Hen House

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It doesn't matter the name....IT is a safe shelter for our poultry. Some here are lucky enough to get their building materials free in "scrap piles". Most of us end up paying as we go for our construction wants and needs. Sharing ideas may just suggest a way we can build better or cheaper housing.

These are a few pictures from different folks scattered about the country. Enjoy!

Crystal ~ Colorado~ First two pictures are a coop and pen for babies. Crystal has made them 2 little outdoor roosts. She covered it in chicken wire and window screen along the sides. A 4x8 sheet of plywood was used on the top and the side for shade. The coop is about to be expanded and made taller.

Second two pictures are carport turned bird pen. It's 10'x20'. The white canvas has 2 heavy duty zippers and Crystal uses one to get into the run. The coop itself is built just inside shelter which still needs to be closed in. It has small window screens on the other 2 sides. As you can see one of the birds is up on top of their outdoor roost. Another smaller roost is down below. It normally run 65 degrees at night so they are roosting outside at night. The roost is about 8 feet tall and right in the center of the run. No wild critter troubles so far.

Crystal used 2 hog panels and another part of a panel she had left over from another project. The run is 18' x 5'. You can't see it in the picture but they bent the extra piece of panel and rounded it to give them just a little more space. An extra 4x8 sheet of plywood was added to the top on the kennel so the top is now totally covered.

Lyn ~ Southern Missouri~ Hot humid summer weather on Bull Shoals Lake along with heavily wooded property adds to predator problems. Winter is cold with snow and ice. Lyn uses heated water bases and closed housing during the harsh winter time.

Arlene ~ Missouri~ Hot summer weather with harsh winters. Winter can bring frequent snow and ice.

The small shed is sectioned off and used on one side to store feed and poultry supplies (grit, oyster shell, waterers, etc.) in. It was used as a nursery but a place was needed for the steel cans of feed. The front view of the feed side also shows the gate entrance into the pen which is secured top and bottom at night.

The silkie coop is about 4'x5' with roosts near the floor. Kitty litter box covers or cat taxies are used for nesting boxes on the floor. It has a window and hatch door that opens into the common pen. The door and hatch is closed and secured at night but during extremely hot summer nights, Arlene removes the door and screw in a welded wire door that lets air circulate. Until this year there wasn't concern about predators but with the arrival of the black snake will have to reconsider it and make some changes.

This coop shares a common pen with the larger coop but during hatching season she keeps the hatch from the large coop shut so the guineas and large chickens use the chain link fenced pen to exit. This is to keep the buff roo and two bantam roos from cross breeding with the silkie hens.

The common pen has a tarp over the feeder side to keep it dry and on the opposite side is a blanket that is pulled down to keep the morning sun off the pen. The dog house is a haven for the small keets or chicks if they need to get away from the larger ones or if it's rainy, etc.

The large coop is 12'x10' and houses the adult and juvenile guineas and standard hens. Right now there are also a buff hen with 16 keets and about 10 or 12 silkies roosting over there. The metal nesting boxes are on the north wall of the large coop and were purchased on EBAY for $49 The roosts are made out of tree limbs and scrap lumber. The floor is wood and wood shavings and straw with DE for litter are used.

The guinea pen is on the back of the large coop and is actually a dog run made of chain link. The common pen and smaller coop is to the right. Hanging on the outside wall of the "guinea coop" picture is a folding welded wire pen that folds out to an 8" square that can hold smaller chicks or guineas. I have two of them.

The "Rear Coop" picture shows the pen side of the silkie coop and is in need of being replaced or major repair. You can see the small hatch door that I open in the morning to let them out. The "Shared Pen" picture shows another view of the common pen and just a small portion of the guinea house on the far left.

Gene ~ Oklahoma~ In order as they appear, Bird Motel, Community Building, Grade School, Nursery, Isolation, Kindergarten.

Jan ~Oklahoma~ Jan has some of the more unusual "names" in our group. This first group of pictures are of the Keet Keep.

Frank ~ Texas~ Frank has mild winters along with the usual hot summers of Texas.

Frank is working on adding lots more room for his flock. These are pictures of the current progress.

Vickie ~East Texas~ Hot summer weather with mild winters are what Vickie has to work around. She has a wonderful chicken house for her chickens and guineas. The latest addition (last two pictures) is her houses for the new broilers.

bren ~ North Texas~ Hot summers and mild winter weather allows bren to build more open housing. During cold windy weather a tarp is added to the front of the COOP and the other tarp is let down on the PEA PALACE. Both the coop and the palace have dirt floors.

I am going to house about 20 of my special colored guineas inside this pen. My two grand daughters are testing it.

Wes ~Central Texas~ The first are small tractors that are used to keep extra roos in or as isolation pens for new birds brought on the property. The second is a bigger tractor that once housed the frizzle roo and hen that were killed by fire ants a month or so ago. The third one is barred rock coop. The fourth one is bantam cottages and is a combination of 5, 4x12 coop/run combos. The bottom four pictures or of the new frizzle palace and is based on a 1940s to 1950s southern layer coop Wes found online. It will house breeder trios of partridge bantam frizzles that Wes is working on to improve the color as the original pair, seen in the tractor in picture #2 is a red frizzle roo and a buff partridge hen. The outside nest boxes are great and limits the amount of time Wes has to go into the coops and makes it easier for the kids to collect eggs.

Sandy ~South Texas~ Heavy gage plastic is placed over the chicken wire during the winter months of Sandy's BIRD BARN. For Texans, we get the best results by not putting the metal roof straight on over the wire top. First we insulated the top of the cage and then put on the metal corrugated tin roof. This seems to help a lot in keeping the pens cool. We have notice all summer long, a 10* difference in temps. When it's 100* in the shade outside, it's 85* to 90* in the pens. For a Texan, that's a huge difference in survival of our birds.

Michelle ~ Wisconsin~ First picture is a front view of dog kennel, silkie shelter and guineas. Shelter is offered for all to get out of the weather. During winter months it is tarped with a small opening for them to get into. 98% of the time they stay out and roost in the weather. Michelle use to "put" each guinea in during bad nights but they would come right back out. The bowl is one that can be heated during VERY cold winters.

Michelle decided to build a more secure shelter for her poultry. WOW! This is really a work of art.