Backyard Chickens

Our coop is a bit of a walk from the house, so for the past two years I’ve been hauling water with a wagon and gallon jugs.

We recently installed a rain barrel and… yikes 😬

The first couple of times it filled, I drained it to “rinse it out” and the water looked fine. But after one heavy storm, it went from empty to completely full—and now the water is brown and smells awful. It does have a filter on it to keep debris out.

Is there anything I can add to make rain barrel water safe for chickens, or is this thing just not going to work for what I need? Trying to decide if it’s a lost cause or if there’s a fix. 🐔💧

I purchased this small coop for my last two hens, both over 12 years old. Ruby, my darker hen, was older than Sandy, my lighter tan hen. Ruby has since passed from old age, and now Sandy is my only girl left.

The coop is placed just off our patio because I wanted her close for safety and easy checking.

We’re in upstate South Carolina—does anyone have suggestions for winterizing a small coop like this? I want to make sure Sandy stays warm and comfortable through the colder months. 🐔❄️

🐔🏡 Finally ready to share our homemade coop! After 2 months of hard work, it's 99% complete!

First, I want to thank everyone in this group for all the amazing advice. I've spent countless hours reading posts and comments, and they've helped not only with the coop design but also with learning how to properly care for our chickens. The knowledge shared here has been invaluable! ❤️

My husband built the coop and run inside an existing structure on our property. We purchased this place last August, and it came with a single horse stable and attached patio. The coop/run is located in the patio area, while the chickens also enjoy spending time in the stable where they can find shade and cooler temperatures. ☀️🐓

Honestly, I had no idea how much fun raising chickens would be! They are full of personality and so entertaining to watch. This is coming from someone who never thought they'd enjoy having birds as pets. 😂

I love knowing they'll soon be providing fresh eggs for our family, and my kids absolutely adore playing with them. ❤️🥚🐔

Thanks again to everyone who shares their experiences and advice—it has made this journey so much easier and more enjoyable!

🐔 Just wanted to share this in case it helps anyone with their off-grid chicken coop or run setup!

We absolutely love this system, and so do our chickens. ❤️ It's clean, easy to use, doesn't take up much space in the run, and is fed by rainwater. We've been really happy with how simple it is to maintain.

😂 After the chicks moved into the run, we added sand because there is definitely NO grass left. Little feather pigs!

🎥 We put together a complete water and feed system video on YouTube at Whitewash Farm LLC.

All the items we used are listed in the video description. Just click "more", then click "more" again to expand everything and see all the product links.

Hope this helps someone looking for ideas for their own setup! 🐓💧🌿

😳 Well, this was definitely NOT what I expected to see when I opened the chicken coop this morning!

Somehow this little guy made himself right at home with my flock. 🦝🐔 Thankfully, all of my chickens are accounted for and doing just fine!

The funniest part? He looked at me, yawned, and went right back to sleep like he paid the mortgage around here. 😂

I waited until all the chickens had left the coop, then shut him back inside while I figured out my next move. Now I'm off to find a live trap and solve the mystery of how he got in!

Edit: Mystery solved! One of the coop skylights had been busted out, and that's apparently how my unexpected guest got inside. 🤦‍♀️

❓For those with experience, what should I clean and disinfect just to be safe? Any concerns about diseases or parasites that could have been shared with the flock? I'd appreciate any advice!

So… this just happened 🤦‍♀️😂🐔

I was outside doing chores and listening to music when I accidentally dropped one of my earbuds while adjusting it. Apparently my fluffy-faced menace, Autumn, decided it looked like a delicious little snack 😑

Before I could even react, she snatched it up faster than lightning and TOOK OFF running with it in her beak—with me sprinting after her like a lunatic 🏃‍♀️💨🐓

For the next several minutes, I felt like I was in a low-budget police chase. I was yelling “STOP!” and “DROP IT RIGHT NOW!” while waving my arms around like the crazy chicken lady I truly am 😂

Meanwhile, Autumn was waddling and weaving around corners like she was dodging punches from Mike Tyson 🥊🐔

Of course, all the other chickens saw the commotion and immediately assumed she had something amazing… so naturally the ENTIRE flock joined the chase 🤦‍♀️🤣

At that point it became:
Autumn ➡️ me ➡️ 27 chickens running laps around the house like a feathered NASCAR event 🐓🏃‍♀️💨🐓🐓🐓

Eventually Autumn stopped out of pure exhaustion and dropped the earbud somewhere in the leaves 🍂😭

And yes… I continued chasing her for another minute afterward because adrenaline had already taken over 😂

She stared at me afterward looking innocent, confused, and mildly traumatized—probably convinced her human had completely lost her mind and was about to turn her into soup 🍲💀

The earbud was never found.

To make matters worse, my brother later photoshopped a picture of Autumn proudly holding my missing earbud in her beak “to cheer me up.” Thanks, bubba 🙄🤣

Welcome to my life 💁🏼‍♀️🐔

I lost all 13 of my 8-week-old chickens last night 💔🐔 An animal tore through the hardware cloth and pulled them out of the coop 😞

I live in the city, so it definitely wasn’t a bear… but whatever it was had no problem getting in.

Does anyone know what kind of predator could do this and have such an appetite for chickens? 🦝🦊😢

WHAT is this thing?! 🤣🐔

We found it hanging out in the horse stalls, brought it home, and originally thought it might be an extremely skinny turkey 😅

But now we’re wondering if it’s actually some kind of naked neck mix?? 😂

At this point we have absolutely no idea what we adopted… any guesses? 👀🐓

Mr. Posh has officially discovered prickly pear fruit and is now COMPLETELY obsessed 😆🌵🍐🐔

I’ve never seen a chicken act so fancy over a snack in my life 😂✨

But WHY though??? 😂🐔🥚

There are TWO other completely empty laying boxes available 🤷🏻‍♀️ Yet all my girls insist on lining up for the exact same one every single day 🫠

And apparently today, Noodles decided the best possible place to lay her egg was directly on top of Tofu’s head 😑🤣