Coop Expanded

[ozark hen]

Hi, we live on property that has been in my dh's family for almost 100 years. The old oak house was standing when Laura and Almanso Wilder moved here to Mansfield, Missouri. In fact, my dh's sister and brother were born in that old house and they lived here during the time the Wilders were alive. Anyway, the old house has been used for storage for about 30 years or more. The back room had been added on for the kitchen way back when it was first built. Size about 12x8? or so. My dh cleaned it out, insulted the ceiling and north wall and turned it into my coop...the little back room. All my 31 chickens, 7 guineas and 9 ducklings were crowded in there until this weekend. He cleaned out a 12x15 foot adjoining room and redid it so the chickens now have their own eat in kitchen and and a very large room to roost and play around in. Now if the weather turns bad I won't worry about turning them loose as there is so much room in there for them now, with the two rooms. Plenty of ventilation and they are happy birds!! I am so happy my dh did this ...nothing fancy but used everything he could find around the farm to redo that room. They have lights, fans and heat if needed.
Here are the pictures from yesterday, I will try to take more tomorrow of the finished room. Well, it is finished except for the new roosts he is going to make for them.
this is the back room of the old house..

here he scraped the walls down from the peeling wallpaper and newspaper prints...

here is putting up the insulating paper around the exposed walls...

 

[texaschickmama]

Cook that man an extra good supper. He deserves it. Great place for the upcoming winter, your birds will love you for it.

 

[ozark hen]

Already fixed him one of his favs...potato soup and ham with my homemade butter and biscuits. He had homemade yogurt for dessert..another of his favs. ha ha Thanks to Miss Prissy for showing us how to make the butter and yogurt!!

 

[ozark hen]

Finally got the roosts finished. we were going to get boards and build them but I decided to give them tree limbs so we cut down three saplings and put them up for them. We just used what we had around the place and didn't spend any money at all on the coop. I went in tonight and took pics of them ...some were roosting on the floor so I left a small light on for them until they get comfortable with their new digs. Nothing fancy here by no means but will work nicely.

We afixed the limbs out about a foot apart from the wall and about a foot away from each limb so no one is poohing on the lower neighbor! My silkies love going to the very top which is over five feet high.

Oh, that is plywood around the bottom of the room to keep them from pecking at the walls plus a little more insulation. White paper is the insulated north wall.

 

[MissPrissy]

This is VERY cool.

Do you have photos of what the house looked like originally? I love old houses.

 

[ozark hen]

I do but they are on floppy disk!

A whole lot of family photos are on floppy disks and I can't use them on my computer!
The old house had two large rooms downstairs with a tiny steep stairway in the corner to the left of the water tub. Upstairs is two large rooms. The backroom (seen in photo with a hook lock) was the lean-to kitchen. A small room that I am now using for a nursery/sick room, whatever. I have nine two week old ducklings in there now. My dh added a garage onto the side of the old house that will hold three vehicles and a tractor plus odds and ends. Nothing fancy but he hopes to put the same red metal siding up all around the old house eventually. He has reroofed it finally. It will be here when we are gone...solid oak and it sits on rocks and is very square!! Amazed us on that! I wish we had the money to restore it as I wouldn't mind living in it at all. Well, maybe I wouldn't like those stairs.

here is one view of the side of it with all the vines growing all over it. Loved it like that as in the fall the leaves would all turn red. With him covering the whole house in metal that will all be gone. I will enjoy it while it is still there.

PLEASE EXCUSE THE MESS....A WORK IN PROGRESS!!

 

[MissPrissy]

My house and barns will be here long after we are gone as well. They don't build like this anymore.

 

[ozark hen]

no, they sure don't! Do you have photos of yours?

 

[nccountrygirl]

MissPrissy, may I please have the recipe for your homemade butter . Thank you

 

[momoftwinsinwi]

Looks awesome, keep the pic's coming!!!