My first coop

[jdlong27]

Enjoyed a nice high 70's - mid 80's weekend! Cut, painted and installed the cover on the interior of the storage/nest box portion. Taped out the interior and realized the blackjack wasn't going to seal the 1/4 inch gaps in the floor. So I skimmed over it with 1/8 inch hardboard. Then painted the blackjack on the floor, roof of the nestbox in lieu of tar paper, the poop board interior and the ramp. Also stripped/sanded and painted one coat on the interior of the people door.

 

[aart]

Nice!

 

[jdlong27]

Door painted (interior and edges), storage cover done, poop board, supports and roost in.

Here's a pic of the nest box roof (lowest siding board removed temporarily and sun shining through)

And unfortunately when scraping learned the front of the door is fairly rotten. Oh well. What you get sometimes working with free materials. So, I scabbed over it to try and make it last longer.

Sorry for the semi-redundant pics. But I've learned a lot in this forum and thought different angles may help someone in the future.

 

[jdlong27]

Bag of sweet PDZ added (easiest part of this thing so far!) and the first taste of the accent colors started.

Both the door and shutters are the same color. The door is just slightly more dry. It will be a deep reddish/burgundy color.

 

[aart]

Looking Good!!

Maybe you've already figured this part out but......
Here's what I use to sift the poops out of the PDZ, works really good.
It's a desk organizer basket,~8x10", from the office supply store.
A standard hoe with the handle cut off at about 14".
Kitty litter bucket for storing the poops until friend gets it for his compost pile.

 

[jdlong27]

Major update. Chickens in the coop. It's not 100% done and I haven't completed the run but moved them in before the blizzard of 2014 last Saturday lol. (Light dusting of snow, no accumulation)

Pop door painted

Painted the hardware cloth black. A world of difference. In this pic the right is painted.

Hardware cloth cut, painted and installed over window and all trim on (partial in this pic)

The ladies had some free time to roam about while I completed the necessities. I even gave them an old ramp to come see me in action.

Finished the sand and inside ramp.

It didn't take them long to figure out the roost and feeder.

 

[aart]

Cool Beans!! Congrats, you worked long, hard and well on a wonderful coop!!

What kind of paint did you use on the HC?

 

[jdlong27]

@aart. This:

It covered easily with a 3" roller. But definitely wear a glove when you do it. Lol I thought about trying to play this into a Halloween costume somehow.

 

[aart]

No special prep? I've never had much luck painting galvanized metal.

 

[jdlong27]

No prep. Just paint. Went on in one, easy coat. Dried quickly too.