New coop? siding?

[babychickens]

emm, I have no idea, but waiting for others.

 

[geoff40]

Here in New England, in the smaller rural towns there tend to be backwoods lumber men. They are a dying breed unfortunately, usually older, "retired" men, with simple, antique saw mill rigs from long ago that still work just fine. A tribute to American engineering, many of them would give an OSHA rep heart failure because they are so old they don't have any guards on them. God help the person who manages to slip and fall in to one.
But these older guys are great, because they supply us with all the dry, rough sawn we need for our barns and outbuildings, and it is cheap enough. 1 inch thick pine or hemlock, a full 8 inch wide board, can be had for .30 to .40 cents a board foot, at this width every 18" of length equals 1 board foot. In the county I live in there are a dozen or so of these older guys I know of, with little sawmill operations going on. They don't deliver as a rule, unless you were buying enough to side a 100 foot long barn. Most of them also won't be in the yellow pages either, or show up on Google, but they might be listed in your state's agricultural catalog under tree farm/lumber. Call around, do a little footwork. If you live in lumber country, they are there. The guys who drive logging trucks will know where to find cheap barn boards. If you see one at a local truck stop buy him a cup of coffee and ask him a few pointed questions.

I get my barn/coop lumber from an 84 year old man, who gets up nearly every day and along with his best friend (86 years old) they saw up lumber for the morning and stack it up to dry. 4,6,8,10, and 12 inch wide barn boards, they'll cut beams any size you want them, etc. They are a little slow, but wonderful people to know and do business with.

 

[wyododge]

Scooby,

Finally was able to get those pics. Sorry for the delay.

The second pic is a close up about 3" from the door.

HTH

 

[R&JChickenshack]

We had the same problem. I just asked around and found an old barn that needed to be taken down. it was some harder work than I wanted but it proved to be a good investment. Then you can paint it the color you want after that. Plus it will offer just a little more wind proofing in the winter time. Maybe you can look on Craigslist or advertise for your needs there. Also try the Habitat for Humanity they seem to have some of the tings you need. Maybe even some vinyl siding them paint would be a non issue.

Have fun, good clucking and God bless