Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation "If we had some eggs,--"

I got mine on 2x8 PT. Ill take some more pics of the whole coop tomorrow, guess I misunderstood ya.coons have tried diggin underneath to no avail.

He didn't get in, that's the outside of the pen. Maybe you can make out rocks along the bottom of the fence area? To help keep the diggers out. And there's a 2x8 full dimension corral board behind that.

One of our dogs set up to barking one night, the dog yard is on the other side of the chicken yard. He has a special bark when there really is a critter out there and he's not just letting the neighborhood dogs know this is his world. I went out, he's looking through the chicken yard, I see the badger there on the other side in the flashlight glow. Between the dog barking and me yelling, I thought he'd take off. Nope, just looked at me and went back to sniffing around for a way in.

I went in, grabbed the shotgun and went out to where he was. Even from 6-8' away he had no intention of leaving, even when I got closer and pointed the barrel at his head. Just gave me that FU look. OK sucker, bye bye.

Not sure if he was the same one that lived in that woodpile for a while. Wood was left there by previous owner, included in our offer as we moved in here in November. I didn't want to be looking for firewood with real winter approaching. Badger wasn't a real issue then, as we didn't have chickens.




The fox story is another thing. Don't, I repeat DON'T, forget and leave the chicken yard gate open after you let them out to "free range" for the afternoon.

Nah, you did great with the pics. I wanted to see how your nest boxes were set up. And that shows up pretty good.

This is our coop when it was delivered. Little door on facing side it for the birds to get in and out at night. I leave it open as the coop itself sits inside that fenced in yard. Yard is 12'X28' or so? I'm looking for a good overall picture of the whole Gulag, as slumlord christened it



There is an access on the back side for the three nest boxes, but I like the looks of your set up better. I'll poke around for a pic of them too.

Always knew you had one in the wood pile!

Mighty purty coop there!

great pics

The Mennonites here are purty smart folks. We're 2 hours from the nearest "Tuff-Shed" type place, so they started a business to fill the local need for sheds and stuff. They make a wide variety of sheds, 3 sided horse/goat/yard equipment barns, and that coop and I may have seen a dog house or two there.

Cost was more than I planned on spending, but that pic was taking in mid March, my chicks were coming soon, the weather hadn't turned yet and I didn't want to do the 2 hr drive for reasonably priced materials and then have to build the damn thing in March weather. 3 days before that guy delivered it, there was 3" + of snow on that driveway.

So I decided a little local economic stimulus program was in order.

I'm short, but I'd love for that thing to be 2' taller for cleaning purposes. Other than that it works fine.

Thanks

OK , some better pics of the Gulag. Background info, I'm cheap. The posts were $8 a piece, juniper, likely outlive me. 2x8 full dimension corral boards around the bottom I picked up at the local Ace hardware, 14' long, for about $10 each a couple of years back. A whole stack of them in the parking lot marked down as some were getting a bit "bent". The rest of the lumber used was from the boneyard here on the 7Acre RANCH!, some was here when we got the place, some I think I may have brought down with me from my WA boneyard when I lived up there. Lumber racks are cool, handy items at times.

Back of the chicken yard is the fence for the backyard. 6' wire, 4" openings up high narrowing down to rabbit mesh (2"x4") below. I put the 1/2" hardware cloth and chicken wire over that in case a critter got in the dog yard and wanted to access the chicks that way. Not a good idea if the dogs are awake. Pallets to the right are the Gulag annex for the hen the rooster and the other hens tried to kill. She's got her own little house in there. One of my better layers so I had to save her.

Posts are 8' apart, chicken coop is about 8'x8' footprint. Notice the woodpile badger habitat is no longer next to the chicken yard.



Nest box door on side in the annex now.



Nest boxes:



Nothing special, good enough for my small herd of birds. If I was rich I'd have a bigger coop, easier to walk in, and a much nicer fenced area. Maybe uncle Joe will send us a much bigger stimulus check?

AMEN! Like my eggs fully cooked.

That's considered "overcooked" to many here!

But, some folks like okra too.

Okra is good fried.