Building a new coop, suggestions welcome

[enrgizerbunny]

Coop is still coming along nicely. Finished up the vinyl on the front today. I'd have to buy more J channel in order to put vinyl on the back, but I may still do that to eliminate the maintenance of the untreated wood planks.

I also started putting down the hardware cloth. I had to decide on a solution to sealing the eaves, and ultimately went with wood blocks inside the walls that provide security and a good place to staple the HC to.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Almost finished predator proofing.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Loft door is installed. It is predator proof as it sits, it just isn't complete.

Chicks arrive 3/8 and 3/15.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Made the decision to replace the pallet wood on the back with vinyl siding. I found some extra J channel under the shed and enough sheathing to cover it. Got chased inside by the rain so no pictures.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Put vinyl up on the back gable of the coop. Had some help from my youngest.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Graded out the front today.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Had to snake proof this threshold before they get active. There was a 1" gap because of how the doors are mounted.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

In case anyone is wondering, I believe two of my hens finally started pulling their weight around here because I found 4 eggs in there after being away essentially for two days. Started building the roll away nesting boxes today. Almost finished too. I'll take pictures tomorrow as I could not stop to photograph while I was racing the sunset today. I let the girls out in the yard while I was working and stood overwatch with my .22 pellet rifle in case that fox decided to show back up.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Boxes are completed!

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Had to rebuild my nesting boxes. First design resulted in boxes that were only about 9 inches tall because I didn't account for the ramp. Going forward, I'll make the opening 15" tall for boxes to allow for the ramp being 4" elevated in the front. The current boxes are too deep, but it is what it is. They're finally 12" tall and big enough for full sized birds to stand up in when they lay.

Also finally added treated fascia boards and trimmed the rafters on the edges. Next project I'll do on it is to add motion sensor flood lights to light up the yard in that area.