I'm sorry I never finished this page! You can view the rest of the chicken coop pics on my website at www.glacierridge.com
I've always liked chickens, I had a few at one time growing up, and have always hoped to have some here on our small farm someday. For years I was hoping to get a few silkies for pets, and a few laying hens down the road, but it just had not happened. My son's kindergarten class, as most do I hear, hatched chicken eggs as part of their studies on farm animals in the classroom. Well, those chicks needed a home, and, well, the opportunity hit, and we decided to prepare ourselves for them, ready or not! Until their coop is completed, they are living in a cage in our garage, but go outside on nice days when I'm able to be around to supervise!
The chicks came here on April 3rd, 2008 at a week old. There were originally 15, but we found a home for the 6 roosters, as they were already creating quite a stir amongst themselves. We were in the process of designing a chicken barn, until county zoning permit issues shattered the dream. The saga continues.........we'll see what we come up with.......it's still in the thinking stages........ UPDATE! The whole coop issue has been resolved! It has been started and coop planning is in the works! Our hen house will be 8' by 12', with two "rooms," one smaller area for chicken "stuff" storage, and the other for the chickens themselves, and their nest boxes and roosts. We already have most of the materials, we only had to buy some plywood, we'll have to buy windows, but the 2x4's, siding and trusses we already had or had given to us from other people who had it laying around. It will have windows for light and ventilation of course, and outside solar lighting. We have some fencing panels to use for a run, but not sure yet if we will use those, or build a frame and enclose with hardware cloth. Again, it's all in the works yet! Will include photos as the project continues.
Here is a photo journey through the construction of our chicken coop! Begun April 20th, 2008. After a L-O-N-G delay due to zoning issues, it was resumed nearly two months later on June 14th. The chickens have been working very hard on their patience skills, as have I!
New location, choice #1 (photo on right). Zoning guy said no.....so..... after the long wait....
Picked location #2, measured for setbacks, leveled the site, and put blocks down to set the structure on.
Coop is then moved to new location, but had to stop when hard rain and hailstorm hit. But as soon as the weather passed, we were back out again to finish setting the building, just in time to see the rainbow after the storm. Then, finally to it's final "resting spot!"
A day of nice weather, and it was time to get started yet again! Even our 6 year old helped!
Coop is then moved to new location, but had to stop when hard rain and hailstorm hit. But as soon as the weather passed, we were back out again to finish setting the building, just in time to see the rainbow after the storm. Then, finally to it's final "resting spot!"
By the end of the weekend, it looked like this! Even with the rain and hail...
The following weekend's progress.... (we again had some heavy rain to contend with for a time!)
The siding is Hardie Plank siding that we got for free, and it matches our house pretty nicely! A turbine vent is being put on the roof for summertime ventilation (will be closed off in the wintertime to prevent snow from coming in), and it will have a roof vent and soffit all the way around. Both windows open, and we're putting hardware cloth screened frames on the insides of the windows so we can leave them open without worry of predators getting through the window screen.
Another rainbow (well, two!) over the coop a week after the first...
More to come.......rain ended our progress....again.
Latest progress...the roof is just about done, the siding pretty much done...the turbine vent will be LOWERED.... (I have no idea what hubby was thinking...I was out of town the weekend he did it!)
And...(hubby's idea) we have two "guardians of the coop"...they are solar powered, and will guard the door once it's done. Here's one of our two tiki guys!
More to come!
More to come.......rain ended our progress....again.
Latest progress...the roof is just about done, the siding pretty much done...the turbine vent will be LOWERED.... (I have no idea what hubby was thinking...I was out of town the weekend he did it!)
And...(hubby's idea) we have two "guardians of the coop"...they are solar powered, and will guard the door once it's done. Here's one of our two tiki guys!
More to come!