Hoop House/Coop

[RonC]

I stapled the chicken wire to the wood base on mine and it worked fine. Hardware cloth isn't much larger in diameter, a lot stronger too. You should be fine along the bottom.
I moved the nest boxes down on my old coop by turning the panel over they were attached too. Looks like the back of yours was one piece of plywood cut to match the arc of the hoops. Might could cut out the middle section leaving the tapered edges and turn it over along with the nest boxes. Then add a couple of 2x4s vertically bridging the seams to put it back together. If they would be too low, cut the desired width off the top of the center section and attach it below the nest boxes. It would save having to buy a new piece of plywood and would be already painted. Might need a couple of 2x4s depending on how it's framed in the back.

 

[aart]

Okay, so I'm going to TRY to go out tomorrow morning and install the hardware cloth by myself. I had someone else mention the idea to me that they used staples to secure the cloth to the wood sections to help them get the cloth up. So, I'm going to try that. That might be just enough for me to fight my way through it. Aside from that, and making a "hook" with some spare wire, is there anything else I might try to do to facilitate getting this stuff on the coop?

Staples can help get you started,
but screws and washers are much more secure if you've got wood to attache it to and I used 4" zipties to attach HC to livestock panels.

But 'staples' can mean many things:
-the Arrow T50 type spring loaded staple gun(too weak against preds).
-a pneumatic staples 1" should work fine.
- fence staples 1"+ for sure, but a pain to install IMO.
.

 

[lpyrbby]

So, the staples helped, but they were the T50s. I spent over an hour trying to get a 10ft section up before I finally found where my husband was hiding the fence staples. THOSE made a WORLD of difference. I still have the rest of the sides, the front, and the section above the nest boxes to do. We went and picked up a pneumatic stapler today as well as the PVC for the coop feeder. We also picked up the hog rings so I can hopefully secure the hardware cloth to the panel/chicken wire a little better.

So tomorrow, with better tools, I'm hoping to get further along. We are SO close to being ready to move the birds and I'm dying here. This should NOT have taken this long to build :/

I want a couple more coops, but not sure how that's going to play out since this one has taken so long and we've invested much more than anticipated in the coop. *sigh*

 

[aart]

I'm almost done with mine too, has taken about as long as yours has.
With other stuff taking precedence and never have built one before(lots of stuff to figure out),
I am anxious to get it done and out of here, it's going on loan to a friend, should be end of next week...next one, for here, should go much faster.

 

[lpyrbby]

I think something else I'd like to try if we do another hoop coop, is attach the hardware cloth to the panel with the hog rings BEFORE it goes up. Maybe with the hardware cloth sandwiched between the wood and the cattle panel.

I'm also considering trying a pallet coop next. Finances and all LOL. I just rather like the idea of having the open air coop with it being so freakin' hot down here. Another thought is maybe a carport coop. Just not quite sure how problematic attaching wood to metal would be for us. And then there's still arguing with hardware cloth. I guess if it were easier to unroll, I wouldn't have this mounting hatred for it

Ho hum. I do know I need to consider a second coop, and soon. Since I'm going to try to keep both of my cockerels, there's no way I can fit 22 birds in this one coop. At least not keeping everyone happy. Soooo, time to do more research for coop #2 before coop #1 is even finished

 

[mclanea]

This all looks great. Lots of good ideas!

 

[aart]

I use the garage floor to roll out the HC and cut it to the length I need.
Also crimp over the pointy edge left after cutting with sheet metal seaming pliers.
I put HC on after panels were installed, I used screw in clamps for panels so was able to loosen and slip HC in between panel and wood base frame.
But it was still tricky.

 

[RonC]

I like your idea of attaching the HC first with hog rings and sandwiching it between the wood and cattle panels. I have a very small pair of bolt cutters I found at Lowes to cut the HC. http://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-8-in-Bolt-Cutter/50069713 Yes, one wire at a time but a lot less effort and cuts really close so you don't have the ends sticking out so bad. Hope you got the pliers for the hog rings too. Makes them easier to bend.

 

[lpyrbby]

Yes, we did get the hog ring pliers too! Phew! I knew it was a great decision the first ring I closed today

Anywho, some updated photos. With what remains, we SHOULD be ready to move the coop to its permanent home next weekend at some point. I wish I could take a day off this week to get the rest of the hardware cloth up. Husband is going to work on it some so hopefully that'll reduce the amount needed next weekend.

Two of the three sets of curtains for the nest boxes. I need to pick up more fabric tape to finish the 3rd set. Dunno how I'm attaching the sisal rope yet, but I'll figure that out when I get there.



I don't know what to do with this mess here. I'm sure husband will try to figure it out. He already wanted to move the hardware cloth on the back to the inside, but at this rate, I don't care about aesthetics that much. I really just want the thing done!



The hardware cloth is tucked under the metal with staples into the piece of 1x1 that the metal is attached to.



A crappy photo of the hardware cloth joins with the hog rings. We may add more but wanted to make sure that we had enough left for the other side first.



We still need to run some staples along the bottom board as well to help secure the cloth more. I am planning on plants and such in front of these boards. Will it stop a critter, probably not. But it's another thing to have to go through.



I kept the hardware cloth solid from the door to the side of the coop, so had to come up with some way to deal with the corner. This is what I decided on.



We got the door done with the hardware cloth as well, top and bottom.



This side still needs some love, but we at least got the HC tucked below the metal roof as well. So here, we still need to add another roll of HC to finish up the bottom side and front. Hog rings will be added once that is up. Then we'll need to get the top of the front and the top above the nest boxes, then it should be chicken ready!



Just an inside shot. The garden spiders approve of the coop right now.



Husband had to redo the dowel in the door latch since it swelled. Should have known lol. So he replaced it with some PVC. I really like what he did, but I'm not certain it's going to hold up over the long term (ie: ease of opening). We shall see

 

[lpyrbby]

You guys, we may actually be MOVING THE COOP TOMORROW! I'm so stinkin' excited!

Here, you'll see the hardware cloth has been installed on the back, along with the shingles over the nest box lid. Word to the wise, that stuff has made the lid heavy! Not impossible to use, by any means, but we may be adding a lid prop to minimize fatigue LOL and yeah, husband has the jack under that side of the coop for working on adding the wheels so we can move it.



I have more painting to do since he adding the trim on the back of the coop. Also, he added a couple of pieces of trim at the top of the wall, covering the area where I stapled the hardware cloth on.



Hardware cloth on both sides now



In dealing with the curve of the coop and the hardware cloth, I cut sections to make it easier to fold the wire and tuck it under the roof of the coop.



Just another shot of the tuck job. We need to get some additional hog rings so I can bind the cuts a little better, and also attach to the cattle panel, on the inside.



Two things with the door. Husband added additional trim since the original latch idea became a problem with the wood swelling. We needed the extra trim so we could put a carabiner on the door to discourage smart wildlife. I have more painting to do...



Yep, the door knob is now a couple of beer tap handles, recycled from a bulk purchase from Habitat for Humanity when we found a kegerator there for a good price, with a LOT of accessories. He wound up cutting some groove in the wood block so the handle slides better. He's still using PVC for the "latch." The correct word escapes me at the moment.



So, we need to go BACK to the big box store for hog rings and screws. I still need to get the fabric tape to finish my last set of nest box curtains and then figure out how to attach them. I'd rather "hide them" before they get in there to investigate. Once we do that, we'll get the wheels attached and move the coop. Then, we get to fight it so we can get the hardware cloth pinned underneath it. Also, I discovered that we still have an old wood ladder that was accidentally damaged when FIL was helping get our shed at our old house fixed up so we could get married lol. So, that's going in the coop for a roost instead of my original want of the big post. Free and easy to deal with. I also have a PVC feeder to build and fill, and then we need to move and enlarge their PVC waterer.

Almost there!