The $97 henhouse experiment! (NEW--Pictures!)

[iopele]

Pictures!

Here's the floor with braces. I wish now I'd put in at least one more brace because the plywood moves a bit when I walk on it. Oh well! (Maybe this is just a sign that I should lose weight?

)

The boo-boo with the floor measurement! I elected to leave the open area in the middle and I'm going to fill that space with a 1x4--

Corner posts and top braces:

Today's stopping point--the back wall is up! That space at the top is on purpose--I'm going to cover it with hardware cloth for ventilation. Because of the boo-boo in the middle, I had to put the back wall brace off-center. Again, oh well.

My helpers--all three of them:

And at the end of the day, OUCH!

Also on my "wish I'd done" list is to have 3 more of the 2x4s cut in half. I'll have to break out a saw tomorrow and get started on that. I don't know why I thought the 8 foot long walls would have 8 foot long supports--they're still 4 feet high!

Oh well, like I said at the start--I'm no carpenter, I'm just doing the best I can. Apart from the wonky floor, I don't think it looks too bad so far! Any feedback?

 

[iopele]

Okay, so now I'm paranoid. My mother came over and looked over my efforts, raised her eyebrows, and then invited me to come to dinner. Not a word about the henhouse! And no one's replied here, either... does it look really bad or something?

 

[jkm]

Your coop is sooo much nicer than mine.....

but I have fibermyglia also ,for the last ten years, and I find my cordless drill and cicular saw saves a lot of pain, time , and ...blisters....

oh, my mom lives with me, came out and held a few things, told me how all the women in kansas built their own coops in the forties with no men to help and mine looked ok, power tools were a great invention for women, she said.....

how soon do we get to see the happy chciks?

cheers!

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

I agree with Mac; best to learn with hand tools, and then you can graduate to the power tools.

I also agree with the person who said this was their favorite section of the forum.

My Top 3 All-Time Favorite Tools:

1) I wouldn't trade my Shark General Carpentry Saw for anything in the world. Every guy who visits and gets to use it goes out and buys one. My dad used it, and loved it so much I got him one for Father's Day.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SHARKSAW-Carpen...-Shark-Corp_W0QQitemZ4367270783QQcmdZViewItem

2) Of course, I've had my Makita cordless drivers for more than 15 years, and they were the first thing I "staked out" when my husband filed for divorce and started talking about "splitting things up".

3) I also have a Biocurve hammer that is precious to me:
http://www.barcotools.com/Catalog/Barco Catalog P12.pdf

However, I have purchased just about every staple gun in the book, and still haven't found one I liked. I really liked the one from Black & Decker which was "backwards", but it didn't hold up very long. Several others are just too hard to use for extended stapling. Anybody have one they really love?

 

[thndrdancr]

I think you are doing a wonderful job, I am impressed. As much as I wished I could do mine myself, I still need dh to "pound" the hard ones in, and "hold" the dang thing so I can drill.
I swear, a carpenter he is not, but he is great at brute force.

Remember I am building mine out of a desk, I MUST get pics up, its a VERY slow process, Fussy and Red will be senior citizens before I get them an outside home!
I have to make another trip to Lowes to get some 1 x 4's and 2 x4's and some scrap and have been putting it off. I HAVE to go this week tho, and get on it.
My most expensive thing has been wire cutters, darn those things are $30 for a good pair and I went cheap an got a $10. I know I have to have some good ones around here somewhere lying around, the $10 are useless for a lot of hardware cloth cutting. I DREAD it.

 

[iopele]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I feel much better now. I was getting worried there!

I still have a long way to go before I can get the babies out there. There's probably 2 more days work minimum getting the structure built, then painting, and finally fencing. I'll be measuring and sawing tomorrow, and getting a little more wood... I should probably rename this thread "The $130 henhouse experiment" but it just doesn't have the same ring to it, lol. The babies are 2 1/2 weeks old right now. I figured, knowing how I do things (SLOWLY!), I'd better start early so I wouldn't have to rush! I can't wait to get them out there and post pics of them happily exploring their new digs.

Right now I think one of my 10 remaining babies might be dying from constipation. He's weak and so skinny, he feels like a downy skeleton with a swollen belly. He's our favorite chick, too...

Not fair, he was supposed to live and be happy and make himself at home in the chicken coop I'm working so hard on!

 

[barg]

Looks real good to me so far, as I said before, I dont use any plans so your one up on me already haha.
I think the real challenge is yet to come though...
Picking out colors of paint.

Keep up the good work and Photo's, love to see the next set

I woulda responded earlier, but I dont read this till late at night PST time.

 

[momoftwinsinwi]

My coop is also 4x8 and is about 7' tall -hubby built it, I will be staining it and I'm sure the boys will be moving it to the location where we will keep them, but I wanted to let you know if you want any pointers, I'd be happy to ask hubby for you LOL LOL, wish I could build anything!! I have pic's too if you would like me to e-mail them to you - shoot me an e-mail or I'm on instant messenger too! Take care & best of luck to you!!

 

[iopele]

Construction is moving right along here! We've put up the braces on the top, front, and one side, and the front half wall's up. (The other half I'm going to leave open over the summer for extra ventilation, and then put up a door when winter comes.) Now it's time for a lunch break!

This pic shows the ventilation spaces I've left at the top of the walls that'll be covered with a screen or hardware cloth when it's done.

 

[Kamus Brazil]

It is getting nice! Best luck on the rest!

Did u draw/sketch the coop earlier? If so do you mind posting it? So we can have an idea of what is happening out there

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