Look What I Can Do!!! *PIC Heavy*

[dsqard]

Gryeyes I am making the walk in coop but I have changed the plans some. I am doing a shed roof instead of the gabled roof, I am adding a second window, I moved the pop door to the front wall and I am putting the nesting boxes on the outside instead of the inside. I am only doing 5 nesting boxes instead of the 10 that they show in the plans as well. I figure if I wind up with enough chickens to need more than 5 boxes I can build something to go on the inside. I am not sure if I am going to build the roost the way they show in the book either. I have some ideas but I haven't exactly worked out what I am going to do. I am excited about having the room to hang the feeders so that they will stop being tipped over although I have seen pictures of feeders made out of PVC on here somewhere that I think would work great so I might put that in a corner again just to give the birds more space. I was also looking at the left over pieces of sheeting that I have and think there would be an easy way to make decorative little window boxes for under the windows when the coop is done.

I almost bought some when I ordered the windows and the shutters and now I am glad I didn't. It would be so easy to make them!

 

[Pelican49]

gryeyes wrote: Anybody who can read this on BYC can also buy the book on BYC.

Go to the BYC store and pick it up - you'll be supporting BYC. I would have bought mine at Amazon, too, had it not been available at BYC. (After all, one of the co-authors is Nifty-Chicken, the owner of BYC.)

Thanks for the tip. It really hadn't occurred to me. I looked at the book on Amazon yesterday, but didn't hit "order". I will buy from BYC instead.

 

[isabrownmom]

Looks awesome!! I think you owe that neighbor some eggs!!

 

[dsqard]

Quote:
He will not only get eggs but if/when I hatch some chicks I am planning on giving him some of them as well if he wants. He mentioned wanting to have chickens of his own (come over to the dark side!

) so I will check with him to see if he would like some! Honestly, he is a super nice guy and has offered to let us use his tractor any time we need it.

 

[88heather]

So those big pieces you cut you did with a jigsaw?? What is your husband saying.. I bet he's so impressed!

Yikes.. I had no plans on my nesting box and winged it.. and it's sort of obvious. Ok.. today must order that book! I so badly now want to try building something with actual plans instead of blindly like I'm doing!

 

[silkieroo]

Wow thats an awesome job! You have inspired me to TRY (emphasise Sp? on the try) and build a moveable pen!

 

[dsqard]

Heather my DH has been pretty impressed with how well I am doing. On Friday when he got home from work, he saw the nest box on the floor in the garage and said "Wow, you made that??!!" Of course since he has more carpentry experience, he can't resist giving me some "pointers" every now and again. Some of them have been really helpful like building the nest box and then the wall so the opening is the right size and some of them have been a little critical which I have had to bite my tounge and just smile and nod.

He jokingly said that he was going to take off work today and finish putting the sheeting on the rest of the walls. I looked at him and told him that I would shoot him if he tried it!

He really wouldn't do it though because he knows this is MY project and while I might be making some mistakes, it is going to be sooooo cool to look at the coop and know that I built it!

ETA - Yes I cut the big pieces with a jig saw. Some people would probably use a circular saw I just like the control I have with a jig saw and cutting out the holes for the nest box and windows are much easier with the jig saw IMO.

 

[dsqard]

Quote:
I think you should get the book and GO FOR IT!!!!!

I also want to thank gryeyes for reminding everyone to order the book through BYC. I have to agree with supporting this website as much as we all can!

 

[Chicken-Rage]

WOW looking great keep us posted on your progress.

 

[dsqard]

OK decided to play hooky again today so we could hopefully finish the coop this weekend.

We are going out of town next weekend and I want to have the chickens in the new coop by then so that the friend that is watching the animals for us will only have to deal with one coop. So far today I have gotten quite a bit accomplished. It really helps to save time if you don't have to run in to town to get anything.

Started sheeting the left wall.

Finished sheeting the left wall and placed the window in the hole to make sure it fits. It does!!!!

Back wall sheeting done.

Started sheeting the front wall. Have the cut out for the door.

Front wall sheeting almost done. Have the cut out for the pop door and the window done. Again, checked the size of the hole for the window to make sure it was right!

Front wall sheeting all done!

Hope to get the floor out and in place and maybe start putting up some walls. I want to paint the walls before putting them up but I don't think the weather is going to cooperate with painting for today. Probably going to have to put that off until tomorrow. I definitely want to paint the walls before putting the windows in. It will be a lot easier that way.