Our little chicken coop in Progress!

[ChickonInc]

I decided to give up on the shed. Instead gonna build one by myself. I'm excited

 

[twfernandez]

@ChickonInc , I'm glad you're excited to build - you didn't seem real enthusiastic about converting the shed, and you will find more satisfaction in something that you are excited about doing!

@PapaChaz - isn't the best part about a 90 year old house the remodeling? It's not that there isn't anything in the house that's level/plumb, it's "character" - right?

Thanks for the feedback.

I have done quite a bit of work so far this week, and am hoping to get a lot more done today - I'll try and post pics this evening, if not I'll upload them for sure tomorrow!

Thanks guys!
T&S

 

[ChickonInc]

I have some news. I'm gonna start going daily vlogs! I have 1 kid which will be helping me vlog. She will do the first one. I'm gonna do a time lapse of her cleaning the coop. Well, better make the channel!

 

[ChickonInc]

Got back from church. My priest's daughter had a stillborn, everyone cried. She will be giving birth to the full grown baby tonight. Prays to her and her family.

 

[twfernandez]

@ChickonInc, looking forward to checking out the vlog!

Hello again everyone! Sorry it's taken so long to get pictures up, but I was a busy boy this last week! Despite the rainy weather, I was able to get quite a lot done!

As always, I would appreciate any feedback/critique/suggestions/questions.



Here we have the face and north wall of the hen-house with the floor and interior walls cut and hung.



I finished the wiring, on the lower left is where power comes in(in the storage area,) with a 4 plug outlet box on the outside wall. On the west wall, about halfway up is a two light-switch box. The first switch will power a two light fixtures inside the hen-house(for heat lamps on really cold nights, for general lighting the rest of the year) - the second switch will power a small porch light for the people door on the run.
While both the outlets and the light switches are going to be under the awning of the roof, I figure you can't be to careful with the electric, so I went with weather-proof enclosures.



A shot from the rear of the hen-house - I still haven't framed my back doors, which will hang here.I removed the window and chicken-wire screen before cutting the walls - thanks @tbatz11 for the insight - that way I could hang the full sheet of OSB, then trace my cutouts from behind. Saved a lot of time, and guaranteed a good fit!
On the floor of the hen-house is the framing for one of the nest-boxes.



The unintentional 4x4's from my original 4 foot wide hen-house.

So, the first nest-box opening (below the window) is 36" wide, for three 12" wide nest boxes. The second opening is for a single nestbox that is 20.5" wide(the penthouse) - the overall width of the boxes is 5' long, this way I could have it centered on the exterior wall.
The other side of the hen-house has the identical configuration, so we'll have 8 total nest-boxes.



A straight shot of the west wall. The pop door is centered just below the window - on the right, you can sort of make out the framing for the second nest box, propped on saddle horses.
Because of the proximity of the pop door to the window, having it "pop" up would obstruct the window, so instead I'm going to have it slide left(north) - I plan on attaching it to a lever that we can reach from just outside of the run, so that we can pull and push the pop door open or closed.



Here, I've started framing out the run itself - you can see Sue napping in the shade, recovering from an busy morning of measuring, cutting, and supervision!

We went with a 2x6 for our rafter support, this gives us the height/pitch for the roof that we wanted. You can also see the horizontal 2x4's on the inside of each "panel" - the idea is to attach the hardware cloth to the horizontal 2x4 w/washers & screws, then cover with trim.




When trying to figure out how to frame the lean-to style roof, I couldn't find many good pictures to reference, so I thought I'd post another couple of camera angles here.



Top and bottom framing is finished for the run, all the way around. This thing is starting to take shape!

Here, we've hung the additional framing boards in the middle of each panel, this way I can attach the hardware cloth nice and tight. The run itself is 6' tall(not counting the elevation of the roof) - so each vertical "section" is 3' tall, perfect for 3' rolls of hardware cloth.



Rafters are going up 3' apart. We still haven't decided if we're going to use the corrugated rubber/plastic or metal roofing - but in any case, we don't want the sheets of roofing to sag under snow-load, so we'll be adding cross-beams later to support the roofing material.




The front and rear awnings, 2' and 1' respectively - this should help keep the run reasonably dry in stormy weather, and will ensure that Sue doesn't have to collect her eggs in a mud puddle.
Of course, I'm planning to build a ground-level "porch" around the exterior of the hen-house, so the mud won't really matter in that area - but either way, we like the awnings.

At this point, I'm starting to think that the coop could be ready for the girls in about two more weeks! We're so excited for them to get moved in! Of course, I've still got quite a bit of work to do, but I'm optimistic about the pace! (Especially if we can get away from this rain every other day weather pattern we've been in!)
This week? Paint, insulation, siding, hardware cloth .. not necessarily in the order, but will update as soon as I am able!



The girls are getting big fast!

This picture is already 5 days old, and I think they are twice as big now!

Thanks All, will try to update as I go this week instead of all at once!
T&S

 

[jetdog]

Looks absolutely great, nice size run everything looks perfect, subscribed and waiting for more. I think after looking at the pictures our wives might be related, lol

 

[tbatz11]

This looks amazing! And HUGE! How many chicks did you get?

 

[ChickonInc]

They have 17

 

[twfernandez]

@tbatz11 , thanks for the feedback - the plan was to have a dozen chickens. Then chicken-math hit us, and Sue brought home 18.

We lost one during the first week, at this point, the rest are doing well!
We're already planning on getting a couple more.

Sue would like to get a Polish(for the flamboyant hairstyle,) - I really want a Buff Orpington and a Leghorn as well.
I don't think we're planning on more than 20 ~ 24 total?

#chickenmath

I've got more lumber coming later today, but it's been raining all day, so I don't know if I'll get anything done today with the coop, but planning to work out there most of tomorrow afternoon!

 

[twfernandez]

Quote @twfernandez - 1 day, 19 hours ago :


Oh boy ...

speaking of chicken math - we couldn't resist a sale on Isa brown/Rhode Island red chicks yesterday, and ended up getting 10 more little girls!
With our remaining 17 easter eggers, that puts us up to 27 already - and I haven't even finished the coop! >ack<

Naturally, as I've encouraged others, I'm going to do an expansion of the hen-house now, while I'm still building (again) rather than wait until later - at this point I'm sure we'll need it!
I'll be adding an additional 4' x 10', giving us a total of 100 sq ft in the hen-house, or an average of about 3.5 sq ft per chick - I'm not planning on making the run larger, at this point it's 28' x 10', or about 10 sq ft per chick - I feel like this comfortably gives us room to raise 30 - 35 chickens at any time.
That having been said, the 17 EE's are quickly outgrowing their miter saw box - which means I have to pick up the pace! I'm taking one extra day off from work this weekend, so I should have all day Friday ~ Sunday to work on the build, and at this point the weather looks like it won't be too bad (20% chance of afternoon showers tomorrow, partly sunny Saturday and Sunday) - so wish me luck, I'll be painting/cutting/framing/expanding/spazzing out all weekend!
But we love it - and the new Isa's are sooooper cute! I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as I can!