- Sep 10, 2007
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The foundation... We wanted to make it easy to clean and keep predators out so we used concrete. Meh, not sure if I'll do that again becuase it's a lot of work and somehat expensive (we mixed our own - something like 40 x 80lb bags.) We also built a lip into the concrete for some reason (seemed like a good idea at the time.) I wont do that again either. It was hard to hammer the frame into it without cracking it. The dimensions of the foundation are 8 feet length x 4 feet width x 3 or 4 inches depth plus the rim-thing.
The frame! It was easy to throw together, but the roof part wasn't well thought out and we didn't use brackets at first (use brackets on those silly angles, it makes life easier!) The frame wobbled until we put the plywood over it and then it was very stable. We just had a microburst last week and trees came down but not our little hutch! We made the door 6 feet high so I can walk in without ducking hehe. We use the deep litter method and just put pine shavings on the floor - they LOVE the stuff and often take dust baths in it, especially when we add new shavings.
Somewhere I have intermediate steps. Hrmmm. <scratches head> well here it is completed. The shingles were done by Meridale (she's amazing, isn't she?!) The doors weren't that hard really... Just cut out some plywood 2' x 8' and bordered them with little pieces of 3x1's and hung them up. Meri also did the painting and the little chicken door that opens into the run (not shown here.) We caulked the edges before painting to keep water out since plywood falls apart fast at the edges from water damage.
The inside we have a heat lamp which is quite popular in the winter and 4 nesting boxes. Only two of them get used and the ladies definately have a preference as to which one they want to lay their egg in. We added some mille fleurs to the group recently and they sleep on top of the boxes, or get up into the rafters and drop poop bombs on the big orps below them (uuhhg.)
More later
