Ok! I get it the chickens are coming. On Tuesday I will pick them up! If all goes according to plan. Here is what I have done to get ready. That is make my coop and run. See Bill run. Oh! my lord I'm regressing. Is this chickenitis.
First select a site. We went back and forth on this one but the side yard won out.
Then build a base. The 18" 4x4 PT were left over from my deck.
The walls start going up.
Then the $10.00 window from Habitat Won't stay open or closed with out locking or bracing but for 10 why not. Also on a tax free day.
A couple of nest boxes and a Roost
A pop door.
Some helping hands from my Great Nephews.
Here you can see the help haming it up and my pop door and ventilation door. The Vent door swelled with TS Irene so I have to take them apart and resize them. You can also see that I am pulling up the patio blocks. I was happy to find our that I did it right with 4 inches of sand on the pea stone type gravel. The vent door is covered with Hardware cloth on the inside.
The roof goes on it is clear fiberglass. They certainly don't make it like they used to. All four walls on the coop. See my access doors. Just like a fancy car it is a 60/40 door. The small side will be for water, feeding etc and the large door will be for cleaning out the coop. The Coop is 4 x 5 feet and the run will be 4x5 and also extend under the run. Because of the patio blocks the run is more like 5'7". you can barely see the run on the other end.
Roof is now on the run. The whole thing is wrapped with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. Picked up some buckets from the grocery store bakery and they still had a little frosting in them. After living here 40 years I just found out we actuall have racoons in this urban setting. The white board at the end of the roof is because when I extended the run I ran out of fiber glass. The outside roost is actually to stabilize the door wall. it is not anchored down with anything. I do have the hardware cloth running down 6" under the patio blocks on all four sides and built up the gap under the door with patio blocks on their edge. We put a plate of bird seed in there to see if any critters get in to get it.
here is inside the coop. you can see the pop door set up and the "out door" Thermometer at roost height.the vent door is divided into three part each getting larger towards the bottom. All my doors (except the run door) over lap a half inch to control drafts. The bar under the Roost support is for a PooP Board.
The Bucket for my water system. I figure 2 buckets one out side and one inside. really wish they had left some of that cookies and cream frosting in the bucket. The left overs and some are larger I figure I will use to store feed and supplements.
Well some painting monday and I pick the girls up on Tuesday. They are approximately 5 months old and are not laying yet which means they are prime. I am getting them from my wife's cousin in Dublin NH. where he runs a "contact" farm. End of season and he usually sells off most of the animals and restocks in the spring. http://www.friendlyfarm.com/
Well will post some pics of the girls when I get them. Night Night
