Part 4 - the Coop search
I looked into building one and quickly realized I didn’t have that much time to dedicate as I needed them in an ample space soon. Also, the cost of building supplies is outrageous right now. So I turned to Craigslist and Marketplace. I knew the tiny pre-fab ones were not going to work for the number of birds I had so I didn’t even bother with those. There were plenty of well crafted and beautiful coops built by others but they were out of the budget I had set. So I switched gears and started looking for a shed that I could convert.
I made a post on my FB and my best friends Mom responded that she had a shed that was in excellent condition and we could have it in trade for removing some scrap furniture and old carpet they’d sat outside. They are elderly and did not have the ability to load and haul these things themselves so I was happy to help, even without the shed incentive. Boy, were we in for a surprise.
Two days later, we arrived with a truck to load up the items to haul away. There was far more than just some old, broken furniture and ripped out carpet. We borrowed a skid loader to make the job easier and hooked up an old truck bed trailer so we could haul two loads at a time. In all, my husband hauled out six truckloads of rubbish and totaled nearly 20 hours of his time spanning three days. He was happy to help them, but pretty upset with me for “all this chicken nonsense.” Once the rubbish was gone, we had to devise a plan to retrieve the shed from the corner of the property. So we walked back to the shed to decide how to move it. This was the first time we’d actually seen the shed. It was in pretty rough shape and we weren’t even sure it would withstand being loaded, hauled home, and unloaded. But I was committed. I needed this shed. My chickens needed this shed. My husband needed me to not be impulsive and bring home chickens before having the shed.
In my defense, he says it was impulsive but I disagree. I’d been speaking of chickens for years, and quite frequently in the prior months. He just kept putting me off. So I kind of forced his hand. It was cruel, I know. But after 18 years of marriage, he should know I always figure out how to get what I want. Yes, I’m kind of a brat.
Thankfully we had the borrowed skid loader or we would have never been able to load this shed. I believe it’s a 6x8 and was originally a metal garden shed. They had wrapped the shed with plywood and painted it to make it more sturdy and better withstand the elements. They had been using it for goats and it had not been cleaned. The floor was nearly rotted through and it was full of straw and goat poop. I grabbed a shovel and went to work clearing it out. Then we grabbed some ratchet straps and started loading it on to the skid loader. After several attempts and rebracing the joists, we had it loaded.
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Most of the shed survived the 30 minute trip home, only losing a few roof panels. By this time it was pitch dark so we parked the trailer and went to bed. I was up early the next morning, excited and ready to get going on this shed project. My dear husband was not so eager but out to the shed we went. Somehow, we managed to get it unloaded in one piece. It was a miracle. The picture really doesn’t show how bad of shape it was in. Most of the flaws hidden by the plywood. My husband is a collector of anything he thinks he may ever possibly need in his lifetime. We had a friend that had torn down a large composite wood deck so we decided to wrap the shed again using this material. We also used this material to sturdy up the floor. My husband set off to the lumber yard to get lumber to frame the run and I went back to TSC for chicken wire and hardware cloth and several other chicken related items I decided I needed. After the shed was wrapped on three sides, (we still haven't finished the front) the building of the run was ready to start.
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) I'm having trouble working my way through that post, not sure I will be able to keep up with another one, but I'll try!
I had no idea he’d shipped them early. I was NOT prepared. I planned to get through Christmas and then tell my husband and acquire all the needed supplies to properly keep delicate Seramas in the Winter months. I had NOTHING. No cage, no extra feeder or waterer. No heat source. I went into full panic mode. I quickly set up the play pen, placed them in it and hopped in my car.
