies do just fine.

 

[perchie.girl]

I'll be going in and getting eggs I'll also be adding sand to the run eventually I like the paver stone idea I'll have to do that it rarely gets down to freezing here or over 99 degrees there are vents and I may add a heat lamp for winter

They really dont need a heat lamp especially if the coop is draft free and ventilated well. seems to be diametrically opposite but its not.

it gets below freezing in my neck of the woods and while I am in the desert it gets dang cold in the winter at night. I have coops that are simply dog kennels Tarps on top and wood on the sides that get the most wind. When rain or snow threatens to blow in I drop the tarp on the prevailing wind side to deflect... but my coops almost always have snow or rain in the bottoms.

I am due for a rebuild soon no chickens right now and aside from putting a real roof on I wont be changing anything.

deb

 

[bigmrg74]

thank you very much for your nice input, i will update my profile.

Yes, they were all day enjoying inside the coop and as soon as it started getting dark they all clustered by the door, they have been there for 6 hours at least, they seem healthy and ok. I imagine they are cold, because is not even pitch dark, theres a bulb some metres away that provides a little light inside the coop. Since this is their first night i dont know about the perches, a bunch of them napped during the day in the perches but thats it. Probably no reason to worry but seems odd.

No racoons in Kenya, predators are just cats, rats and maaaybe a dog, snakes are scarce too.

KARI is a pretty cool breed, they went all over the country researching local chickens, so they are very resistant to diseases and weather.

Finally, they will be mostly layers, cocks will be for meat definitely.

Thanks for your input

You near Mombasa? I had a roommate for a year in college here in the states that was from there.

Plenty of ventilation there in your coop, definitely what you would want with you being so close to the equator. Be sure to offer plenty of shady spots for your birds to hide out in. And adding a tree and/or tree branches that would offer an assortment of perches for them to climb and hop up on would be a great thing to have in the coop to give them stuff to do. with your sheet metal around the bottom of the coop, they wouldn't get to see much from the floor, but spots that would allow them to see out would be prime spots to be, along with allowing them to catch a little more of a breeze during the day.

 

[cmccullough1390]

They really dont need a heat lamp especially if the coop is draft free and ventilated well.   seems to be diametrically opposite but its not.

it gets below freezing in my neck of the woods and while I am in the desert it gets dang cold in the winter at night.   I have coops that are simply dog kennels   Tarps on top and wood on the sides that get the most wind.   When rain or snow threatens to blow in I drop the tarp on the prevailing wind side to deflect...  but my coops almost always have snow or rain in the bottoms.

I am due for a rebuild soon no chickens right now and aside from  putting a real roof on I wont be changing anything.

deb

Thanks for the advice I do plan on covering the run with something solid before the rain comes so it won't be a mud pit in thinking of doing 4 inches of peagravele then 4-6 inches of river bed sand in the run so it will drain well if water makes through the roof the coop is well ventilated I might add two more cents but that's all that needs

 

[msantamaria]

Hi, thanks for the replies.

I think we have it much easier here in Kenya than you guys in the States, weather is very stable. so here cold temp (at night) is no less than 15/20 celcius, and since im very close to the beach the wind is pretty good so weather during the day is sort of perfect, maybe a little windy at night but nothing too serious.

As for predators, we also have it very easy, most flocks i see roaming in the bushes just next to the street, pretty much no predators, stray dogs/cats are uncommon, thiefs are uncommon too (since Kenyans are not particularly nice to thiefs). So in my compound we have a wall surrounding it with a gate at the entrance, only cats would show up here but since we got a yard light and a dog they stopped coming. So i dont really worry too much about predators.

Their open range will be fenced (inside the compound), so i guess there are 2 fences in place for them, we dont want them all over the place in case they decide to come to the house or whatever.

I love the idea of reusing stuff for them to play in, i will be using more stuff to give them as toys.

Quote:

I live in Kilifi, arround an hour from Mombasa .

You make a very good point about them not being able to see enough of the outside, ill try to come up with something.

 

[Sylvester017]

I'll be going in and getting eggs I'll also be adding sand to the run eventually I like the paver stone idea I'll have to do that it rarely gets down to freezing here or over 99 degrees there are vents and I may add a heat lamp for winter

We've been using 12x12" paver stones to fill in dirt areas and keep down weeds. We live in pretty hot weather in SoCal but when it does finally rain the paver stones keep us from sinking in muddy dirt on the way to the chicken coop or toward their covered canopy area. Keeps chicken feet from getting real muddy too!

 

[ShellAndSteph]

We call it the chicken fortress. All hardware cloth, coated clothe 1 foot down, back filled with gravel since its on a slope. Then dirt, topped with sand and a little area with pea gravel. I love the easy maintenance of the sand floor. In Massachusetts .

 

[ShellAndSteph]

We call it the chicken fortress. All hardware cloth, coated clothe 1 foot down, back filled with gravel since its on a slope. Then dirt, topped with sand and a little area with pea gravel. I love the easy maintenance of the sand floor. In Massachusetts .

My run is in the woods. It is dirt and i use straw. What do you need to do to maintain the sand?

 

[Intheswamp]

We now have a hen hole, need a run. And chickens... It is SO hot here in NE Ohio...

Is there more ventilation than the pop door and the one window??

Ed