The $500 barn

[aart]

I just realized you can see the egg door patio in the bottom of this picture.

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I noticed that....so chickens inside there yet...pics?

 

[yogifink]

I noticed that....so chickens inside there yet...pics?

yes, they have been for some time. But my dw has decided to fill the coop with garden tools and store old windows for our future green house in the absence of a garage. So the inside of the coop looks more like a flea market than a barn

I've got a whole lot of stuff to build, it takes a lot to start a farm.

I'll post some soon, I promise.

 

[aart]

So the inside of the coop looks more like a flea market than a barn

 

[paintedChix]

You have accomplished a tremendous amount. Wow. I'm looking forward to seeing how your roof looks and "acts" when you are done... It seems like it is incredibly heavy. I think I missed where you were were making it a "live" roof - what will you be planting on top of it?

You might consider, if you and DW get to the point of having any time at all, doing some classes to put this together... I'd have been willing on a couple of recent weekends to have paid to come learn to do some of what you are doing. I have some different tools & watch YouTube vids as well as reading the instructions and still struggle with figuring out how to do what you've done for your doors & nesting boxes. Do not have tools to drill or cut steel plating or posts. Was totally lost on your descriptions of your track/door build since all i could think of was the purchased "u-channel" style doors. Then you didn't mention welding to make your "u's"...the pics showed what was meant - totally different & so much more beautiful than those "u-track" systems.

That's going to be a lot of birds a laying... I look forward to seeing the house build now, too.

 

[yogifink]

You have accomplished a tremendous amount. Wow. I'm looking forward to seeing how your roof looks and "acts" when you are done... It seems like it is incredibly heavy. I think I missed where you were were making it a "live" roof - what will you be planting on top of it?

You might consider, if you and DW get to the point of having any time at all, doing some classes to put this together... I'd have been willing on a couple of recent weekends to have paid to come learn to do some of what you are doing. I have some different tools & watch YouTube vids as well as reading the instructions and still struggle with figuring out how to do what you've done for your doors & nesting boxes. Do not have tools to drill or cut steel plating or posts. Was totally lost on your descriptions of your track/door build since all i could think of was the purchased "u-channel" style doors. Then you didn't mention welding to make your "u's"...the pics showed what was meant - totally different & so much more beautiful than those "u-track" systems.

That's going to be a lot of birds a laying... I look forward to seeing the house build now, too.

The house is done, sort of, we have been in it since just before Christmas.I finished painting the exterior a few weeks ago when it was warm, and still need to knock out a few finishing details inside and landscape the outside.

Thank you for all the compliments, kind words go a long way.

I have some tools, but I also make due a lot of the time. Sometimes half the craft is improvising to use what you have. I'd love to have a wood shop and a metal bay, someday...

We plan on eventually doing adult instructional classes on our farm, but right now our focus is on the kids. Once we are up and running, we will probably build a green house and an outdoor kitchen in similar fashion. Check out and follow our Facebook page for ladybug farm.

 

[paintedChix]

Hmm, I may be coming to see you guys on some of those events your having...

 

[yogifink]

I got the rest of the growth medium on the roof a few weekends ago and am finally getting around to posting...

I decided to add a layer of flashing to the top side of the roof bed. Originally I was going to use furring strips to do this, figuring I could get away with using a single 10 foot 2x8 and ripping the strips myself. But honestly, between trying to start a farm, finish our house and having 2 kids my time is running thin and i want the finishing touches to look nice. So I spent the few extra dollars and picked up some black drip edge to cap off the beds.

The furring strips/drip edge/flashing helps to clean up the edges, but more importantly it acts as a sinch point to hold in the plastic, kinda like a continuous washer that you would put on a bolt.

I think it's been 3 weeks since I layed down the first few bales of straw and compost. And to my surprise, ive already got some straw growing up there from the straw! We still need to get some seed on it yet; we are planning on a wildflower mix with morning glory, mint, a local forest grass and red and white clover.

 

[yogifink]

Here is a picture of what the back and side of the coop look like with the garden bed on it.

On a side note, I don't think I ever took the time to explain our venting.

On the back and sides of the coop I left the top 2 feet open to allow for very good ventilation. I used some hardware cloth to keep the coop preditor proof. The cloth was stapled in before I installed the trim or siding.

The reason I made the doors with wire was to create an updraft. The coop sits at the bottom of a hill with the front facing north. The wind generally travles down the hill toward the south, on our property. With the wire in the doors and the air coming in from the front, it should lift and escape through the top. This will keep odors down and keep things cool in the summer, hopefully...

 

[yogifink]

I mentioned the egg patio before. Here is a better picture, just remember I made this from left over mortar mix that had been sitting outside in the rain for several months.

 

[yogifink]

So I said I'd post a few shots of the inside, here ya go. My resident flea market...

The perches are made with a couple pallet runners, I obviously have a lot of them. This was just a temporary quick fix so I could get my hens in there, but they have kind of grown on me. Originally I planned to build ladder style roosts in the center of the coop and use the walls for the backside of a few brooders and storage. Lately though I have been thinking it would be nice to be able to divide the coops interior with removable partitions so that I can selectivally breed. So the roosts on the walls would work better. Time will tell.