Any advice before I turn on the saw?

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I grew up in the Bronx and went to school in Manhattan. I'm very curious about your coop set-up, I can't wait to see how it turns out. It looks like it's behind a brownstone. Did I guess right? How big is your lot?

I read somewhere that there is no limit on the number of chickens you can keep in NYC. I wish I knew that when I lived there!
 
Annain,
We live in an apartment building. ~725 square foot apartment, ~450 square foot back yard. We would buy this apartment in a heartbeat if it was for sale.

Yesterday I got a call from the building managment company. "We had some noise complaints about late night construction sounds. Know anything?"

Me: "Yeah. I was running some power tools, but I thought I quit before it got too late. I guess I'll stop before 6 from now on."

Mgmt. "Thanks. I like to build things too, I love the smell of sawdust. Have a good day"

He was really cool, but it also means I'm on their radar. Which could be good or bad, we'll have to wait and see. But it does mean I will be covering the run. . .

Anyhow, less talk, more pics!

Base and the front wall framed out.
frontwall.jpg


Skin on the wall:
frontskinned.jpg


Insulation in one of the side walls.
foam.jpg


Four walls done
fourwalls.jpg


The bolt holes on the inside that hold the four walls together
bolthole.jpg


the roof!
roof.jpg


After this pic I just covered it all with tar paper and cleaned up. I'm going out of town for a week, then I'll trim the windows, put the cedar shingles on, and figure out what I'm doing with the roof.

Cheers,
B
 
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Oh, and the only really bad thing that happened.

One of the walls fell over and hit my plexiglass table. OUCH. Guess I'll have to fix this too.

ouch.jpg
 
I am completely fascinated by this city chicken-keeping endeavor! Tell me, if you're renters, what happens to your coop when you move? If you're already getting complaints (behind your back) about your power tools running in daylight hours, do you think the chickens will be a problem- they're not that noisy, but they can be vocal at times (they're legal in NYC, right?).

Keep us up-to-date on your progress- it's coming along quickly and beautifully!!
 
Dozen,
We are renters. I built the coop to come apart. The four walls bolt together so they can come apart easily. We know we'll be moving someday. Hopefully not at the end of this lease (next spring.)

After the phone call from the management, The Lady and I had a longish talk about the whole chicken thing. Now granted, it was pretty dark when I was using the power tools, but if people are going to complain at that, I don't know what's in store with the birds.

Hens are 100% legal in NYC, as long as they're kept clean/humanely. So they can't kick us out for that. The noise might be a problem early morning, and throughout the day. But since the birds go to sleep at night, I'm not expecting any night time complaints.

However, we do have a clause in our lease specifying "no pets." But we told them before we signed that we had cats and fish, and they were okay with them in the apartment. So their "no pets" clause is bunk, IMO. There's also a 'you've had them three months, and nobody said anything about it, so they can stay' law. We'll see. I'm gonna be real ticked off if they figure out a way to make us get rid of them. The management company will probably not renew our lease if they start getting complaints. Which means finding a new apartment with enough outdoor space for the chickens. Ugh. That thought makes me cringe.

I love living in NYC because of a certain anonymity. I'm one of 8 million people. But I hate people who have nothing else to do besides stick their noses in other people's lives.

On a much lighter note, I finally have all 5 birds eating out of my hand! They go nuts for meal worms. The General caught on the quickest, so she's the first to run for THE HAND when it appears.

B
 
Nicely done with the collapsale coop! We have the same pancake compressor.

I couldn't deal with living in a big city again. 7 years in Seattle was like purgatory. Got broken into a number of time, traffic was horrible, but there were plenty of places to eat out at. Best of luck with your coop project. You've done a great job on that.
 
Quote:
Very interesting. As for the "no pets" provision in the lease, next rental if you got them to waive it verbally, make sure they change the terms in the lease to CYA (just the lawyer in me, suspicious of landlords....and other lawyers!).

In my experience, hens aren't very noisy except sometimes after egg-laying they do their version of an end-zone, touch-down, victory dance/song, which can get quite loud. But that won't be a problem at night obviously.

I know what you mean about nosy neighbors and it's not a problem exclusive to city dwellers. We live in a relatively rural area one would think we're far enough away from our closest neighbors to avoid issues. Our neighbors on either side of us are at least 100 yeards away, but that didn't stop one of them from calling the town on our coop. (Note we're not actually suppposed to have chickens at all. Just antiquated zoning regs, not expressly prohibited but not expressly permitted either). What rubs me the wrong way is
when folks don't have the common courtesy to talk to you personally about any concerns FIRST. A sad commentary about our society I suppose. We called HER and resolved the issue (people often back down from their complaints when confronted with the pettiness of it all). We got her to sign a joint letter to the town saying she's totally cool with the coop and any roos as long as we keep them inside the coop until 7:30 am.

Post pics of the NY 5 when you have a chance!
 

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