Arizona Chickens

[ChicksOfHazzard]

So progress continues on the coop here. I'm asked my husband to push to get it finish with the heat having arrived here. So I think we are t-minus a week now to finish. I'll be relieved once they are in because I'll have the mister system in place on their new coop. We had a short hiatus on progress because we don't have a truck to get material. The neighbor helped us out yesterday though, so that was great. He had his kids come over and look at the chickens. The younger son had seen them when they were still babies, this was the first time they've ever held chickens though, so that's fun.




Shortly after they left though, we had a near miss with the chickens and dogs. I think the chickens were just a little flustered with having the kids around so they kept gravitating towards the wood pile which is next to the fence that separates the dogs from the chickens. I kept trying to shoo them away from the wood pile/fence area. But god, next thing I knew I see out of the corner of my eye Boss Hogg's butt running through the dog yard with my boxer following close behind. One of our dogs, Nibbler, is excellent with the chickens. She loves them, is very gentle with them, and is mainly just interested in eating their poop. She immediately ran to the corner of the yard and was cowering in fear of what might happen next between the other two dogs (who have high prey drives) and Boss Hogg. As soon as I saw Boss Hogg and Bug in the yard, I started screaming these loud, guttural screams at the dogs. Bug recalled immediately and peeled off the chicken. But our dog with the highest prey drive and lowest recall is Hemi, our corgi. Hemi didn't completely recall, but with all my shouting he hesitated enough that I could get to him. Boss Hogg lived to tell the tale, completely unscathed. Just wet tail feathers. Both she and Rosco were so upset afterwards (Rosco wasn't involved, just heard all the commotion and screaming) that they were bouncing around in front of me until I picked each of them up and held them for a bit. They settled down after that and roosted fine for the evening. Close call though.

So anyway, work resumed on the coop. As you guys have seen, we've got that curved dirt area for the run. My husband asked me to figure out the angles for the wood cuts to frame the curve. I haven't had any experience with wood cutting, but I figured, "Hey, it's *just* geometry, right?". Well, an annoying 90 minutes later, I had it figured out. But my angles add up to 89 degrees, so one degree off isn't too bad. And anyway, we'll probably have more error on that with the cutting, it's not like the tolerances are that tight on the saw. Here's my chicken scratch...




But, we're making good progress...






And the chickens are anxiously awaiting their new pad. By the way, I noticed today that the chickens were sort of obsessed with my husband's car. Especially at looking at their reflection in his hub caps. Have you guys seen this?




I mean, they are pretty good looking ladies, perhaps they are thinking about a modeling career...




That's all for us tonight. Hope you all are having a great weekend!

 

[kacklinkelly]

Hope this doesn't end up as a double post! Anyway, we welcomed our new baby girl into the world on April 25 at 0320!
And on a chicken related note...family reports 7/8 eggs have hatched under my broody and the 8th has a pip! What a week!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

ChicksofHazard relax your drawing is not bad. I'm spoiled, I used AutoCad by Autodesk for years for all my drafting and design. Yours look like mine. I'm happy with a +/- 1/8" and a little angles a little off. I have been using my sander.. . A lot to make things fit. When ever I had projects I had clean Grade A wood, not Home Depot Grade C & D wood. I got left over from work. I made a 12'X10'x9' kitty litter box off a window, I got 100' roll of 1" chicken wire for $40.00 and a part of another free. It was Stainless Steel. (1988) that same roll is over $400.00 today. Some things I paid coast, some free, depending on wither it can be returned, or off it was part of demolition.

. I am almost out of some materials. My coop and run is agonizingly slow. I got 1 door done, a 14' 4" beam finished (made out of 2x2 & 1x2) and one post. Not much.

 

[ChicksOfHazzard]

ChicksofHazard relax your drawing is not bad. I'm spoiled, I used AutoCad by Autodesk for years for all my drafting and design. Yours look like mine. I'm happy with a +/- 1/8" and a little angles a little off. I have been using my sander.. . A lot to make things fit. When ever I had projects I had clean Grade A wood, not Home Depot Grade C & D wood. I got left over from work. I made a 12'X10'x9' kitty litter box off a window, I got 100' roll of 1" chicken wire for $40.00 and a part of another free. It was Stainless Steel. (1988) that same roll is over $400.00 today. Some things I paid coast, some free, depending on wither it can be returned, or off it was part of demolition. am almost out of some materials. My coop and run is agonizingly slow. I got 1 door done, a 14' 4" beam finished (made out of 2x2 & 1x2) and one post. Not much.

A 1/8" tolerance I'd be more than happy with anywhere in our coop, frankly. LOL. It's sturdy, but I doubt anything is square. We're definitely on the more amateur side of things. I'm pretty pragmatic about it, I want it up, to be sturdy and to last. I can deal with the cosmetic stuff, you know? Man, I hear you on the costs though, I wish we had been able to get some freebies on the supplies. It's really adding up, I think we're at about $500 now on all the materials. That should be about it, maybe another board of plywood.

Yours looks great though! That door is a masterpiece. Really nice! How big is your run? Looks pretty big!

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

Here is a sneak peak Gallo:

 

[MaddBaggins]

I got some good advice from countrygirl and some longtime chicken experts she knows. I'm making some changes and going to keep working with Button for a while longer.
Maybe it's me being optimistic, but after 4 days on poly vi sol and some other diet changes, Button looks a little better. She still needed to be placed in the coop last night, but she is getting out on her own again.
I've noticed that the older girls don't pick on her as much anymore and when she nabs a good piece of treat, they let her have it for a while before someone takes it away. I've also noticed that Sasha runs interference for Button a lot. Good girl.

 

[MaddBaggins]

Looks good Chick of Hazzard!
I've been building things for years, with wood and with metal, and I rarely make a drawing. When I do, it sucks anyway. I always have my vision in my head, a rough draft of what I need to build it and I just go for it. I always make changes along the way and when it's done, I'm happy. My coop and run were no different. It came out exactly the way I wanted but it cost more than I had planned.

Keep up the good work!

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

]
A 1/8" tolerance I'd be more than happy with anywhere in our coop, frankly.  LOL.  It's sturdy, but I doubt anything is square.  We're definitely on the more amateur side of things.  I'm pretty pragmatic about it, I want it up, to be sturdy and to last.  I can deal with the cosmetic stuff, you know?  Man, I hear you on the costs though, I wish we had been able to get some freebies on the supplies.  It's really adding up, I think we're at about $500 now on all the materials.  That should be about it, maybe another board of plywood.

Yours looks great though!  That door is a masterpiece.  Really nice!  How big is your run?  Looks pretty big!

1/8" = 1/4" off it is a +/-. I lay it out, using clamps then make adjustments. I've had to use some really nasty wood. My coop is a weird size because I had to use some repurposed wood. I sure missed those days when I could get almost anything. It is to expensive for contractors to hold on to stuff that they may not use. I worked on Airforce Bass, as a draftsman and assistant to project engineers. I also miss designing and giving the drawings to a contractor to have his people put it togather. I also miss all the tools and machines. When drafting in a high end mill works, all the wood was ruff cut, they sized it themself to 1/64th inch. For wood that is incredible. The wood was much dryer and older then Home Depot. A lot of the wood they used was not Kilm dried but aged slowly. Depending on the order.

Well back to reality. We do what we can. Being in our back yards we want it to look as nice as we can. Doing it ourselves, for most of us amitures, it is a learning curve. When I started I lowered my expectation. Watching prophestinals work makes it look so easy.

My coop is 4'x4'x5'h rounded up/down, I plan on digging out under the coop for a cool place for them to go. There will be a balcony with roosts, the posts for the balcony will help support the net cover. Only part of the run will have a roof. The run itself is 18'X14'-4"X6'8"h average. I have 8 girls now, hope to have 12 total, 2 are coming in a few weeks, then a Welsummer, and maybe a true Orpington. The 12th slot will be the hardest. So many chickens, so little space. I personally want a min of 20+ sq ft per hen/pullet for their run. When I'm home they will have free range.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Here is a sneak peak Gallo:

Outstanding!

I can't imagine how you'll top this next year, but I bet you will.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I got some good advice from countrygirl and some longtime chicken experts she knows. I'm making some changes and going to keep working with Button for a while longer.
Maybe it's me being optimistic, but after 4 days on poly vi sol and some other diet changes, Button looks a little better. She still needed to be placed in the coop last night, but she is getting out on her own again.
I've noticed that the older girls don't pick on her as much anymore and when she nabs a good piece of treat, they let her have it for a while before someone takes it away. I've also noticed that Sasha runs interference for Button a lot. Good girl.

That's great news!