"Coop de Gra" finished - wtf was I thinking? - Pic heavy

[Rhawn]

My coop is finished, pics are below. Glad its done, but if I had any idea the amount of time, money and pain I would have to go through, I would have never bought chickens. Honestly it sounded like an easy and cheap idea at first, I guess I just didn't think it through. But its finished and here are the pics.

Coop de Gra is a play on Coup de Gra, which means mercy blow, or finishing blow, which is what I was begging for several times while building my coop.

Foundation and framing

First Window framed in

Here is where the 'fun' starts. While framing in the second window, I had a nail richochet out of a 2X4 and into my hand which was down the board.

After several days off I started back the old fashion way. Nail and a pry bar. More framing.

All the windows are framed in.

Start of the roof. I say start because it rained and warped most of the plywood, so I had to do it twice.

Shingles and edging

Door cut and mounted

The girls watching

Wire on the windows and vents

Floor with trap door for cleaning

Start of run wiring

Start of siding

Siding and Ladder finished

The girls were just crazy curious while I was building the gate. Standing like a foot away while I hammered away on fence staples. Which btw, fence staples are the biggest piece of !#$% to nail in.

Finished gate, wire, coop.

 

[Clay In Iowa]

Nice coop......................... BUT THE HAND THING OOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Dude warn a guy will ya... sheeesh

 

[jenjscott]

beautiful

 

[tragic59]

Ouch! The sacrifices made for chickens!!!

Nice coop.

With the 2X4's laid on their sides like that, will the floor support a person walking in the coop?

Or, did you set it up so you can clean it without going in?

 

[Luna1968]

I like the trap door idea for cleaning. How is that working out? Ouch on your hand!! But the coop is beautiful. Nice work!

 

[Goat_Walker]

Gorgeous! i am so jealous!

 

[CallyB57]

Very lovely coop and I know your girls will appreciate your efforts. I also have spent lots - just short of $1500 on lumber, fencing, birds, etc....all this began on March 4, when I bought my first bunch of chicks. Out of my older chickens (~ 19 weeks old), only one of them is laying. So, I have gathered 7 small eggs, on the average there is 1 egg every other day. The egg is very small and I don't know how such a huge chicken (Brahma) can lay an egg that is so small. Of course, they are perfect eggs..the smoothest light brown and very tasty. After including the cost of feed, treats, sand, oyster shell supplement, water and feed containers, etc., I am way in the red. But... doesn't matter - raising chickens is a joyful experience for me and I'm just going to keep raising them. It brings out my creative side...not to mention..I plum love those birds!!!

Edited to change 29 weeks old - to 19 weeks old. Typo.

 

[NGT ANGL]

I love the coop but your poor hand...

 

[ducks4you]

Note to self: ALWAYS nail with a hammer from now on. No EXTRA power equipment.

 

[Rhawn]

Tragic, the later. This would be the first structure I have ever come close to building, so I was guessing. The trap door + stall dry + deep shavings is my plan. We will see how it works out.

Luna. Its only been a week that they have been out there, so I don't know yet. I 'envision' not having to empty it out that often due to deep litter + stall dry. I plan to put the shavings + poo in a compost bin, which isn't built yet. I plan on using a tarp at the on the ground at the bottom of the ramp to dump the shavings when its time.