Authentic Woods KD (Knock Down) 10' by 16' Coop Build

[Ted Brown]

... You don't have rats or raccoons??? Must be nice! Down here, we have lots of them, and so far no bears.
Mary

I am in a remote area and nearest neighbors are not close. Rats are attracted by food and garbage and fortunately there is not much of that around and I will not be making any available.

However, we have raccoon, bear, otter, mink, weasel, fisher, fox, coyote, dog, feline, raptor, owl and probably a few I don't know about.

I will not free range, will have a covered run and no doubt will add outdoor cameras and electric fence. However I have a few months of work before I am complete enough to get chickens so those decisions are down the road a bit.

 

[Adela Farm]

No hardware cloth around my woods coop and never had any problems. Shingles over pine boards sounds perfectly fine. My walls are traditional stud and covered with plywood.

 

[ketojenn]

I'm planning a woods coop later this summer using reclaimed wood from a dilapidated, 100+ year old building I'm tearing down. It's covered in tongue and groove and has a rough sawn lumber skeleton, just perfect for this project. I'll be watching your progress as I get ready for my own build.

 

[Folly's place]

It's going to be fantastic!
Mary

 

[Ted Brown]

A bit of an update although no real progress.

I read on a recent thread ("Lime Whitewash") that water intrusion through the cracks was a possibility, this made me re-visit the open decision I raised in my post #3 above re cladding. There is a third possibility that I had neglected that being the use of battens over the cracks.

I was over to my miller yesterday on another matter and got into a discussion with him about options. I learned that he does cedar shingles for roofs, shakes for walls and shims; the difference is one of quality with shingles at the top. I learned that he also uses his re-saw mill for making battens which he does in two sizes - either 1" by 2" or 1/2" by 2". He prices them the same given the extra labour to cut a 1" in half; explained that the 1/2" batten looks better because it provides a cleaner look on the building. Also noted that the cost versus shakes would be close to half and the labour to apply less.

Based on this I will use 1/2" by 2" battens to ensure the building is tight.

 

[Ted Brown]

I picked up the 1st 50 1" by 6" pine boards for the coop build. My millers yard and the boards on my trailer. 50 more 1" by 6"s, 100 1/2" by 2" battens. twelve 2" by 6" boards cut into 24 2" by 3" for framing, plus? yet to come. Cost of these 50 was $160 CDN.

 

[Ted Brown]

Minor update.

A friend cleaned out his garage today and called to say he had some windows that were going into the garbage. He has 4 single pane wooden windows that are 22" by 54", two of these should work as the monitor windows albeit the upper frame will be mostly glass; painted red which is his favourite colour but not mine, small issue in exchange for free. I need to think through the monitor frame size and how I will build it to ensure these will work but seems they will.

My miller is being his usual self and has not yet finished the 2" by 3" framing boards nor the battens that I need for the walls. I keep putting my face in front of him to remind of my requests, hopefully it will have some effect.

In the meantime I keep reading other folks coop build progress, getting jealous and impatient...

 

[Ted Brown]

I picked up another 41 ten foot 1" by 6" pine boards this morning, $120CDN



Tomorrow it will rain so my miller will work inside and do one hundred 1/2" by 2" pine battens and will cut twelve 2" by 6" ten foot boards in half for the 2" by 3" frame boards needed to build the walls. Pickup on Sunday.

I am very busy with paying builds so will do the coop build in the evenings starting next Monday as recreation.

I am very keen to get started.

 

[Ted Brown]

I am also feeling a bit of pressure.

My sister and her husband visit on a regular basis and will come in July for a month or two. They recently moved into an apartment on an acreage belonging to a couple; the lady keeps 80+ laying hens, 5 roosters along with 32 meat chickens (6-8 weeks grow cycle to 3-4 lbs before harvesting), 20 lamb and 11 spring kids, geese and ducks.

On Monday she told me that she will be bringing fertilized eggs when she comes - mild panic! I am now using my evenings reading about incubators to figure out what I should get to host them. In the process stumbled over references to the Leahy Redwood cabinet incubators and drooled... Unlikely I would ever find one up here but so cool!

 

[aart]

On Monday she told me that she will be bringing fertilized eggs when she comes - mild panic! I am now using my evenings reading about incubators to figure out what I should get to host them.

Just what you need on your plate, another project... this time with a learning curve.
Never incubated before?