Jen's Hen Pen

[Chucken]

Jen, why don't you and Jacob come by any time after 8 am. Thats when I turn on the heavy equipment.

Tue 6/7: Trimmed, glued and nailed up the siding on the left wall. Cut out the holes for the window and nesting boxes. Cut and assembled the shell for the nest boxes.

WED 6/8: Why won’t my chickens lay eggs?

I completed the nest boxes except for the lid. Each box is 14” high at the front, 7 ½” high at the back and 16” wide. There is a 5” board at the front to contain the nesting material. There is a 9” opening for the chickens to climb through to get into the nests. I calked all the seams in and around the nest box to prevent drafts and crawley things from getting in. I didn’t complete the lid to the box because I bought the wrong hinges. I’ll exchange them tomorrow. I eventually will put down linoleum on the nest box floor to make for easy cleaning.

The partition and front board are removable for cleaning.

The daughter wanted sand in the coop, so sand she gets. After searching the forum and making enquiries, most of the people that have a coop with a wood floor are using sand at a depth of from 3” to 4“. I installed removable containment boards, 5 ½” high on “three sides, and 7 ½” high in front of the nest boxes. These will also keep the sand away from the people door and from the base of the sliding pop door.

I scored a line on the boards, 4” up from the floor to aid in leveling the sand after cleaning and raking. It’s difficult to see in the picture.

 

[LuckyKoi]

Seriously Dad, you are out doing yourself! I am so amazed! I love it! I mean, I know how meticulous you are about things, but man, you are amazing...

And when Jacob wakes tomorrow morning, we will get some food in us and then head down there. Spend the day with you

 

[LuckyKoi]

First time with pictures... I *hope* they come out!

Went down with my son to Grandpa’s to help work on the coop. We didn’t get a lot done, as a two year old can handle only so much with power tools going off everywhere!

Jacob checking out the window above the nests.

Jacob inspecting Grandpa’s work…

Helping with the boards

And of course helping with clean-up!

We were able to install the door to the nesting box. We also discussed some details of the coop. This is going to be great!

 

[Noymira]

Quote:
Your little boy is adorable! I have a nearly 2 year old daughter who loves to help with the chickens too, especially giving treats!

 

[Chucken]

Thu 6/9: Jenni (the daughter) and Jacob (the grandson) came over to help (neither of which is pictured, that’s Rusty on the right and Roxie on the left.

We worked on the nest box lid. I cut out the parts and Jacob placed them into position for me.

Fri 6/10. Placed the finishing touches on the nest box, and attached the hinges,

. . . and it even works!

After it is all primed and painted, I will install a weather seal to the lid, where it will close on the box, to keep it water and air tight.

 

[Chucken]

Sat Jun 11: Spent the whole day cutting, fitting and attaching trim on the Nest box and left wall. The nest box is done except for linoleum and paint.
Outside

Inside

Disassembled for cleaning

Sun Jun 12: Finished the trim on the left wall. Glued and nailed up the siding on the front wall. Took the Bride out to dinner.

Mon Jun 13: Cut the hole for the door, trimmed the door opening.

trimmed the door opening.

Tue Jun 14: Worked on the door with a lot of trial and error. I finally settled on doing the door like this: I measured the door opening, after the casing was attached, and subtracted ¼” from the length and width, to give the door room to open and close (1/8” all the way around when installed). Making sure my horizontal lined in the panels lined up, I cut the door panel as square and straight as I could with a circular saw.

Wed Jun 15: For the back (inside) door frame, I ripped a 2” X 4” (1 ½” X 3 ½” actual size) down to 1” x 4” (!” X 3 1/2 actual size), to make the door a little lighter …

then glued and nailed (pneumatic nail gun) the frame to the panel, keeping it as square as I could.

On the front (outside) I used 1” X 4”s (3/4” X 3 1/2” actual size), cut, then glued and nailed them to the front, keeping the edges flush with the inside framing.

Before cutting the hole in the door for the window, I wanted to complete the window to use it as a template for measuring and cutting.

Thu Jun 16: I ordered a piece of 12 ½” X 12 ½” X ¼” tempered glass for the door window. I wanted as large a window as I could so you can see what is going on in the coop before opening the door, so, since the door is small I used the framing of the door for the framing of the window. I measured for the window frame giving me 1/8” around the outside, allowing for ¼” of glass to sit in each frame member, which I cut on the table saw.

After I cut the window frame, I dry fit everything in place and placed the glass over the frame to make sure I had the measurements were correct.

I set my table saw blade slightly deeper than ¼” to give the glass room to adjust into the caulk when I assemble it all together.

The window frame is 1 ½” thick, so I wanted the glass to set back 1/2“ from the face of the frame and that is where I made my first cut. I measured the thickness of the glass (slightly less than ¼”) and made a few passes on the table saw, taking off a little each time, to make sure I got a tight fit.

After the slots were cut in all the frame pieces, I dry fit everything to make sure it fit all the way around.

I drilled pocket holes with a Kreg Pocket Hole Jig.

I ran a bead of caulk down each window slot, and wood glue where the pieces meet . . .

I fit the class into the slots and pulled everything together with clamps, starting at one end and inch by inch, worked to the other end, forcing excess calk out the end of the slot. After the sides were set, I repeated this with the top and bottom.

I then screwed in the pocket screws . . .

Then filled the holes with Kreg plugs.

I will fill around them and sand before painting the window.

I’ll let the calk and glue dry overnight before I start installing it in the door.

 

[Gardengirl 2011]

This is such a cute father/daughter thread and I've enjoyed the excitement along the way. LuckyKoi, you're so fortunate to have a Dad like you do.

And Chucken, it's so cool to see a Dad do this for his girl.

And holy cow, those chickens are going to have some pretty spectacular digs!!!

 

[krcote]

Love this thread!

 

[Chucken]

This has been really good therapy for me. It brought me out of my winter hibernation, off my fat butt and away from stupid facebook games. After a toooooo long a winter, it’s nice to get out to the shop and exercise by brain, muscles and tools. All that and I get to make one of my kids happy. Doesn’t get much better than that. All the kids (#1 and #2 girl, #1 boy, son in laws and two grand sons) are coming over Sunday so I’m sure we’ll go out to the garage, and over a beer, I can brag about it.

 

[LuckyKoi]

Yes, I know I have an amazing dad! He is the biggest teddy bear in the world... Dad, I can't wait for Sunday to have everyone see it! And the boys can play in it together!