Adding 2nd run.. If you can't laugh at yourself? (added predator pics)

[88heather]

Thanks!! Well today I ordered the coops for dummies.. I'm not a total dummy but a building dummy I AM! LOL! Like I said before my father has built houses.. is an an engineer and blames himself for teaching me NOTHING!

At least you did use hammers and such.. i have played the "girl card" for a very long time.. I'd start to work on something when hubby was around and quit very fast and ask for help! Well.. when hubby left for Iraq .. and I didn't have anyone to come rescue me.. and combine that with the chicken addiction.. the chicken addiction forced me to try on my own.. LOL.. and I was a great "what not to do" example!

A few things I learned.. but can't seem to apply to myself is "Don't rush it".. yeah.. I know that but still can't.. impatience takes over

Paint it if it will be impossible to paint after up.. I added the nesting box before painting it.. well.. the edge that is super close to the fencing is about impossible to paint without ripping some fencing to squeeze the brush in.. should of painted it before attaching.. oh well.

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I'm pretty much a "what not to do" example!

 

[dsqard]

Heather looking at your pictures and the pictures on the website for the coop it looks like there is no way to get underneath the coop. Is this right? The reason I ask is because they may have screwed or nailed the legs from below to attach them to the floor of the coop. If there is a way to get under the coop maybe you could get under there and look to see if you can see nails or screws for the legs. If you can get those out it will be easier to remove the nest box. If you can't get under there you might have to get the metal blade for the jig saw to cut through the wood and the nail or screw. I am guessing that there isn't enough room to get into the coop far enough to see down inside the nest boxes to see how they attached the boxes to the legs. It looks like a pretty tight place to work in. Can you see how they attached the boxes to the side of the coop or is that hidden under a trim piece? See it just doesn't seem fair that they made it so hard to dismantle parts of it! You would think they should know that people are going to modify things!

 

[dsqard]

Just checking in with you Heather to see if you were able to get the interior nest boxes out with all fingers intact?

The only other think I could think of to get them out was to bash them with a hammer until they are out.

 

[88heather]

Yikes.. for some reason I thought I replied the other day.. Oh NO WAY to get underneath as when the chickens get big it would be a tight squeeze for them.. not to mention it's all covered in wire!

Oh and the pics of the interior on that website was probably from their larger coop.. so imagine how tight the small is! I can get my body somewhat through the chicken door that they exit to the ramp.. I can't even fit a water feeder in that door it's not that big I have to put their water in through the back wall. . Now that we have the back removable wall on a hinge.. it makes it so easy to open and shut with a wider opening.. so he'll probably cut through there.. When I told my friend I was reaching to cut from the small chicken door.. she laughed.. Ok.. maybe that was silly as it isn't as awkward to go through the back door.. maybe that was a blonde moment.

I am going to paint "Eggs" or something like that on the box but haven't got to it yet or photoing it either.. Hopefully by friday! I started to go out there to paint when I realized the chore I really needed to get done was finish stacking this wood we have all around.. We had a HUGE mistletoe control with MANY trees cut this summer.. I had trees cut and blocked to firewood size.. i gave away to neighbors about 30 truck loads of wood and still could fill many trucks.. but stopped giving it away as we may of well make some money on it later when hubby gets back so in the mean time I have a lot of wood piles.. I have family coming this weekend and I want to pick up the property and finish stacking the wood.. Hopefully I can finish stacking today b/c before the come I have major cleaning to do.. finish painting the nesting box etc! I'll be busy! My friend and her hubby will come on Saturday (before company gets here) to cut out the nesting boxes with their saw zaw?? (sp??) can't remember how they spell the name of that.. so rather than my buying a new blade and bumbling through it.. her husband will cut it out! YAY!

This morning.. it's back to stacking wood! I was stacking wood before the run project and took a stacking break thinking I didn't have that much left.. I stacked yesterday and I was wrong.. I hope I can get a lot done today with that and/or finish. We live in the forest and have a lot of trees.. so many trees that when we first moved here you'd lose the house!

The property looks better.. even though it was sad to see so many get cut.

Thanks for hanging in there with me DiDi!

 

[dsqard]

Glad to hear that you still have all of your fingers and there is someone who will get those nest boxes out for you! Sounds like you have a ton of work to get done before the weekend. Remember to stop and take a breather every now and again so you don't wear yourself out. You sound so much like me, always on the go, never sitting down but hardly ever inside. That is where I love to be even if it means that I am working on something. I would much rather be working in the barn than cleaning the house any day. Thank goodness DH does do the laundry! I have been thinking of painting "Fresh Eggs" on the outside of our nest box too! Great minds think alike. I want to find an example of a "country" font to copy from. Still deciding if I am going to let my DH paint DiDi's Psycho Chicks on the coop.

 

[vfem]

Glad to see you still plugging away Heather!

I wanted to tell you, yesterday, Zoe kept trying to close the chicken's run door while they were out free ranging.... well... it wouldn't close so she started kicking it until the door got suck swinging the wrong way and broke where it wouldn't move and was blocking the coop entry completely.

After having to punish her, I spent over an hour trying to take the door apart myself and re-assemble it!? Lets just say, I got the birds back in, and the door is blocking the hole... but that's it! LOL

Brian didn't come home from a job until after 9:30.... so I had to do it myself.

My tools of choice, a hammer, nails, a metal file and a metal grill spatula! LMAO

I guess that makes me a real newbie.

 

[dsqard]

vfem what in the world did you use the spatula for!!???

 

[vfem]

Quote:
I was using it as a lever trying to pry the door back through the opening... I was laughing at myself because no one was there to laugh at me!

 

[dsqard]

OMG wish you had gotten a picture of that! I think we all would have been ROFLOL!

 

[88heather]

LOL Shannon on the spatula!! but I SOOOOO understand.. oh boy do i.. I have feel like a comedic episode everytime I work.. especially when I get antsy/tired and want it done now!.. i tend to just go for it.

I stacked and stacked wood and then talked on the phone from a good friend I met in 9th grade.. We don't talk enough but when we do.. we talk a LOT! so great to hear from her! then I stacked more wood. found a dead mouse this morning and flung it over the fence for the fox/birds to take away!

May have a half hour of stacking left.. then maybe I can paint my "Eggs" sign on nesting box today.. crosses fingers!

Didi.. Can't wait to see your "eggs" sign when you get there.. I was thinking I'd free hand a design.. I mean that 'should' be up my alley! LOL Although lettering isn't something I normally paint.. was thinking of painting a chicken on there.. or a cracking open egg with chick inside would be cute..