The chicken coop that almost made it...UPDATED 8/6/07

[Chirpy]

Oh man, I'm sorry and I can completely relate to your story.

I had a friend offer me a free chicken coop - I was so excited I went out and bought the baby chicks. (That was my first mistake - getting the chickens before actually having the coop here.)

A few days later when we were ready to go get the coop my friend said that she'd made a mistake and we couldn't have the coop after all. (Not her fault and I wasn't upset with her at all - she just hadn't realized they'd listed the coop with their house which was for sale and her husband wanted to keep it there to sell with their house.)

So- I then had another friend offer me her coop for free. My husband and sons went to bring it home and it literally fell apart as they tried to take it apart to move it. The wood that had been used to build it wasn't the right kind and it had rotted. They were able to salvage a few pieces and one window.

Thus - we too had to start from scratch (while our ten chickens were far, far beyond being kept in their box in the basement) and spend an obscene amount of money to build a new chicken house. Granted my chicken house and run are fantastic, my DH always does a great job on his projects, but it used our tax return and other money that we really didn't intend to use for that.

So - take heart. Use whatever material you can from the old chicken house and know that the one you are building won't fall over on your precious chickens.

Have fun and good luck with your build.

 

[mudhen]

What a bummer, but I am glad it didn't happen at your place too.

I suppose the only silver lining here is that you got some of the salvaged parts from the collapsed coop. Good luck with the build this weekend. Hope you can get pictures.

 

[2mnypets]

Well everyone, it was a long weekend but the coop is finished. However, I will have to wait til this weekend to take pics because the battery went dead in my camera. I'm not really sure how we managed it, but somehow we had the floor frame done by Friday night, the frame and two walls done on Saturday and by 8:30 last night the coop was complete with running electricity, windows, fan and complete roofing. Mind you my husbands only day off is Sunday so we managed Saturday while he was at work. Kinda hard to build fast though when you're a mom to 4 teens and still had to run to pay bills, go grocery shopping and fight everyone at Walmart during school supply shopping.

On a more postive note, we had done this once before so we knew what mistakes to avoid this time around. Of course we were batteling time since the forecast was for thunderstorms. We built the new coop right next to the old coop on the south end. After the new coop was complete, we removed what used to be the outer south wall and installed a fence so all chickens could see each other. This way they can interact to an extent without having to re-establish a pecking order. Also this fencing allows the cool air from the air conditioner to extend through the new coop.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. This site always has offered the best support through good times and bad. Sometimes it's just nice to know that someone out there cares when most people would just look at you and stare.
Have a great day everyone!

 

[psimek]

I think your luck is going to change for the better soon!