re: Have you ever built a chicken coop?

12 hens will produce a bunch of eggs. I am going to give away what I can’t use. I have enough space for the chickens to roam when they are not in the coop. It’s fun to watch them from the porch while they scratch in the yard. I love to hear a rooster crow.

My sister in law gave 24 fertilized eggs to a teacher for her to incubate and hatch but once they hatch the pricipal told her she has to get rid of them. So i'll be getting 12 of those. Hopefully it's mostly hens. I only want one rooster so if there is more than 1, we gone fry dat chicken.

Build a chicken tractor.

Here's the one I built a few years ago. We had 5 hens in it and it was tight. For 12, you need a chicken yard not a coop.

This is mine:

yes built one. I let them out every morning to free range, and then shut the gate at night. Make sure it is plenty big enough for 12 birds, especially if you are leaving them in it 24/7. They will peck each other to death. Also make sure covered so owls, coons, etc cant get in at night. I have 7 hens and a rooster.. easiest way to build your run is, use dog kennel paneld from tractor supply. that id what i did. Link them together then build coop and attach to it

You are right abought raccoons being clever. I had one when I was a kid. We had a screen door latch with locking spring and he could reach through the wire to unlatch it. He wanted to visit my buddy’s coon, his brother. Their names were Leroy and Tyrone. Our school teacher wrote for the newspaper and wrote a feature story on the two. Could you imagine the uproar today.

Heard the governor is selling his to help cut down the budget deficit.

And here is a link to the Outdoor board thread with some good info...

LINK