*update* EPIC FAIL: Winterizing (new pics on post #30)

[citychickx6]

Just read this. NICE work on the remodel. I bet those original cracks were great in the summer though. Looks like the gals are happy.
Always have to please those building inspectors.

Looks like they were doing a Holmes inspection.

 

[Shayna]

very nice!

 

[DazeGoneBy]

Quote:
They were very interested in all the changes. They were trying to get to where hubby was working,

but stood at the pop door waiting to get in (when they could have just walked under)

 

[citychickx6]

Aren't they funny creatures. Mine have to inspect EVERYTHING. It was so funny when DH was in the coop working on ours. He dropped a zip tie. Pepper had to try and nab it. DH put his foot on it and just kept on working like it was an everyday thing to have a chicken underfoot. I had to

til my sides hurt at her efforts to get it out. All the while DH there scooting his foot with the tie under it and her pecking away.

 

[johndrean]

What a great coop, Daze! I love all of the details.
What sort is your white hen? She looks a lot like my Delaware. Best layer and sweetest chicken I have.

 

[kichohana]

Backer board + brilliant husband = happy wife.

Glad you found a solution!

 

[DazeGoneBy]

Thanks,guys...

Johnd: yep, the white one is a Delaware, and we have a Buff Orphington (the red one) and a Dominiquer (black and white). The are all 3 very sweet, but none have laid us any eggs yet...I know they slow down (or stop?) in winter, so I'm not sure if we will get any before Spring...just not sure how that works. We got them in July when the B.O. was 5 weeks and the other two were 1 week old or so...

We have the coldest night yet last night (in the teens). Hubby usually opens the coop door before sunrise on his way to work, but this morning he asked me to do it about an hour later because it was so cold and dark. I was just a bit worried about how the girls fared, but when I opened the pop door they all piled out, clucking and humming and ready to start their day. So, it seems if you just get the wind off of them, that is all they need. Whenever I start to feel like they need a heat lamp, I remember the "open-faced"coop I saw featured on here, that only had 3walls, and the pic was taken with 2 feet of snow on the ground...the poster said they chickens did great, and it was how they built coops in the old days.

I say this as I sit wrapped in an afghan on my couch sipping hot coffee, very, very glad it isn't the olden days anymore. Brrrr.

 

[scooter147]

Nice coop. I'm not surprised what they did to the insulation. Don't know what it is about styrofoam, they love it.

A suggestion I have is to just remove the ramp, their front porch is basically head high. that's an easy hop for the hens.

 

[thedeacon]

It's called board and batting. The spaces between boards are cover with a 2-4 inch board on the outside. No need for insulation or the cost of plywood on the inside.

 

[DazeGoneBy]

Hubby briefly considered board and batton (he's a former carpenter) but just felt that would be a lot more nailing than just one board per side to install. Plus, I would have had to paint that...all those little boards, no thanks! It *is* a nice look, though. but I have at The moment way too many side projects than I can shake a stick at.

Including my newfound enthusiasm for decorating the coop with Christmas lights! Yay!