Hurricane Harvey coop rebuild (Picture heavy)

[Tesumph]

Caught one last night.
Not gonna lie, it was particularly cute. Young female from last season’s kits.
Even husband remarked its harder to kill them when they’re just wide eyed and frozen instead of hissing and growling. The jammed gun didn’t do us any favors.
Anyway, hope we don’t get any more visitors for a while.

 

[Tesumph]

Sigh. Caught a possum this morning, what I now realize was the smaller set of prints that I thought was another raccoon.

Honestly having a hard time killing them. Need to go look at my maimed past chicken photos to toughen up.

 

[Folly's place]

Also, look at the dead and ataxic horses affected with EPM from the opossum poo, and check out your rabies positive numbers on the CDC website. And the issues with raccoon roundworms and humans.
If they are at my coop or in my barn, it's easy to shoot them, sorry.
Mary

 

[Tesumph]

Can’t believe this is still going on.. but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Both hubby and I have been in poor health lately and progress came to a halt. The last two days I’ve been chipping away at it very slowly, but at least something’s happening.

I got this wall wired up all by my lonesome, I’m a little proud of myself. I also spent quite a while patching up the wiring that my in-laws did while I was sick.
None of its perfect (it’s all actually quite ugly) but it’ll do.
Side note, I HATE corded drills. This one had no torque and stripped every screw it touched, and I can’t find the damn battery powered one.

Aaand.. let there be hay!
An asthmatic and a man with a kidney infection spend all day forking out a dusty hay bale. What could go wrong?
This is a LOT of hay, the photos don’t quite show how deep it actually it. I know that hay molds, I will have to somehow figure that out if it becomes a big problem.

The chicks will be 3 weeks old on Wednesday, and I aim to have them out and everything cleaned up by then.
All that’s left (for it to be raccoon proof) is wiring over the door frame that was left from one of the run door’s being removed, and screwing down the loose roof wiring.
I think I am also going to make a small door for the coop hole that leads into the run; it’s become obvious that not having a place to isolate the chicks while I’m working/cleaning in the run or the coop will be very annoying. It shouldn’t be hard though.. a small square frame with wire stapled over and two hinges, right?

 

[Tesumph]

Also, I appreciate everyone who has somehow followed my ramblings and been encouraging me through my little building journal. It’s really been motivating, more than y’all know. If it wasn’t for this wonderful community, there is no way I would have thought I was capable of jumping back into chicken keeping and fixing this run up.. so thank you.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Can’t believe this is still going on.. but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Both hubby and I have been in poor health lately and progress came to a halt. The last two days I’ve been chipping away at it very slowly, but at least something’s happening.

I got this wall wired up all by lonesome, I’m a little proud of myself. I also spent quite a while patching up the wiring that my in-laws did while I was sick. None of its perfect (it’s all actually quite ugly) but it’ll do.
Side note, I HATE corded drills. This one had no torque and stripped everything it touched, and I can’t find the damn battery powered one.
View attachment 1487318

Aaand.. let there be hay!
An asthmatic and a man with a kidney infection spend all day forking out a dusty hay bale. What could go wrong?
This is a LOT of hay, the photos don’t quite show how deep it actually it. I know that hay molds, I will have to somehow figure that out if it becomes a big problem.
View attachment 1487327
View attachment 1487329

The chicks will be 3 weeks old on Wednesday, and I aim to have them out and everything cleaned up by then.
All that’s left (for it to be raccoon proof) is wiring over the door frame that was left from one of the run door’s being removed, and screwing down the loose roof wiring.
I think I am also going to make a small door for the coop hole that leads into the run; it’s become obvious that not having a place to isolate the chicks while I’m working/cleaning in the run or the coop will be very annoying. It shouldn’t be hard though.. a small square frame with wire stapled over and two hinges, right?

It looks great!

 

[Wil781]

Can’t believe this is still going on.. but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Both hubby and I have been in poor health lately and progress came to a halt. The last two days I’ve been chipping away at it very slowly, but at least something’s happening.

I got this wall wired up all by lonesome, I’m a little proud of myself. I also spent quite a while patching up the wiring that my in-laws did while I was sick. None of its perfect (it’s all actually quite ugly) but it’ll do.
Side note, I HATE corded drills. This one had no torque and stripped everything it touched, and I can’t find the damn battery powered one.
View attachment 1487318

Aaand.. let there be hay!
An asthmatic and a man with a kidney infection spend all day forking out a dusty hay bale. What could go wrong?
This is a LOT of hay, the photos don’t quite show how deep it actually it. I know that hay molds, I will have to somehow figure that out if it becomes a big problem.
View attachment 1487327
View attachment 1487329

The chicks will be 3 weeks old on Wednesday, and I aim to have them out and everything cleaned up by then.
All that’s left (for it to be raccoon proof) is wiring over the door frame that was left from one of the run door’s being removed, and screwing down the loose roof wiring.
I think I am also going to make a small door for the coop hole that leads into the run; it’s become obvious that not having a place to isolate the chicks while I’m working/cleaning in the run or the coop will be very annoying. It shouldn’t be hard though.. a small square frame with wire stapled over and two hinges, right?

You have done an amazing job with the re-build, I think your chicks will be very comfortable in their new home!

 

[Tesumph]

You have done an amazing job with the re-build, I think your chicks will be very comfortable in their new home!

I sure hope so. I can’t wait for them to get out of their coop and have all this space. If only the little fuzzballs knew how much work they are!

 

[Tesumph]

Alright, time to wrap this up. There’s some bits and bobs that will need working on but that never really ends with farm chores, huh?

Some before and afters. The deep litter will be worked on, don’t mind the big branches.

 

[Kiki]

Excellent transformation!