Helpful hints for building coops

[CapricornFarm]

I love arbors, but this would be my luck.

We had this beautiful pond, and in its 4th year it was beyond anything I had hoped for, lush underwater plants, lilies growing up from the bottom, pots on a low shelf with several types of water plants, the leaves trembling in the flow from the stream, rescued goldfish...then the raccoons found the pond.

Surround pond with hot wires.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Raccoons can wreak havoc on a pond, BTDT!

Been thinking of you Jim, looks pretty gnarly over there, hang in there!
Most that crap went north of us here, just some rain last night and raging winds today with more rain overnite tonite.

Got chicks poppin in the bator!

Pictures?

 

[CapricornFarm]

our (2 to 4) turned out to be (2 plus 4)
and then some.. looks like at least 8" out there.
supposed to rain the rest of today. that should knock down the snow a bit.
usually I don't mind plowing, but this time I am going to resist.. I am protesting ..
the snow is so wet and heavy, the strong wind is not moving a flake..
...jiminwisc......

Sorry Jim, time to move south. We had 81° yesterday and i was planting tomatoes!

 

[aart]

Pictures?

Here's some of them.......girls just went down to them local mill to be sold.

 

[Maugwa]

If you are going to be using any wood lathe (Strips generally about a quarter or 3/8" inch thick and 1 1/2" wide) or furring strips (also called 1x2s even though they are really 3/4" x 1 1/2"), or any thin lumber you may have ripped, to secure the ends of poultry netting, hardware clothe, tarps, or plastic, or as decorative trim, there is an old trick of blunting the sharp end of a nail with your hammer before driving it to prevent splitting. I would rather not use this trick though, it seems to only work about half of the time. Anymore with all the cordless screw guns out, I'd prefer screws, but they still will split thin wood easily. They should be pre-drilled. If you have two drill/drivers, putting the drill bit in one and the driver in the other will save a lot of time swapping bits. If you are working with one screw gun, you can pre drill a small stack of lathe, then swap bits and screw them all on. No matter which method you end up using, try to avoid at least the last two inches of the pieces of wood being used, but if you have to put a screw near the end, stay back as much as possible from the very end, don't over tighten, the thicker the piece the better, and pre-drill it a hair bigger by running the drill bit through it a little longer and better.

You Also can use self tapping screws, designed for use in metals, they will work in wood, they'll pre-drill their own holes. There are a few drawbacks, they cost a little more, and you lose some of the threads that hold them in place due to a portion of the end of them being drill bit rather than holding threads. If you're screwing into thicker material like a 2 by, it won't matter much, just use about a quarter inch longer than you would have (as long as the point does't come through in places that matter), but if you're attaching to 1" by, or plywood, you probably don't want to give up this bit of thread. In places where they do work fine, I feel the small extra cost of them is well worth the time they save, once and done.

Make sure to use galvanized, dipped, coated, or some sort of outdoor fasteners everywhere on a chicken coup, this is not an area that makes cheaper fasteners cheaper, it makes the cheap ones into the most expensive a few years down the road.

Thin wood lathe weathers extremely fast too, if you can find it, they make synthetic wood composite materiel (recycled pop bottles, sawdust, straw, etc.) lathe too. It's somewhat expensive, but not so much really if you figure it lasts for years and years, and can be reused if you have to change tarps, etc., often.

 

[jvls1942]

If you are going to be using any wood lathe (Strips generally about a quarter or 3/8" inch thick and 1 1/2" wide) or furring strips (also called 1x2s even though they are really 3/4" x 1 1/2"), or any thin lumber you may have ripped, to secure the ends of poultry netting, hardware clothe, tarps, or plastic, or as decorative trim, there is an old trick of blunting the sharp end of a nail with your hammer before driving it to prevent splitting. I would rather not use this trick though, it seems to only work about half of the time. Anymore with all the cordless screw guns out, I'd prefer screws, but they still will split thin wood easily. They should be pre-drilled. If you have two drill/drivers, putting the drill bit in one and the driver in the other will save a lot of time swapping bits. If you are working with one screw gun, you can pre drill a small stack of lathe, then swap bits and screw them all on. No matter which method you end up using, try to avoid at least the last two inches of the pieces of wood being used, but if you have to put a screw near the end, stay back as much as possible from the very end, don't over tighten, the thicker the piece the better, and pre-drill it s hair bigger by running the drill bit through it a little longer and better. You Also can use self tapping screws, designed for use in metals, they will work in wood, they'll pre-drill their own holes. There are a few drawbacks, they cost a little more, and you lose some of the threads that hold them in place due to a portion of the end of them being drill bit rather than holding threads. If you're screwing into thicker material like a 2 by, it won't matter much, just use about a quarter inch longer than you would have (as long as the point does't come through in places that matter), but if you're attaching to 1" by, or plywood, you probably don't want to give up this bit of thread. In places where they do work fine, I feel the small extra cist of them is well worth the time they save, once and done. Make sure to use galvanized, dipped, coated, or some sort of outdoor fasteners everywhere on a chicken coup, this is not an area that makes cheaper fasteners cheaper, it makes the cheap ones into the most expensive a few years down the road.

Thin wood lathe weathers extremely fast too, if you can find it, they make synthetic wood composite materiel (recycled pop bottles, sawdust, straw, etc.) lathe too. It's somewhat expensive, but not so much really if you figure it lasts for years and years, and can be reused if you have to change tarps, etc., often.

good post..
I would like to add that flat head screws often split the wood because of the wedge shaped head.

 

[aart]

I would like to add that flat head screws often split the wood because of the wedge shaped

Unless they are properly counter-sunk.
Real wood screws need the right pilot hole drilled.

 

[HopeSprings]

Having a hard time picturing this, have any pictures?

 

[NewBoots]

Surround pond with hot wires.

Heh, that would have surprised the hell out of our dogs!

 

[NewBoots]

Nice! We'll be using raised beds but we'll be using stock panels there as well. I might see if i can figure a way to use your method instead of using the panels like cages. Would be easier to reach the fruit your way I'd think.