Technical coop building question.

[TalkALittle]

Yes, They will be able to support the weight of the coop and not flex or bend.

 

[Merrymouse]

Ok so we got 4x6 timbers and lifted the whole frame onto them. Seems solid too. I have 4 footings under the coop portion and 4 under the run. We secured the 2x6 frame to the 4x6 base with L brackets. Seems solid. The foundation part was terrible. I hope the framing goes better.

 

[ScottandSam]

Hi and thank you for your suggestions. In looking at the all the other wichita coops they all used 2x4 for the roof rafters. I know 2x6 would be better. Hmmm. Are you saying this because I am building my wichita bigger than the standard wichita? I thought I read not to buy OSB for the sheathing because it breaks when you screw into it, not to mention expansion if it get wet. But then again I am a total newbie and have been reading so much I don't really know which way is up anymore.

Also on my roof I'm putting alot of rafters attached with rafter ties for the middle portion. On the outer "overhang" portion Im going to ladder frame it for more strength. The regular wichita does not have this but I planned on this because my wichita is bigger and I wanted the extra support for the roof.

The other thing is the roof will not be on 2x4's because once I put the hardware cloth on I will sister another 2x4 over the hardware cloth so essentially all my posts will be 4x4's. Do you still think the 2x6's are needed? If I did 2x6's for the rim of the roof I would then have to use 2x6 for all the rafters too right? And 2x6's to fill in the soffet etc etc etc right? I plan on doing this today hopefully and thank you again.

Sorry I'm not familiar with the Wichita coop. I think I misread what you were doing. I thought your rafters were going to be 16' long so from the top of your slope to low side of slope was 16'. I was stating at that span I'd go 2x6. . your pics look more like 8' wide and 16' long. If that spans around 8'. Then 2x4 should work. I have a firewood shed it close to what your building I think . Its @8' x 16' with 2x4x10 for the rafters. Except these I milled and there true 2x4, 2x6 and 4x4. It has 1'2" ply on it. If You are not shingling the roof then you wont be able to seal off and trim the osb. so in that case I would not use it.

Anyways here is that shed and let me tell you with no walls the roof sways under my weight. It can be a little scary.



walls would help sturdy up this structure more. but for now its for drying firewood so I add small cross bracing at the 4x4 pole to the 2x6 horizontal roof support. 2x4 have a bird mouth cut in them to sit flush on 2x6.

sorry to confuse you.
Scott

 

[Merrymouse]

Sorry I'm not familiar with the Wichita coop. I think I misread what you were doing. I thought your rafters were going to be 16' long so from the top of your slope to low side of slope was 16'. I was stating at that span I'd go 2x6. . your pics look more like 8' wide and 16' long. If that spans around 8'. Then 2x4 should work. I have a firewood shed it close to what your building I think . Its @8' x 16' with 2x4x10 for the rafters. Except these I milled and there true 2x4, 2x6 and 4x4. It has 1'2" ply on it. If You are not shingling the roof then you wont be able to seal off and trim the osb. so in that case I would not use it.

Anyways here is that shed and let me tell you with no walls the roof sways under my weight. It can be a little scary.



walls would help sturdy up this structure more. but for now its for drying firewood so I add small cross bracing at the 4x4 pole to the 2x6 horizontal roof support. 2x4 have a bird mouth cut in them to sit flush on 2x6.

sorry to confuse you.
Scott

Please, Scott, no need to apologize. I have never built anything so this is trial by fire so to speak and I appreciate any advice from more knowledgeable folk. Thats a great firewood shed and I love your coop. I think Im going to regret not having a little room on the side for storage like you have (even though the geese have taken over) I do have a big shed about 20' away so Ill probably store my stuff there even though my DH has it pretty full of his yard stuff.

'The entire footprint of my coop/run is 8x14 with a 1' overhang on all sides at the roof. The coop itself is elevated and is 4x8. So yesterday with the help of my DH we went back to Lowes and purchased 4x6 lumber to sure up the foundation. My first major error was not enough support under my 2x4 "studs". Where there was no footing they were kind of just floating there and would not support the roof. If I stepped back and really looked at it I hope I would have come to this realization on my own but thank goodness the good people here showed me the errors of my way and hopefully with the added 4x6 I have a solid base now. See pic above.

So the roof will be supported by 2-2x4 sistered together 24" on center and the coop building. I also would like to add the diagonal braces in all the corners. Not sure if this adds support or not but it can't hurt and it looks nice.

Im sure I'll have more questions as I move forward so thanks again for your help.

 

[Merrymouse]

Here's the progress for today. We were only able to do a little bit because I had to go visit my in laws. I wanted to just keep going but family obligations call

 

[Merrymouse]

So I was on my own today but I managed to attach the rest of my rafters. I can't go any further on the roof without my DH, Im just too short and I cannot manage those 16' lumber by myself. So I did manage to frame out the floor of the coop. It wasn't pretty at times. I made some mistakes cutting things to the correct length etc. We also had 3" of snow last night so things were a bit slick.

 

[ScottandSam]

Well That doesn't sound to bad. My wife, Samantha, wont dare try framing at all. Even though she has watched me enough. But she will pull he weight in gold filling cracked and painting when we get to that part.

So great job busting ur azz out there in 3" of snow. That is challenging when your nose starts to drip and fingers get cold. Do show us some pic and its looking better all the time.

Scott

 

[TalkALittle]

@Merrymouse It's looking good! Definitely post more pics as it progresses.

Cutting and measuring mistakes are part of the game when you're just starting out. There's a saying that goes "Measure twice, cut once." It's a good saying.

Here's a handy tip that helps save time. If you have to cut a bunch of pieces to the same length, rather than measuring every one, make yourself a jig. I assume your saw is mounted to a work table. Measure out from your blade the length you want. Screw (or clamp) a block of wood to the table at that measurement. Butt a test piece of lumber up to the block and cut it to see if you got it right. Adjust the position of the block if needed. Now all you have to do is butt your pieces of lumber up against the block and cut. They will all come out the same length.

 

[bundleoffluff]

For my First Lego Legue project we had to find away to clean a chicken coop faster so we did a time and motion study.
We found out that taking the nest boxes out took the most time so we put the hinges on the side of the door instead of the bottom and also we shortened the nest boxes so that we could take the nest boxes out through the front of the coop. That made cleaning go from 12:30 minutes to 6:41 minutes!I hope this helped




Here are some pictures of the door and nest box


I accidentally disturbed Alto and I have some curious birds

 

[Merrymouse]

I took a short video today. Ill try to post it not sure thats allowed. I didnt get much done at all. I went back to lowes to get almost everything else I needed like the metal roof panels, more plywood, the siding etc. I had to rent their truck again and I got there at 7:30am so I could get an early start on my day but someone had already rented the truck so I paid for everything and went home and they said they call me when the truck was back. Well, they didnt call until 1:00 so by the time I got all the supplies all unloaded and brought the truck back and came back home I lost daylight! But I just got called out of work for tomorrow so unexpected day off=one more day to build. Its going to be freezing tomorrow so we'll see.