My "Garden Coop" project: The inside is finished! *NEW PICS*

[krcote]

Great job juggling kids and a well done chicken coop build

 

[Hawkeye95]

I built mine with 3 kids hanging around my legs. It's NOT easy, that's for sure. But it can be done.

Great work so far! Hope you get it done before the babies arrive! maybe your DP can set aside a couple of days over the holiday break and really finish it up with you! Good luck!

 

[Nonny]

DP had the whole week off and I've had my eldest daughter here watching the youngest two, so I've achieved HEAPS this week!

All the siding is on, I've hung the door, made the egg door, and today had the plywood delivered so I can make the internal walls and floor tomorrow.

Now that I have a proper people access door to the run, my 2yr old decided to lock me in several times today while I was working on the inside. He thought it was hilarious and kept opening the little egg door to play peekaboo with me and say "Hello Mummy!" before latching it again and running off giggling.

LOL Am going to have to devise a way to let myself out again without having to holler myself hoarse.

It's not perfect, and I'm learning as I go that I should follow the plans exactly even if it doesn't make sense at the time. I had to unscrew several bits and put them back in a slightly different place today because at the time I installed them I thought "that's close enough - they're only chickens after all". It turns out that chickens might not care if it looks straight, but they probably would care if that little crooked bit stops the door from opening.

Pics tomorrow once I charge the camera batteries.

 

[Nonny]

New pic! One of my little helpers checking out the egg door. I need to cut a door in the right hand side of the enclosed bit today.

The polycarbonate roofing is turning out to be a great idea... it's middle of Summer here and as soon as I step into the coop/run I'm struck by how much cooler it is in there as a result of that roofing. It seems to really block out the heat from the sun.

I just realised it's been 2 months since I got the timber delivered and started work on the coop. I thought I'd be done by now but of the 40 pages of plans I'm working from, there's only about 5 pages to go before I'm done.

 

[Nonny]

Side door made, plywood cut for the interior... making great progress this week.

 

[Nonny]

Today I made the floor, and painted it. Unfortunately I realised afterwards that using exterior paint (a low sheen acrylic) might not be such a good idea for the coop floor. It's very well ventilated since the ceiling of the coop is just wire mesh and then there's about a 30cm gap between that and the roof, but I'm worried now that the exterior paint might leach out fumes or something?

Does anyone know? (In the meantime I've emailed the manufacturer to see what they say).

 

[Time-Out]

The paint'll be fine, as long as you let it dry before putting chickens in. I used exterior paint inside because it's so much easier to clean.

 

[Nonny]

Woo Hoo!!! We're now at "lock up" stage! The babies even spent the day in there today since it was nice and warm.

The interior walls and floor are done, ramp installed and last bit of wire in place. The door also locks to keep toddlers out

I still have to do the roosts and nesting boxes.

I love the light in there, and there's loads of ventilation.

Me hard at work with the jigsaw.

The babies in the run today (the cardboard box is just what I use to transport them from the brooder to the run... I left it in there in case they wanted to hide). The playpen I made for them for their outside time fits well in the new run so I'm going to make a "sleeping box" in there for them and they can live in that next to the big girls until they're old enough to take the playpen out. Hopefully it'll work well, although I'm not sure how big to make the box. I might end up just letting them have the whole coop and moving the big girls in later.

 

[Time-Out]

It's looking great! I really like that roofing too. Did you say it's polycarbonate sheeting, or is that something else?

Will you be putting bedding down in the house? You might want to build a little ridge around the hole in the floor so it doesn't all fall out.

 

[ThinkingChickens]

Gosh, you've done a really great job on this coop. Good work.