So, we started the build on our first new coop here at PH. I started by scouring the internet for a building design that both was apealling to the eye but also modular. Meaning something that I could expand over time. I spent my teenage years raising chickens on my stepfathers farm for pilgrams pride. Dont get me started there..lol. Point is, I wanted something that was pleasing to look at, the chickens would enjoy living in, and that as we grow, can be expanded on. I finally settled on this beautiful little kit for the tune of 3k-5k...lol...needless to say. I decided that my adult years as a carpenter/handyman were about to pay off. From the picture on the net I drew my own plans. And was able to re-engineer the building to work on a 2x2 frame, landing the grand total of my build at around 450-500$. I was pretty pleased! Now, after i got the building planned and i slowed down to think a bit about the rest of the picture. I then had to adjust the grand total to just under $600. We now have the majority of the lumber purchased and are under construction. I am going to upload photos as we go through this build for everthing from their current less than par living quarters, to the hand drawn plans to the build itself... As the days go on, i hope everyone enjoys the show...lol... Cause i just now its gonna be a rollercoaster of "oh crap, what do i do now" ... So watch , comment, or just come laugh. I hope everyone enjoys this!
Here I am laying out the walls in the shade. The face wall is basically duplicated every 4'.
Oh.. That is one of our dogs... Crooked tail...or crooke for short. He's a good dog, lets the chicks and hens do what they want.
Here I am standing the walls
Here, we have stood half of the structure. What you see is a 4x8 section of the 8x8 plan...PS that's the neighbors house in the back.
I'll keep posting as we continue. But for now we at PH would like to leave you with a little break from the Texas sun as we relaxed, the chicks thought they would come inspect the materials.
Well its been a long month. It's been pretty hot here so the completion of the chicken house has been slow, and then you figure in work and the project almost came to a complete stop.
However, looking back at it. I didn't think I was making that much progress so I would regularly skip the pics at the end of the 10min I got to work on it. Now I look and it looks like so much has been done.
So, after the last photo. I added another set of those segmented walls making the structure 8' square. Added some siding and voala we had walls.
After the walls went up was when things slowed down. First I hit it with a quick coat of READY SEAL. Then, moved on to trying to assemble the roof top. At this point was when I discovered how cramped I had made the inside for a person. The center aisle was only 3ft wide at shoulder height. I fix d that and then had to redesign the roof to accommodate. While redesigning the roof I decided it was time to build the main walk door. 3hrs later...lol... We had a door!
Next, I started coating the inside of the nest area in a paint on siliconized roof coating. I got this idea from another member whose name escapes me. She had a friend suggest a product called BLACKJACK 75 OR 57... NOT IMPORTANT. I couldn't find that product locally but I did find Henry 287...
Very comparable. The same day my father had drove in and was helping with the hardware cloth installation.
Today, I woke up with a mission! Nothing would stop the roof from going on today. The thought here was that there was so much left to do in the heat that I wanted the roof on first.
SUCCESS!!! There is still a lot of loose ends to tie up, like hardware cloth, nest boxes,staining,trim, interior furnishings,and the yard. But, my flock is growing so fast now that I must finish the coop soon. Not to mention that the flock has tripled in numbers since we keep seeing chickens we like. Chicken math is in full swing.
For today's closing we here at Perrin House would like to say thank you again, and leave you with a pic of our newest couple. JETHRO and ELLIEMAE.
So ... Again it has been a long time, I'm so sorry that i have waited this long... However lets catch up!
We finally got the hardware cloth installed later in the evening.
As we had spent most of our available time that day installing some nest boxes and a brooder.
And now the ladies had a nice new home we threw together a temporary run. with "T" posts and some 2"x4" welded wire fence.
Now that every one was settling in to their new home we added some 2" chicken wire over the run to stop the sky predators from taking any of them away. And, being that winter was now fast approaching we seeded 50# of rye grass over the entire property to keep them busy while they had their free range time.
Since winter was getting so close, we also started to winterize the coop. Oddly enough, we started by covering the south walls with some VERY heavy plastic. I say oddly because, generally here it Texas the winds from the south are warm... But, it seems that living in our location that the cold evening winds were coming from the south.
The ladies were awfully happy about this, we could tell because they started spending a lot more time inside where they were protected from that south wind.
At this point we had to shift our focus on the farm to other things. Burn bans had been lifted and the trash and debris piles were quite large now. Here you can see our hawk killing cat sitting by the fire watching for field mice to make a run for it. Good Tiger..lol!!!
The flock had been growing so well that they soon over ran my ability to provide 100% commercial feed... I found out that there were cheaper and healthier ways to feed your flock. So, i became very interested in alternative feeds. Here you can see the FODDER system that we built to help supplement the commercial feed.
What is not in the photos...And i don't know why i don't have any, is the fermented feed that we eventually switched to using as a primary feed source.
At this point it was almost Christmas and a neighbor asked us to care for their animals while they went away. They have one hell of a big rooster that i have always admired and the family suggested that we break out the incubator and get some eggs in there. So, i did.
Just a quick shot if our guard cat Tiger and our Blue Wheaton Americauna on patrol watching the girls.
Trying to build a farm, We again expanded and got our first pig Myrtle, a mini potbelly. As the farm is small we decided we did not have room for a REALLY big pig.
Then suddenly, right on schedule the flock matriarch Drumstick, an EE americauna satrted laying this pretty sky blue egg. next to is an egg from one of our OEGB hens.
Drumstick they night we found the egg.
As you can see, the rest of the flock was growing quite well.
The Wyandottes were really getting their color and filling in well.
Suddenly we were hit with some snow and a lot of ice.
Thank goodness we had purchased a heavy duty tarp and had finished the winterization. All the open air had been closed off expcept a strip about 2" tall just under the lenght of the rounded roof. This seemed to have left adequate ventilation.
Our chicks were beginning hatch.
Just after Christmas we were finally able to tear down the temporary run and build the run that i wanted from the start. The new run is now 16X26... Wire, wood, and hardware cost about $320.
Its a 2x4 frame with 6' walls. the wire is 1/2" hardware cloth and 2x4 welded wire. And, again we went with 2" chicken wire for a roof.
We reused the old door, added an extension and there you have it. a proper 6' door to the run.
After using the coop for a few months now, we had a problem with mud at the entry. So, we had some old fence panels that we just cut to size and threw down for a cute little board walk.
Here you can see the welded wire and hardware cloth that we joined together using "J" clips.
Oh!! I almost forgot. the day before we tore down the old run. We use some of those old fence panels to build out another 8' of coop space. So far i had spent nearly $600 on the original 8x8 coop.... The extension 8X8 only cost $6 for screws and we used old tin to roof with. Also, the extension only took 2.5 hours to build. Now it was time to add a nipple water system.
The system runs the length of the coop with 8 nipples. It holds aprox. 40 gal of water, and has a 300w heater installed in the end to prevent freezing.
I installed some timers and an extra box so that i can later add my automation system.
Threw up a motion light to deter animal and human theft as we dont have an actual fence around the property yet.
Gave the girls some artificial daylight on a timer
And put a chair out on the porch to sit in while I watch the ladies.
So there it is. Complete at last... Well, until next week when we decide to expand again.
Just thought i would include a couple extra shots for everyone. Here im standing in the main coop looking back toward the expansion.
The most recent pic of Drumstick.
A couple new additions getting acclimated, Khaki Campbell Drakes
Our Blue Americauna Lavern.
We've had these Muskovee's for a while now, but wow are they filling in.. Ended up with 2 males...OOPs.
Another color update on the Wyandottes.
AND uhoh!! I see more expanding in the near future.
I would like to add that chicken math isn't just secluded to chickens... It goes for Ducks and Guineas too.
Thanks to everyone for there support. Hopefully i wont wait as long to post again, as this update took about 3 hours.
Oh. i forgot to add. Now that the main coop is built, we are looking to start the landscaping process around the coop.. Hopefully the next post will be about all the wonderful new flowers and plants around the structure.
