My run and free coop makeover progress

[MeowCluckBark]

So, as some of you know, I received a coop for free not long ago. I advertised on CL for cheap or free materials for a coop and it was offered. It could be better but for free I can work with it. I wanted to get the run done quickly so the girls had somewhere to play while I worked on the coop's remodel. I've been letting them roam around me while I work on the run and, other than putting my hands in poop a few times, it's been ok.

I am sunburnt and tired. I wish I had an extra pair of hands or even just someone to make this make sense to me as I do it. I'm just kind of throwing things together at this point I think.

My yard isn't level so I put a few blocks of wood under low spots to hold up areas until I can relocate some soil to level out those areas. I have lumber to extend the size of the coop and change the door and nest areas on it to make them more convienent. I'm not moving the dang thing. It took 4 men to move it a few feet to get it up into a trailer. It took a Yukon to pull it out of the trailer, and there it stays.

This is the coop with the people door open. They all seem to like it so far as they find their way into it on their own at sunset while I'm still burning my behind putting their outdoor zone together.

Here is a pic of the run and coop from my living room window. It's on the west side of my house in my pasture. You can see my clothes line there lol. That is temporary trust me.

I need to cut some widths tomorrow to make shorter frames for the corners and the frame for the door. It worked out that the coop was set where it was. It's directly in line with the fence post that I already have so I can use that fence post to hold the run steady at that corner.

This stuff is evil. Seriously. I have so many cuts on my arms and hands. I wore gloves with rubber pads on the palms and I stlil got cut up. Plus the stupid stapler doesn't always want to staple over it. Then you hvae to wire the two 3ft sections together in the middle. SHEESH. The wire part really exasperates me.

More to come tomorrow if I manage to not blister

 

[Posh Chickens]

Brilliant!

The thing that gets me is the price of the wire at the hardware store, I'm like ''woah, this is cheap! £15 per roll...." And then I get home buying 4 and then it doesn't even do a quater I was hoping

 

[MeowCluckBark]

I really hope I have enough. I bought enough 1/4" hardware cloth to cover the bottom 3 feet around the entire run and 1" chicken wire for the top 3 feet and across the top. I'm trying to get the gumption to go out today and work on the rest of the frames. If I even had just one person to help this would be done by now lol. Oh well, by myself i'm not doing horrible. Only a little bleeding so far.

 

[Posh Chickens]

It really hurts... Well done to you!

 

[MeowCluckBark]

Ok today I had to figure out what to do about meeting up with the coop. I knew I wanted the coop to be bigger so I was concerned about closing up the run and having to reopen areas for a larger coop. I took some measurements and then, after a deep breath, I took off the back wall of the coop. I made new legs that matched the existing legs on the coop and screwed them in to those legs for stability. I used the floor from a dog house that I dismantled that had been given to me. It was 3' x 5'. It was a great floor already very stable. I attached the legs to it and I was short 1 foot so I added a piece of plywood to fit there. I could've probably done some creative archectucture, but this was being done without plans as it was.

I just kept hoping the materials I had would fit and close it up or I had 5 large pullets coming into my bathroom for the night. So after a few hours and lots of screws in strange places, I had walls up. I then went to put up the roof and realized it was getting really cold and windy. The 6 week old girls were whining a lot about the weather so I figured I should close things up for the night. I temporary closed the gap between the 2 roof pieces with a 3rd piece that wasn't narrow enough but it only left a 1/4" gap where it sat on top of the other pieces. I piled extra pieces of wood across my nailed in roof.

I probably NEED to put tar paper over the whole thing and then attach siding or something. I scraped loose paint and I could just prime and paint the whole thing but it looks like a double-wide chicken trailer lol. It will be fine for now though. It stays warm inside.

I found roofing material to redo the roof or recover the roof. It will help with the rain thing. Flat roofs suck.

So also I created the corner frame pieces to attach the coop to the run on the west side. I made a door frame and a door. It just needs covered in wire now. It has hinges and a latch and it does work!

So I nearly doubled the square footage of the coop for only 6 dollars. The pieces of OSB were culled lumber for $1 a piece at Home Depot. The piece was slightly bowed and they cut it into 6 sections. They were the perfect size. The rest of the material was left from the run or the dismantled dog house.

Tomorrow, covering with wire... sigh.

 

[Crafty-Chicken-Lady]

I find that when handling the wire that leather gloves are a must. They protect the hands best.