Large, Open-Air Coop in Central NC

[3KillerBs]

Oh! that's a good idea! I'm working on the coop as well, and that is something I was looking for. Polyethene in sheets is kinda hard to find. I haven't had any luck.

Thank you for sharing, this helps me immensely! My fall back was to cover the floor with linoleum.

This isn't going on the floor because I have a dirt floor. It's going to be mounted against the wire to keep the litter from filtering through the mesh.

In a dry environment you don't need to cover the wood. The problem is that here in the Steamy Southeast even ground-contact-rated, presure-treated wood is destroyed by the intense composting environment and massive numbers of wood-eating insects we have here.

 

[Moon Crossing]

Ah, I may have misread. However that is my intention, going with deep litter, and ease of cleanup.

Yeah, I'm in FL, and it's gross with humidity.

 

[3KillerBs]

A small task, but it's such a lovely evening out that DH and I went out and put the hinges on the nestbox doors.

We had 3 old hinges off an old door and one package of new hinges. They're massive overkill -- heavy door hinges, but this is why we never throw hardware away.

No latches in our stash though.

 

[3KillerBs]

We took an hour in the heat to finish the skirting so DH can get the rest of the siding on the sheltered end.

Then, when I'm home Tuesday I can cut the rest of the wire and we can put them up in the now cooler evenings.

The next batch of chicks ordered hatch on the 22nd so we need to get the birds in here!

 

[3KillerBs]

 

[blackdog043]

It's looking fantastic!

 

[3KillerBs]

DH added nest door supports, put the siding up on the uphill side, including some trim boards, and mounted one of the roosts.

The supports are extra shelf brackets from when he put shelves up in our oldest son's room in the former house.

I need to cut another sapling for the other roost, which will be mounted at right angles to this one between this one and the nests. I will make a ramp so that my Brahma can get up there.

This one is a live oak that was growing into another live oak. The other one is a White Oak, which I'd have otherwise liked to have, except that it's too close to a big pine, and crowding a fence. Both are as thick as my wrist at the thin end and thicker than my husband's wrist at the thick end.

 

[Missceegee]

We've decided what to do for the material to hold the bedding inside the wire and keep it off the wood so that the composting deep litter reaction doesn't eat the posts.

We'll take these sheets, which seem tough enough that while I *could* drive a pitchfork through it I'm not likely to do so accidentally, rip them into 12" widths, and fasten them up against the wire between the posts.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Parkland-Plastics-48-in-x-8-ft-Embossed-White-Matte-Wall-Panel/3436816

But first we'll wrap the posts in metal roof flashing.

Ha, we used those for our storage closet doors and used flashing for the holding of the bedding.

 

[3KillerBs]

Ha, we used those for our storage closet doors and used flashing for the holding of the bedding.

I am notoriously klutzy and DH is sure that either I would get cut on the edges of the flashing or the chickens would so he wanted something that didn't have sharp edges.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have a headache from standing on my head to work between my ankles and my wrists have about been vibrated off, but I have all but the final, most difficult pieces of the hardware cloth cut for the top of the downhill gable side, for which I need assistance in handling the wire and the cord of the shears, and the wire for the clerestory, because DH forgot to tell me how long he wanted the pieces to be.