The Wild West Coop

I like the old Western look, and was thinking of making the coop like an old Mercantile. I had an idea to convert the existing coops into a jail and a saloon ( with Ladies LOL).
I spent alot of time looking for just the right one, and this is what I found. The roof angles were perfect, because I want a front and back porch.

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The floorplan was the easy part, once I knew where doors and windows would be. The coop is going to be 4'x8'. This one will be 6' high ( give or take). I really get a pain in my back having to bend over in the other coops.

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The hard part was the plans. I drew the front, and then added in pink studs. The photo program has gridlines like graph paper, so it was drawn to some sort of scale.
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Laying out the floor was somewhat easy. It just so happened the spot I layed down the 4x4 skids was fairly level. I measured and marked, hubby cut- because I can not cut straight at all. They plywood was set, and you can see the 2' deep front porch and the 4' deep back deck.
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I measured and drew the lines, but let the hubby do the cutting. I can NOT cut straight. He ended up doing most of the hammering, also. Seems I am not very handy LOL.
I was getting impatient, really wanting the walls to go up. I needed to see some progress- something that looked like a coop. I should have finished the walls prior to putting them up, but..


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We started putting them up before the windows were framed , and before the -whatever those horizontal boards between studs are called. I should have did more planning when the walls were on the ground. Adding things later knocked things out of square a little bit.

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We used fence boards for siding. Initially, we were only going to do the front to keep down costs. We didn't put plywood backing. We should have! Before winter we will insulate and put up plywood inside to cover the insulation. The gaps look rustic, but will let in a lot of chilly air. For now, there is no chilly air, so we are good. In the front window is Beaker- one of the BYC mascots. He supervised.

I put the window in. Now, if I had measured BEFORE building the wall, the studs wouldn't have been 1/4" narrower than the window. And I would not have had to remove the window, and improvise. This window is set so that it opens from the outside. The reason behind that is the hardware cloth will be on the inside to prevent the little chickies from ever getting cose to the glass.
You can see Beaker peeking in the window!

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Then, we (well, hubby) added landscaping ties as porch/roof support. He got the front rafters up, and I sided the one side.We were going to just side the front and the left- but now we are going to side the right also.
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The babies were getting big, and the spare room where they were living was really starting to stink up big time. I had to start nagging the husband to get the roof on so I could get these very cute, but very stinky chicks out of my house.
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I wanted to make Western saloon style doors for the pop door, but couldnt think of a way to secure them. I put the pop door under the window, and made it bifold. There is a folding ramp, and the legs of the ramp offer more security for the pop door. There is a latch at the top, and its actually very secure. I pushed on the door with some force, and it didn't budge. I like it- I don't have to worry about dropping the door on the babies.
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I added vent covers in the front that can be open or closed
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I tried to make a door. It was proably a half inch too big I took it apart, and tried again. It was still a quarter inch too big. I let hubby do it. I was going to get fancier with the door, but kept with the rustic look. Word of advice- if you aren't the best carpenter, call your mis-measurements and crooked door, windows and boards "rustic".

I added a few little touches- the wagon wheel, the hitching post, and the little covered wagon feeder (seen to the left of the picture). We have some old metal roofing we will be putting on top of the shingles to really give it that old look. Hubby will also make a stovepipe chimney. Overall, I'm happy with the way it turned out. I think the only thing missing is a slide out droppings board. I did want one of those, but for now, I like the sides as they are. I also want to do an outhouse- that will be a project down the road.
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The little ones unloaded themselves from their covered wagon, and decided it was finaly time to settle down.
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The babies really enjoy their new back deck. I shouldn't call them babies- the little white rooster started crowing last week at only 11 weeks old
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There is still a little bit of work to do. The siding needs to be finished. I have to make a gate. The covered wagon feeder needs a bit of touchup. The inside front wall will be insulated and then plywood on the inside, because it's just fence boards on the outside and there are gaps between the boards.. The eaves are also not finished- They are open for ventilation and I have the hardware cloth in but I need to make covers on the back wall for the cold days.
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