Helpful hints for building coops

[CapricornFarm]

are electric fences needed?

Not so far.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Neighbor had trapper get the coons that were in house walls. They were going under the deck. Trapper put plastic coated hardware cloth up the deck and as apron. My dog alerted me and I found they had gone through the hwc


View attachment 1884561

Wow, I don't like that! They don't make hardware cloth like they used to!

 

[jvls1942]

some of the brush I had to remove to get to the window well. the stuff at the right is wild black raspberries, the stuff to the left at the corner of the house is red raspberries.

under all that greenery is a window well.

this is as far as I am right now.
I dug all around the metal window well and will leave it in place.
I started pouring concrete at the left of the window well. that is one 40 pound bag so far. I will top it off with a sand mix cap to finish it off..
our power went out for a couple of hours today so I couldn't mix any concrete, couldn't pump any water, either.
on well, tomorrow's another day..

 

[Gary Kenyon]

Yes, generally i use outdoor screws like you would for a deck and galvanized spiral nails when i want to use nails. Also when you drive in screws with a drill, use little bursts of speed rather than top speed all the way. It seems to produce less chattering and stipping of screws. Less frustrating , as well.

Torx head screws are the best to prevent stripping. Once you use them you will likely never want to use a Philips head screw again.

 

[NewBoots]

Our bears are very shy, they run from people. Perfect!

Ours seem to be too, in fact they are so cautious, most people in town aren't even aware of them. I ordered 3 Wyze cameras that should arrive tomorrow. Once I get back from visiting the old house I'll get them set up.

are electric fences needed?

Hopefully not, but we'll have a 5' fence along the front of the property shortly so if that isn't enough to keep them moving past the place, we have discussed adding electric.

that was our only encounter with a bear in 51 years , living here..

I'm thrilled in a way that this area is that wild. I can't wait till I can get the cameras set up.

 

[jvls1942]

I use nothing but torque screws .
when square drives came out, I had almost a full box of philips drives in my truck. I sold that truck and left the philips screws in it.
I still use square drives occasionally. I have some finish/casing square drive screws to use up also.

 

[aart]

I have no trouble driving philip heads<shrugs>
The others are for folks who can't keep their axis aligned

 

[jvls1942]

I have yet to break a torque driver, or have a screw head strip out.
I helped a guy start his home build. we had to make scaffold all around inside the perimeter of the foundation. the foundation walls were hollow foam blocks, and then we filled them with concrete.
I told him that if he used philips head screws, that I was not going to try backing them out when we disassembled the scaffolding.
He didn't listen to me. Do you know how hard it is to back out a 3" phillips screw after it has been walked on and the head is filled with dirt ? I stuck to my word and just listened to him cuss..
.....jiminwisc...

 

[aart]

the head is filled with dirt ?

Philips head are easier to clean out, IMO...much easier than torq and sq.

 

[jvls1942]

Art, then you should have been here to help Bruce tear the scaffolding down. LOL
I keep getting side-tracked from my window well project. maybe today I can get-er-done..
I am not going to use the cement mixer. too much clean up for one bag batches.
I have a drywall mixer and a large drill and a 5 gallon bucket. I can do a bag at a time just as easily , maybe even easier..
......jiminwisc.....
......jiminwisc....