Chicken compound build thread.

[SixPack]

Gooday folks! My wife and I , with some assistance from our two little girls,are gonna take on 6 day old hens here in another 10days.
We are in newbrunswick Canada, and I have no clue what kind of hens I ordered. Can't remember what the girl on the phone said. But they lay brown eggs apparently and I will find out for sure what breed when I pick them up.
This being out first experience with chickens, I have zero established infrastructure for them.
But yesterday I cleared some land out back and burnt the brush, have materials gathered up.
My procrastination timer went off, so in the next two weeks I hope to build a good little setup for my sixpack
Thought it may be fun to share some pictures of the progress and frustrations as they develope!
And hello to all at BYC, glad to have found such a good resource!

 

[SixPack]

Will share lots of pics if ppl are interested!

 

[SixPack]

The six pack has been doing great this past week in their new house.
I have been doing a lot of other stuff around the house that had been on the back burner...
So no major progress on the hen house, but in the next week I'm going to build their run.

I used a couple metal plant hangers just inside the man door to hang food and water.
Just open the upper half of the door
And it's right there/ easy to get.

 

[SixPack]

In that last pic the wall is just sitting there, not attached.
I set it aside and flipped the floor over. Nailed used/salvaged high density 1" foam on with roofing nails.
Then taped a couple seams, spray foamed it and got my 8 year old daughter to put tuck over all the nails/holes.

Then I sheeted it in with some thin crappy boards that were kicking around. Should be enough to keep the critters from getting at the insulation.
Then put a couple 2x4's between the two cedar beams that the floor sits on.

Got the floor flipped back over the right way again and almost got the second wall up.
Still a couple hours of daylight left, but ambition is starting to run low.
Productive day overall tho

 

[SixPack]

Second wall up, it still needs a couple things done to it. This is the wall that will have the exterior roost boxes.

Next step will be to level the floor a bit maybe, then build a couple more walls.
But that's enough building for today!

 

[SixPack]

Slanty shanty indeed!

The weather has been damp and cool with rain on and off.
Haven't been able to get out there and work in the shack really.
I did take half an hour to get the outside posts upright and square "ish"
Just used scrap boards for now to hold them in place.
Gotta put a beam between them now and then carry on with the roof!

So not much.. But progress none the less.

The outside posts are rough poplar 4x4's, I had to shave them down a bit with the chainsaw to get them to fit into the concrete blocks .

 

[SixPack]

Got the roof finished up yesterday

The ridge cap needs to be fixed up a bit.
But it's raining hard today! And their are no leaks

I would have liked the roof to have hung over the gable ends a bit more... But it will be okay.

 

[SixPack]

Built a 12x16 shed out back las fall, only got it sheeted in and siding on the front late December. Got used aluminum for roof for free, built it very cheap.But snow is gone now, thinning out around the shed, and am going to build a stand alone hen house/ pen of sorts directly behind it for shade purposes.
Use the shed to store food and water for the birds tho. Should work out good in theory..
Hopefully weather cooperates with my time off work so I can get out there and start building this weekend!

Peace

 

[SixPack]

Haven't made much progress outback with the hen shack..
But the 6pack did arrive today.
Gonna have to get at er out back.
Isa Browns

 

[aart]

Better hurry, they get big fast!
Watching and waiting.