Building the Chicken McMansion (Part 3)

[Chieftain]

It was another amazingly pleasant day today and I blew through a whole quart of cherry oil based stain on all of that Douglas Fir framing. Wait till you sill the pics. When this dries completely and weathers in a bit, the coop will look like it was built of redwood. I also got the rest of my sand laid in, screeded out nicely and watered into place. As it dries it will stay packed down pretty well until the chooks get out there and start scratching around and taking dust baths.

I have been working on the design of the rainwater collection system this evening over a shot of decent Sour Mash Whiskey, and I hope to start on construction of that tomorrow. I need to get the brackets for it mounted firmly on the back of the coop, and stained, so I can finish the trim, and get it painted, and ready for screening...the design is sturdy because a full 55 gallon rainbarrel weighs in at around 440 pounds!! I'll be using 3 3/8" x 6" lag screws on each bracket to tie it into the foundation 4x4s. they carry so little weight now, a rainbarrel will be no big deal, especially with the structure as it is now.

The whole idea is to mount a horizontal barrel with enough head to provide water in the run, and a cleanup hose as well. I'll be looking at inexpensive heaters as well in a separate thread....

Pics at a later time. I'm snapping a few here and there when I get a moment, but I'm not wasting this unusually decent weather we are having here in the Pacifist Northwest. I fear we may pay dearly for this in February, but that is yet to be seen...tomorrow is supposed to be better still.

Cheers!

 

[pacetruckguy]

Chieftain,
That's because all the rain is going south to me. We have had rain for the past 10 days with as many inches. Everyone keeps saying we need the rain, but all at once seems a bit crazy. I think we're due for a break tomorrow. I know my hens are.
Can't wait to see the new pictures!

 

[Chieftain]

Well! El Nino has been berry. berry good to me...

The weather this week has been amazing, and the progress substantial. I have plenty left to do, including building a door, painting and mounting the windows, installing screens, and finish painting and staining; but I finished screening the whole run today and got the site cleaned up pretty nice. I really wanted to get the front of the coop draped with a tarp and finish the staining, but it just got too windy this afternoon.

And of course I have that darned Building Inspector still hanging around...

It took about two solid months to get to this point, and it will take me a little while longer to finish it, but I think you can get the basic idea...

Cheers!!

 

[Quailbuddy]

It looks AH-Mazing !

Congrats on being almost done

In picture # three on the last post what is that white tube like this in the back? Just wondering

 

[Chieftain]

Quote:
Ah! Thanks for reminding me!

That is the rainwater collection system...it's a (food safe) 55 gallon plastic drum set on supports to collect the rainwater off of the roof, and provide a nearly year-round supply of drinking and cleaning water....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=290206

I put that thread up earlier today and I meant to link it...

 

[Quailbuddy]

Ah! Thanks for reminding me!

That is the rainwater collection system...it's a (food safe) 55 gallon plastic drum set on supports to collect the rainwater off of the roof, and provide a nearly year-round supply of drinking and cleaning water....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=290206

I put that thread up earlier today and I meant to link it...

OOH thats a smart idea . . . . great job again and you picked a very good paint color

 

[SilverPhoenix]

It looks so beautiful! You've done such a fantastic job on it! I would love to have something like that for my seramas.

Wanna come build on my property next?

Love your building inspector, too.

 

[LynneP]

Looking great. Have you thought about putting rain shields on the bottom of the windward side? Might keep the run drier on those soggy west-coast days!

 

[pacetruckguy]

Nice job, It's comming right along. Thanks for the updates. Very cool!!

 

[Chieftain]

Quote:
Yes, and that is one of the things I will be looking at in the coming weeks and months. Not sure if I need them yet or not, because the coop changed the wind dynamics dramatically. I'll keep an eye on the rain patterns in the sand run to see if there are any modifications needed. There are laurels planted on the other side of the fence, and they shield the run pretty well. There is a gap at the end but the coop diverts the wind up and over now, or at least that's how it seems.

What would you suggest to use to make rains shields? Do you mean a removable panel of some sort, or an overhang?? (Interesting suggestion, and my sketchbook is always handy...).