Helpful hints for building coops

[CapricornFarm]

Cappy I hope you feel better for Christmas. and thereafter, too.
I got up at 5am , had coffee and at 5:3oam I started making the 3 batches of rolls for Annie's friend. I was done and cleaned up by 11oam
the rising takes so long. .
it takes only 10 to 15 minutes to mix up a batch..
Annie came in just as I was getting the last batch ready. . really broke my momentum. I forgot to let the last batch rise. I went right into making the dough balls.
guess what,, they turned out just great.
I might try doing that again the next time I make a batch for myself. saved over an hour of rising time..
....jiminwisc...

Thanks Jim. I went out shopping today. Spent a lot of time in an Antique shop, enjoyed it very much.

 

[jvls1942]

I guess I will made a couple batches of dinner rolls for my sister and her son. small payment for all the cleaning they did for us.
Might try to put the new battery into the tractor.
Kind of a laid back Christmas this year.
No tree, no lights, ,, nothing..
Our two daughters are coming tomorrow and making dinner. 8 people will be eating.

 

[Molpet]

God sure looks out for me. 50f weather and the furnace goes out. Christmas week and the contractor has an opening. What are the chances of that

Spent the weekend in the basement working on the furnace. When I was butchering a jake Saturday, I heard an alarm going off in the house. It was the co2 . Cleaned the flue Saturday night and then realized it was a burner with flame roll out. Sunday cleaned the burners and what I could with the heat exchanger. Then the flames really rolled out and melted wires .... thought it might be the heat exchange 1989 York furnace.. no replacement heat exchanger available because it's old.
So I bit the bullet and contacted a local contract off their website 6 pm Sunday night. Gave them a quick rundown, didn't mention I thought about it being heat exchanger. Gave my info and that I would call in the morning. 30 minutes later they texted and said they might have an opening to look Monday between 9-10.
They confirmed in the morning and the guy showed up 9:30. . He seen hole in heat exchanger. He sent info to install tech and I called the office for scheduling. Somebody just cancelled and when the install tech crew finished the morning install he picked up my new furnace and had it installed by 4 pm
$2700 which is not a bad price around here. It's a Trane 80% with the least amount of bells and whistles to go wrong. I could have gotten the furnace for 1900 and install myself...if I was younger.... worth saving my back for $800 would have taken me days by myself. They have all the fittings and sheet metal in the truck when they ran into a snag.

 

[aart]

50f weather and the furnace goes out. Christmas week and the contractor has an opening. What are the chances of that

Whew!!!
Cool Beans!

Am taking down the brooder today so I can use the wood burner if necessary.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Bird news, I had 2 chicks hatch...did I show you guys? My memory is not what it used to be.

And a bird flew into our window today and broke it's neck. Sad event.

 

[Birdinhand]

I'm chiming in with a quick update:

about 5.5 years ago I build a very robust coop. I decided to frame it and evnvelope the frame in hardware cloth before adding siding and roofing so that it was essentially seamless... I grew up on a farm, I know what rats and predators can do and was determined to pay it forward with the hard work up front so I didn't have to hassle later. for the bottom, I ran the hardware cloth 2' down at a 45 degree angle, as recommended by some, with the idea that the vermin would get discouraged as they dug down and give up. fast forward to about a year ago when I noticed that the hardware cloth was rusting heavily below the ground level. I did not leave much of an eve and apparently the nutrient rich soil inside the coup, combined with rain water dripping off the roof and directly on the fence were it entered the ground, significantly sped up the oxidation process, as hardware cloth should be good for somewhere between 10-20 years below ground if kept relatively dry. life got busy and I did not do the prudent thing, which would have been to reinforce it before something dug down and found a way in. about 5 months ago, a rat made it through, and that was the beginning of the problems. once I noticed the breach, I dug up the perimeter and added new hardware cloth and took plastic liner and covered it to protect the hardware cloth from rain. apparently i trapped a rat inside and that little bugger dug it's way out and apparently introduced all it's friends to it's new found mother load of chicken feed. I've been battling these rats ever since. I've killed many, but a few have survived and grown ever smarter at ways around my new tricks. i've used just about every type of trap you can imagine and I keep thinking I've gotten them all only to find there is at least one more. they have dug holes undermining major supports and generally run amuck of the place. it's been a very humbling experience for me. I'm about ready to dig out the entire underside of the coop and add a hardware cloth layer across the whole bottom, making it absolutely seamless, wall to wall, ceiling and now floor.

The two things I want to pass on to folks who are considering using hardware cloth throughout the main coop, is that it is not enough to go two feet down, that it's necessary to go underneath the entire coop as well, assuring no more than a half inch gap anywhere. the second thing I'd like to pass on, is the need for adding adequate eaves to keep the water away from the hardware cloth as it goes into the ground.

For the most part, I am very happy with the coop I built, I have not lost a single bird to predators, and up till recently, have not had to battle rats... but do wish I had spent the extra money up front to go underneath the coop with hardware cloth and added extra eaves. digging out the coop and adding hardware cloth now is going to be a lot more difficult that it would have been during the original construction phase.

 

[jvls1942]

concrete. a concrete floor with two courses of concrete blocks as the lower section of the walls
expensive ? at first. not so bad if you do the work yourself.
In over 50 years, I have NEVER lost a bird to predators inside of my coop..
the only way mice can get in is through an open door..often if a chicken sees a mouse, that is an invitation to a warm meal..
...jiminwisc...

 

[jvls1942]

Merry Christmas morning.
Last night it hit me. Annie and I were completely alone. first time in over 30 years. Kalib went to work, Randy is still at the rehab center, No dog, no chickens, no cats. Possibly a rat or a mouse.
It was so quiet I could hardly get to sleep.
I could easily get used to this.
The two daughters are bringing and preparing dinner for 9 of us. by dark tonight everybody should be gone and we will be alone again.. Ahhhhh..
.......jiminwisc.....

 

[Birdinhand]

concrete. a concrete floor with two courses of concrete blocks as the lower section of the walls
expensive ? at first. not so bad if you do the work yourself.
In over 50 years, I have NEVER lost a bird to predators inside of my coop..
the only way mice can get in is through an open door..often if a chicken sees a mouse, that is an invitation to a warm meal..
...jiminwisc...

what is the minimum thickness for the concrete, does it have to be as thick as say a patio slab? I'm tempted to do this, it would be the longest lasting solution with virtually an air tight seal. I'm a little intimidated with the thought of how many bags of concrete it would be though lol... I'd have to rent a mixer or have someone come and do the pour from one of those hose trucks.

 

[NewBoots]

Thanks Jim. I went out shopping today. Spent a lot of time in an Antique shop, enjoyed it very much.

So glad you feel better.

I walked to the grocery store to get the stuff for Christmas dinner and to my joy they had rib roasts. No money for presents this year so my gift to DP is the Christmas rib roast dinner and I got so excited about the dinner that I started prep like we were going to have it tonight.

Edited to add that this post was meant to have been posted on the 24th.