Technical coop building question.

[ScottandSam]

@Merrymouse and @ScottandSam , in the number of days you two have been talking about grinding I've emptied 3 bottles of wine and have enough cork to cover at least 6 screws. I'm tellin' ya, my way is far more enjoyable.

LOL. too funny.

 

[Merrymouse]

@Merrymouse and @ScottandSam , in the number of days you two have been talking about grinding I've emptied 3 bottles of wine and have enough cork to cover at least 6 screws. I'm tellin' ya, my way is far more enjoyable.

You have a very valid point

If only we could somehow attach beer bottles......then we'd be in business. Wine is not alway my friend.

Its freaking freezing here today....back to winter. Trying to convince hubby to help me attach the nest boxes etc so far its not working. We are snuggled under a blanket on the sofa having coffee. Its only about 12F and very windy so its not looking good for today...an entire Saturday and so cold is a bummer. Stay tuned....I may be able to lure him off the couch with promising of going with him to visit his parents, that usually works and I can be manipulative...not one of my finer qualities

 

[ScottandSam]

Quote:
lol. I wont say what I was thinking except going to well my inlaws since my parents are gone wouldn't get me off the couch but...............
stick in there 12 isn't so bad. and man would it look great to see those nesting boxes on the side of the coop.

Scott

 

[Merrymouse]

Finally got some time to work on the coop yesterday. I was on my own so it was a little slow going.
First the night before I completely cleaned my room for the chickie babies. I used to keep my parrots in this room and lost them to I think Listeria about a year ago. I was feeding them all organic and some of the veggies were recalled for Listeria. That's the only thing I can think of to explain their deaths. It was so sad. They were otherwise healthy and happy birds and young as far as parrot go. One was 8 and the other we think was about 10 or 11 but I didn't get her as a hatchling so her age was unknown. So I'm keeping the chicks in there for the first week so I literally bleached everything. Even the hardwood floors, walls, woodwork etc don't tell DH. I'm going to brood them in a dog crate using MHP.

I have an air purifier running in there already. My hopes is to start them inside to keep an eye on them and maybe have my dogs think they are part of the pack. Then move them out to the coop quickly. But....I have to finish the coop. We are so close but those details take forever and we are expecting a couple of snow storms coming up.

So my plan was to get the back window in. We finally found an old window. It's way bigger than I wanted but it will let in a lot of nice winter sun as it is south facing. I just hope my girls don't get cold from this big window wall. I think I'm going to put some kind of weather stripping in to help. I cut the hole for window with jigsaw

Started framing it out. I'm determined to make this one better looking than the front door. I told DH we should start in the back so we would be better at it when we got to the front but he wasn't hearing it. And the back window is now nicer than the front window.

You can also kind of see in the picture I put in the eye screws to operate the pop door but the string I had was too thick for the cleat we bought so back to the store. I find this process of building without experience just a series of starts and stops which can get frustrating. Which leads me to my next problem. The hinges we bought for the window were too wide for the frame so this is as far as I got on the window install I'm sorry to say.
Next, not wanting to waste precious time I brought the nest boxes out to make sure my frame was the correct size before I cut the hole in the wall for the boxes and YES! It fits.

But then my DD called and needed to be picked up and then I had to make dinner so that's as far as I got yesterday. Back at it today but it is cold again. Oh. I also finished the trim on the west/nest box side. DH did not follow my very complex but clear sketch of my Dutch people door to the run and had to take it apart and rebuild it last night. Oh well...
Also ran out of lumber and other supplies So back to the store. This thing is costing a fortune. My nest boxes are super heavy so I think I'm going to add some 45 bracing underneath. Any thought on anything I'm doing wrong or could improve?? And on the roosts I figured it out that I'm going to put one 6' longways and one 4' short ways. So the longways one I can clean the poop board from the run facing door and the short ways from the front/north facing door. There is not a lot of height in the coop. Wish I built taller. So my nest boxes are about 9" off the floor. Poop board at 20" and roosts at 24". That gives me about 22" (I think have to remeasure) above the roosts to the open soffit on the low side and more on the high aside. Does this sound ok? Wish I had more height I just don't so trying to make it work. This is super long and boring so I'll stop now. Thanks for your continued support.

 

[aart]

First timing is hard.......you have to learn how (which often means pauses and re-do's) before getting it done.
Times X different tasks!
In hindsight it will all be worth the effort, hang in there!

 

[fightingbunny]

I just have to say, I am amazed at the amount of rocks you have. I can't even imagine trying to dig an inch in that!

 

[TalkALittle]

I just have to say, I am amazed at the amount of rocks you have.  I can't even imagine trying to dig an inch in that!

My rural New England born and raised grandmother used to joke that the local clay soil was only good for growing rocks!

 

[Merrymouse]

Yup. Lots of rocks. Funny you could see them in the background. I think they're like glacial rocks or something because some of them are split in two and the halves are shifted. Kinda cool if your not trying to dig.
So yesterday was almost 60F. Today we had high wind warnings gusts to 60 mph. So even though it wasn't that cold out my koi pond started to freeze over and I could see one of my koi. Hope it's not dead. They are all confused with this weather

First I was determined to get the back south window in. My DH was at work so I was on my own for this one. Thanks goodness for wood clamps.

My front north facing window was blowing and banging so hard in the wind I made a makeshift latch just to keep it from breaking. I bought a barrel latch tonight I will install to keep it from banging around in the wind. I just used what I had on hand, a stick from the yard and a piece of rope.

I wanted this back window to be flush with the outside trim and avoid the disaster of the front window. So here I am making sure I embed the window perfectly so the trim is flush.

Here is the finished product. I think it came out awesome! Just have to paint it. And put on a handle and barrel latch which I picked up tonight too.

So what to do next....should I attempt to put in the nest boxes by myself???? They're heavy and extremely awkward and I was afraid I would drop it out of the hole and break it. Hmmm. I had such success with the window. I just have to say my window came out so much better than the one my DH put in. But now I'm being a total brat. This is my project after all and my DH has been really really really helpful. So I decided to go for it. It was a little sketchy at times. Almost dropped it. The plywood we used was a bit warped so it was really hard to get it in place and get is straight and flush. Really really difficult but with a little muscle and wood clamps I did it. At one point I was holding the boxes in place with one hand trying to twist the wood with the other while using my knees to keep it in place and getting the clamp in one handed. This would have been so much easier with two people. I'm also getting very adept at using the jigsaw. Hole for nesting boxes

Good ole wood clamps

In place

Roof on

So what did I learn today...wood clamps are your friend and the best thing you can buy and they were cheap ones. It is a must have tool especially if you're working alone. Also another must have tool is this

It's a mini planer I think that's what this tool is called. But it's awesome for smoothing out wood especially when you are not perfect with making the holes for windows or nest boxes with the jig saw. This smooths out any high spots so your window or whatever fits smoothly.
I had a few screws come through and the sharp pointy ends were deadly so I used the dremmel to take the tips off then I used this grinding wheel on my drill to smooth them down. This worked on the regular wood screws but NOT on those pesky roofing screws that are made out of the hardest substance known to man.

Nice and smooth

Newbies if you attempt to do this wear gloves. Those screws get red hot and wear protective eye wear because it sparks also.
Another newbie hint when using the jigsaw on particle board lumber like T1-11 siding you must wear eye gear. Little sharp pieces of wood fly everywhere and sawdust too. It seems like it's way worse with the jigsaw for some reason.
So that's it for today. This was one of my most productive days alone and it's was great! Oh I also framed out the people door to the run but didn't get a picture Getting snow tomorrow so don't know how much coop work will get done. Maybe I'll work on the brooder with my chicks coming next week. Only my chicks are due to hatch Monday and we are getting another big snowstorm on Tuesday so that has me a bit worried. Thanks for following and sorry this was super long AGAIN

 

[ScottandSam]

There you go girl. The windows awesome. trimmed nicely too. The nesting boxes look good. You sure have come a long way and learned a lot too. Looks like you are almost there.

Scott

 

[fightingbunny]

Holy smokes. I think if you had taken a selfish during all that we would have seen a super woman logo