And I got chickens as a bonus.
I played around in SketchUp drawing chicken coops before I even decided to GET chickens, a little backwards I guess. After a few modifications, like adjusting the measurements to the amount of scrap we had, and again when I got a couple of free windows from a nice man on Craigslist - this is what i came up with:
.
After a few days of buttering my fowl-frowning husband... he 'OK'd it with a 'but I don't want anything to do with them, or the coop.'
Add 6 chickens! 4 golden comet girls , one barred rock girl and the smallest of the 6 is a little roo. He has just recently started trying to look bigger than he is and jump on the girls' heads
After a month, thanks to frequent thunderstorms, back aches from working in weird positions and just plain busy time with the kids' activities: this is how it actually looks like now.
It's 5x4, 29 inches high, the nest box is 1 by almost 4. Needs some trim around the nest box corners and lid.
The gable side is done, the front still needs a trim piece over the window, and maybe a grille and window box for the window to pretty it up.
The door front comes off and the frame of the door (not the door frame, that would be awkward
) is screened with hardware cloth. As are the soffits.
Their PVC gravity feeder, I found the idea for it in the feeding section here on the BYC forum and I LOVE it already! The placement by the trap door is temporary as is the placement of the water. I don't know what the material I used for interior walls is called. It was used to cover the back of the kitchen cabinets by our breakfast bar. We had remnants of it in the garage and it wipes off easily so i figured I'd be good enough to cover the insulation.
I mentioned scraps, I had some plywood left over from building dog agility equipment - a previous power tool fix - a few pieces of trim, a mailbox post, white exterior paint, some OSB and insulation from when the house was built a few years back. I got two windows for free - decided to use only one as the first was such a pain to install - as well as a roll of tar paper and some trim pieces. I've bought 2 sheets of plywood, 14 pieces of 8 foot long 2x3's for the framing, 3 half-pound boxes of screws, a gate hinge/handle/latch kit, a small roll of hardware cloth, 4 hinges and a gallon of light gray Oops paint so far. And a can of 'Great Stuff' foam insulation (which comes off with nail polish remover before it's cured, it is a PAIN to get off your hands once it's cured unless you wait a day and it'll pretty much come off on it's own. It is however fortunately very easy to get out of ones hair
.)
The coop is still under construction during the good weather days, but has been close enough to completion for the chicks to move in. They have their heat light in there still and were warm and cozy during our recent frost nights.
Next on the agenda is installing the ridge vent (there's already an opening in the roof, the tar paper is covering it) and lay shingles, maybe tomorrow? *hopeful* Then a few more trim pieces and a drip edge for the top of the nest box lid. Also need decide on some sort of latches for the nest box and the trap door/drawbridge.
I feel I've pretty much had my fill of power tools for a while, my husband did help me carry the whole thing outside before the roof went on, and with the staple gun to quickly get the tar paper on before a thunderstom rolled in because I can't get the darn thing to shoot more than two millimeters into the wood
I played around in SketchUp drawing chicken coops before I even decided to GET chickens, a little backwards I guess. After a few modifications, like adjusting the measurements to the amount of scrap we had, and again when I got a couple of free windows from a nice man on Craigslist - this is what i came up with:
After a few days of buttering my fowl-frowning husband... he 'OK'd it with a 'but I don't want anything to do with them, or the coop.'
Add 6 chickens! 4 golden comet girls , one barred rock girl and the smallest of the 6 is a little roo. He has just recently started trying to look bigger than he is and jump on the girls' heads
After a month, thanks to frequent thunderstorms, back aches from working in weird positions and just plain busy time with the kids' activities: this is how it actually looks like now.
It's 5x4, 29 inches high, the nest box is 1 by almost 4. Needs some trim around the nest box corners and lid.
The gable side is done, the front still needs a trim piece over the window, and maybe a grille and window box for the window to pretty it up.
The door front comes off and the frame of the door (not the door frame, that would be awkward
Their PVC gravity feeder, I found the idea for it in the feeding section here on the BYC forum and I LOVE it already! The placement by the trap door is temporary as is the placement of the water. I don't know what the material I used for interior walls is called. It was used to cover the back of the kitchen cabinets by our breakfast bar. We had remnants of it in the garage and it wipes off easily so i figured I'd be good enough to cover the insulation.
I mentioned scraps, I had some plywood left over from building dog agility equipment - a previous power tool fix - a few pieces of trim, a mailbox post, white exterior paint, some OSB and insulation from when the house was built a few years back. I got two windows for free - decided to use only one as the first was such a pain to install - as well as a roll of tar paper and some trim pieces. I've bought 2 sheets of plywood, 14 pieces of 8 foot long 2x3's for the framing, 3 half-pound boxes of screws, a gate hinge/handle/latch kit, a small roll of hardware cloth, 4 hinges and a gallon of light gray Oops paint so far. And a can of 'Great Stuff' foam insulation (which comes off with nail polish remover before it's cured, it is a PAIN to get off your hands once it's cured unless you wait a day and it'll pretty much come off on it's own. It is however fortunately very easy to get out of ones hair
The coop is still under construction during the good weather days, but has been close enough to completion for the chicks to move in. They have their heat light in there still and were warm and cozy during our recent frost nights.
Next on the agenda is installing the ridge vent (there's already an opening in the roof, the tar paper is covering it) and lay shingles, maybe tomorrow? *hopeful* Then a few more trim pieces and a drip edge for the top of the nest box lid. Also need decide on some sort of latches for the nest box and the trap door/drawbridge.
I feel I've pretty much had my fill of power tools for a while, my husband did help me carry the whole thing outside before the roof went on, and with the staple gun to quickly get the tar paper on before a thunderstom rolled in because I can't get the darn thing to shoot more than two millimeters into the wood
