Quote:
AH! To bad.
Good luck with your coop!! I hope you post some pictures when it's all finished!
AH! To bad.
Good luck with your coop!! I hope you post some pictures when it's all finished!
UPDATE: Pics URL on post #24: Journal of a newbie coop builder
- Thread starter Whitewater
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #12
- Jan 18, 2010
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14 May 2010
Wow. We have had a full 20 days of no sun and the worst dank, cold, wet weather (including some snow) . . . and there just wasn't anything to be done about it. Couldn't work on the coop at all.
Sucks to have lost that much time. On the other hand, BIL is coming over tomorrow (and a friend a bit later on) and between the 4 of us we ought to be able to really get stuff happening and get back on track. I'd like to bull through it and just get as much done as we can.
I was doing well finishing up the staining process today (stained for 2 hours!) when alas, I knocked over the ALMOST FULL quart of stain we'd bought a couple days ago and of course, it went everywhere, on my clothes, down my boot opening onto my sock, all over the garage floor, in my hair . . . I decided to stop at that point. Virtually all of the staining is done and the only surfaces that don't have stain on them are the very tops and bottoms of the structure, for obvious reasons. I wanted to get a good solid 3rd coat on what I could reach, but oh well.
When it happened Home Depot was still open but at the moment I don't have enough money to rush right out and replace the quart of stain, so things are just going to have to settle. What I got on will have to dry tonight, and then I'm going to have to beg Hubby to add a replacement quart on his list of stuff to buy tomorrow (which, since I picked up a bunch of hinges at the ReStore tonight, shouldn't be a big deal). Then when BIL comes over, guess what we get to do?
That's right, boys and girls, we get to stain our little hearts out. Then we get to figure out something else to do while we wait for the stain to dry (shouldn't be an issue, there's LOTS to accomplish).
Once the stain is dry, we'll put together the frame, hang the door, yada yada, basically everything that I talked about in the last post, although we're also going to have to dig the holes and level the cinder blocks, because we never got that accomplished due to the weather. Luckily the ground is nice and soft after having been rained on for 20 days straight!
I'm starting to get a little worried again about finishing in time. Not only do we have to have the coop done in a month, we also have to have the Animal Control people inspect it and sign off on it, and that will take time too.
In theory we'll pick up our chickens and take them home on the 26th of June. In theory. Our neighbors still haven't gotten up the courage to sign our form and the one neighbor who lives directly across the alley (who was the first to sign the form!) has begun to say, every time he sees me "You got the chickens yet?" I think he's more impatient than I am! I told him briefly about our issues with nobody willing to stick their necks out and he said he'd talk to the MinPin Guy on our behalf. I still haven't managed to talk to anybody since the last time, thank you weather! Nobody was out and about.
Well, we have lots to do tomorrow, we'll see how much gets done. Wish us luck!
Whitewater
Wow. We have had a full 20 days of no sun and the worst dank, cold, wet weather (including some snow) . . . and there just wasn't anything to be done about it. Couldn't work on the coop at all.
Sucks to have lost that much time. On the other hand, BIL is coming over tomorrow (and a friend a bit later on) and between the 4 of us we ought to be able to really get stuff happening and get back on track. I'd like to bull through it and just get as much done as we can.
I was doing well finishing up the staining process today (stained for 2 hours!) when alas, I knocked over the ALMOST FULL quart of stain we'd bought a couple days ago and of course, it went everywhere, on my clothes, down my boot opening onto my sock, all over the garage floor, in my hair . . . I decided to stop at that point. Virtually all of the staining is done and the only surfaces that don't have stain on them are the very tops and bottoms of the structure, for obvious reasons. I wanted to get a good solid 3rd coat on what I could reach, but oh well.
When it happened Home Depot was still open but at the moment I don't have enough money to rush right out and replace the quart of stain, so things are just going to have to settle. What I got on will have to dry tonight, and then I'm going to have to beg Hubby to add a replacement quart on his list of stuff to buy tomorrow (which, since I picked up a bunch of hinges at the ReStore tonight, shouldn't be a big deal). Then when BIL comes over, guess what we get to do?
That's right, boys and girls, we get to stain our little hearts out. Then we get to figure out something else to do while we wait for the stain to dry (shouldn't be an issue, there's LOTS to accomplish).
Once the stain is dry, we'll put together the frame, hang the door, yada yada, basically everything that I talked about in the last post, although we're also going to have to dig the holes and level the cinder blocks, because we never got that accomplished due to the weather. Luckily the ground is nice and soft after having been rained on for 20 days straight!
I'm starting to get a little worried again about finishing in time. Not only do we have to have the coop done in a month, we also have to have the Animal Control people inspect it and sign off on it, and that will take time too.
In theory we'll pick up our chickens and take them home on the 26th of June. In theory. Our neighbors still haven't gotten up the courage to sign our form and the one neighbor who lives directly across the alley (who was the first to sign the form!) has begun to say, every time he sees me "You got the chickens yet?" I think he's more impatient than I am! I told him briefly about our issues with nobody willing to stick their necks out and he said he'd talk to the MinPin Guy on our behalf. I still haven't managed to talk to anybody since the last time, thank you weather! Nobody was out and about.
Well, we have lots to do tomorrow, we'll see how much gets done. Wish us luck!
Whitewater
We can't figure out whether or not we are legal with having chickens here. We are the last house in the "urban area" and our neighbour is a hobby cattle farmer, so we are *mostly* OK, unless someone decides to be a jerk. In any case we did the fair warning thing adn let our neighbours know the chickens are in the basement and that soon they will be out in the yard.
It got some funny reactions, even being this rural. Our hobby farmer wondered why we'd bother with chickens and not something bigger that we could actually butcher and put in the freezer - like a lamb or a goat or something. Our other neighbour was more skeptical about having animals living next door.
I wish your neighbours were more like mine.
It got some funny reactions, even being this rural. Our hobby farmer wondered why we'd bother with chickens and not something bigger that we could actually butcher and put in the freezer - like a lamb or a goat or something. Our other neighbour was more skeptical about having animals living next door.
I wish your neighbours were more like mine.
- Thread starter
- #15
- Jan 18, 2010
- 250
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15 May 2010
Yay! One more neighbor signed our form! This just means that we have to get either MinPin Guy or Eastern Guy to sign and we're ready to head to Animal Control. Unfortunately, both guys are doing the 'Well, if he signs I'll sign' song and dance, which is frustrating.
BUT.
Today we worked from 1ish pm to 8pm and we got a TON accomplished! We got the whole frame out of the garage and into the yard, stained it all (some of the pieces still need a final coat, but at least we're not worried about rain anymore), framed it (twice, whoops . . . 'cause we're newbies!) and got it out onto its cinder block foundations, having first dug holes for the cinder blocks. Unfortunately, my BIL didn't realize the orientation of the rectangle and now the run door opens into my raspberries, smushing them, so we're going to have to re-dig the cinder blocks in their correct orientation, but after everything we went through today, that doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore.
My BIL was there for a few hours, then he left and two of my female friends came over, both of them handy, so we were able to accomplish almost all of what I wanted to, which is nice.
We dug and leveled the cinder blocks, a task made easier by the fact that we've just had 3 continuous weeks of rain, so the ground was a lot softer (we have a TON of clay in our soil), then worked with the door I bought at the ReHome store, which took a while, but I knew it needed some futzing, the door was a good 8" higher than the run frame, for one thing! I am very happy that BIL was able to not only make the door work but also hang the hinges properly and get the door to work right -- I have never hung a door and didn't really know what to do.
We framed in the egg door too, also a big issue because I just could not figure out what the plans were talking about. I'm still not sure how to put the hinges on but I'm sure it will all work out, one way or another.
Then we carried out all the walls from our garage into the back yard, and had a break. By then, we needed one! BIL left and my friends showed up.
We then framed up the coop, which, once we had everything figured out, didn't really take long at all, relatively, or, at least, it didn't seem long, though in actuality it took a good 3.5 hours to do. The frame has come together quite nicely, and though the plans warned us that the frame might be wobbly, ours is very sturdy and really not very wobbly at all, which was nice to see. The only unfortunate thing is that somewhere along the way, we lost a total of 3 inches -- it's not square, but only by those 3 inches. We can't figure it out. All the measurements line up! Everything seems right, but when we measure diagonally, boom, 3 inches are gone. Hubby and I decided that we'll just have to go with our own measurements from now on and not what the plan calls for.
Our friends (including the one with the architecture and carpentry degrees) were worried that those 3 inches would bork up the roof, when it came time to put the roof on, but I think we can pretty easily adjust.
The coop is a lot heavier than I thought it would be, and we haven't even put the henhouse together yet!
What's left to do is:
All the siding on the 3 sides
Make the egg door and the henhouse human door
Make and install the henhouse floor (and other side frame)
Put together and install the nestboxes
Make and install the ramp
Attach the hardware cloth
Do the roof
I suspect this will take virtually all of the free time that Hubby and I have in the next 4 weeks. However, we are back on track and by having a work day today (and a few friends willing to help), we got a lot more accomplished than we would have if it had just been us two.
The plan is to do all the siding, the egg door and the hardware cloth next, that way we can move it into place and do the roof and the interior with the coop in its final location -- so that we won't be having to move an inconceivably heavy structure across our backyard. With the siding added on, it will only be an amazingly heavy structure!
After we got the frame together, it was 8pm and we collectively called a halt to the proceedings. Then we got out the barbeque and fed our loyal minions.
They deserved it for all the hard work they put in.
And now, I think I may just soak in a hot bath for a while and then go to bed quite early (at least for me, I am nocturnal). It's 10:30pm here, our friends just left, and I am one tired woman.
Whitewater
Yay! One more neighbor signed our form! This just means that we have to get either MinPin Guy or Eastern Guy to sign and we're ready to head to Animal Control. Unfortunately, both guys are doing the 'Well, if he signs I'll sign' song and dance, which is frustrating.
BUT.
Today we worked from 1ish pm to 8pm and we got a TON accomplished! We got the whole frame out of the garage and into the yard, stained it all (some of the pieces still need a final coat, but at least we're not worried about rain anymore), framed it (twice, whoops . . . 'cause we're newbies!) and got it out onto its cinder block foundations, having first dug holes for the cinder blocks. Unfortunately, my BIL didn't realize the orientation of the rectangle and now the run door opens into my raspberries, smushing them, so we're going to have to re-dig the cinder blocks in their correct orientation, but after everything we went through today, that doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore.
My BIL was there for a few hours, then he left and two of my female friends came over, both of them handy, so we were able to accomplish almost all of what I wanted to, which is nice.
We dug and leveled the cinder blocks, a task made easier by the fact that we've just had 3 continuous weeks of rain, so the ground was a lot softer (we have a TON of clay in our soil), then worked with the door I bought at the ReHome store, which took a while, but I knew it needed some futzing, the door was a good 8" higher than the run frame, for one thing! I am very happy that BIL was able to not only make the door work but also hang the hinges properly and get the door to work right -- I have never hung a door and didn't really know what to do.
We framed in the egg door too, also a big issue because I just could not figure out what the plans were talking about. I'm still not sure how to put the hinges on but I'm sure it will all work out, one way or another.
Then we carried out all the walls from our garage into the back yard, and had a break. By then, we needed one! BIL left and my friends showed up.
We then framed up the coop, which, once we had everything figured out, didn't really take long at all, relatively, or, at least, it didn't seem long, though in actuality it took a good 3.5 hours to do. The frame has come together quite nicely, and though the plans warned us that the frame might be wobbly, ours is very sturdy and really not very wobbly at all, which was nice to see. The only unfortunate thing is that somewhere along the way, we lost a total of 3 inches -- it's not square, but only by those 3 inches. We can't figure it out. All the measurements line up! Everything seems right, but when we measure diagonally, boom, 3 inches are gone. Hubby and I decided that we'll just have to go with our own measurements from now on and not what the plan calls for.
Our friends (including the one with the architecture and carpentry degrees) were worried that those 3 inches would bork up the roof, when it came time to put the roof on, but I think we can pretty easily adjust.
The coop is a lot heavier than I thought it would be, and we haven't even put the henhouse together yet!
What's left to do is:
All the siding on the 3 sides
Make the egg door and the henhouse human door
Make and install the henhouse floor (and other side frame)
Put together and install the nestboxes
Make and install the ramp
Attach the hardware cloth
Do the roof
I suspect this will take virtually all of the free time that Hubby and I have in the next 4 weeks. However, we are back on track and by having a work day today (and a few friends willing to help), we got a lot more accomplished than we would have if it had just been us two.
The plan is to do all the siding, the egg door and the hardware cloth next, that way we can move it into place and do the roof and the interior with the coop in its final location -- so that we won't be having to move an inconceivably heavy structure across our backyard. With the siding added on, it will only be an amazingly heavy structure!
After we got the frame together, it was 8pm and we collectively called a halt to the proceedings. Then we got out the barbeque and fed our loyal minions.
And now, I think I may just soak in a hot bath for a while and then go to bed quite early (at least for me, I am nocturnal). It's 10:30pm here, our friends just left, and I am one tired woman.
Whitewater
- Thread starter
- #16
- Jan 18, 2010
- 250
- 3
- 121
16 May 2010
Well, having lived with it for 24 hours and walked around it and realized that I can fit between the coop and the fence, I decided that it doesn't need to be moved and the cinder blocks don't need to be re-dug and re-leveled and all that. The coop will work the way it is, although given the new orientation of the henhouse, I'll have to let the birds out into the backyard more often, so that they can get enough sunshine. It will be a bit tight to put the hardware cloth on, and to screw down the siding for the henhouse walls, but I'll be able to cope. Heaven knows I've screwed screws and so on in tighter and/or wierder configurations while building sets for theaters! At least this time I'll get to stand upright!
Oh, and now the nest boxes face north, but come winter I can get a couple of haybales and stand them up to help block the wind, so it should work out ok. And the nest boxes are inside the coop, so hopefully we won't have any frozen eggs.
I'll also have to dig up the raspberry plants and transplant them to the other side of the berry patch next spring, because right now I sort of have to sidle sideways between the berry plants and the coop wall to get to the door. If I move the raspberry bushes, I won't have to sidle sideways and I will be able to open the door all the way.
The biggest surprise benefit right now is that because the door had to open out to accommodate the shortened coop, the way I have to stand and walk to get in and out means that the chickens won't be rushing past me, because they won't be able to get out of the open door -- I'll be standing there!
I also realized today that Hubby is planning on sticking to his plan to have his time off not be 100% taken up with chicken coop building, and I get that, he works 80 hours a week, only has Saturdays and Tues/Wed evenings off, but for the coop to be done in time, I'll have to work on it by myself and get most of it done without him. It's a good thing I know how to use tools, and how to build and so on! Anyhow, I only work very part time so I have more time than he does. Seems only fair that I do most of the work. He will *have* to help me with the roof, but that's a couple weeks away yet.
Today I measured the sides of the coop and found the various cedar siding boards that will do the job for siding. We got them from Craigslist, remember? They're really quite nice and tongue+grooved, so they'll fit together nice and tightly . . . and one side is thickly painted white!!! That side will go on the inside, so we don't have to paint the coop. I will get a quart of 'oops' paint at Home Depot for the nest boxes, they're just plywood. Hopefully I can get a nice, neutral color.
A few of the boards I had to cut to size, but most of them are already lengths that I can work with, which is nice. Cutting wood takes time! I would have screwed the siding onto the frame today but nobody thought to put the battery in the drill/screwgun last night, so I will have to do all of that tomorrow. Gave me time to do my gardening stuff, though
We're going to have a HUGE garden this year! I can't wait.
I also did a bunch of gardening stuff today and will hopefully finish planting tomorrow, so that I can concentrate on finishing the coop. Does anybody know if roses are harmful to chickens? With the new orientation of the coop, I would really like to plant a nice tall rosebush against the open side of the coop, I'd love to be able to harvest my own rose hips, and give some more protection to the birds.
This week I want to get the siding and the hardware cloth on and put the nest boxes together; also put the combination lock/door handle on the run door and get the last of the outer frame together -- because we hung the run door BEFORE we framed it out, we're going to have to use angle braces on one corner of the coop frame, but hey, no biggie. BIL brought a whole big coffee can of used screws (mostly 2" round Phillips and 2" square head) so we don't have to worry about running out of screws
I may also get the henhouse framing done and the floor cut/vinyled, we'll see. Then I'll have to stain the frame, and then go over the whole entire coop again with the final coat of stain, once the siding and fencing and so on is applied.
After that, it'll just be the roofing! Hubby will *have* to help me with the henhouse door and the actual egg door, but I think he'll be ok with that.
I took pictures of what we did on Saturday, I can PM them to people if you want, I just can't post them in public because of our agreement with The Garden Coop.
Oh yeah, and tomorrow I'm going to call Animal Control, tell them where we are with the neighbors, and ask them if they might consider granting us our permit with our situation like it is. They seem like reasonable people, maybe they'll listen to the fact that the whole community is on board (with a single exception) -- just that 2 households don't want to sign a form -- and say 'ok'. We'll see.
Whitewater
Well, having lived with it for 24 hours and walked around it and realized that I can fit between the coop and the fence, I decided that it doesn't need to be moved and the cinder blocks don't need to be re-dug and re-leveled and all that. The coop will work the way it is, although given the new orientation of the henhouse, I'll have to let the birds out into the backyard more often, so that they can get enough sunshine. It will be a bit tight to put the hardware cloth on, and to screw down the siding for the henhouse walls, but I'll be able to cope. Heaven knows I've screwed screws and so on in tighter and/or wierder configurations while building sets for theaters! At least this time I'll get to stand upright!
Oh, and now the nest boxes face north, but come winter I can get a couple of haybales and stand them up to help block the wind, so it should work out ok. And the nest boxes are inside the coop, so hopefully we won't have any frozen eggs.
I'll also have to dig up the raspberry plants and transplant them to the other side of the berry patch next spring, because right now I sort of have to sidle sideways between the berry plants and the coop wall to get to the door. If I move the raspberry bushes, I won't have to sidle sideways and I will be able to open the door all the way.
The biggest surprise benefit right now is that because the door had to open out to accommodate the shortened coop, the way I have to stand and walk to get in and out means that the chickens won't be rushing past me, because they won't be able to get out of the open door -- I'll be standing there!
I also realized today that Hubby is planning on sticking to his plan to have his time off not be 100% taken up with chicken coop building, and I get that, he works 80 hours a week, only has Saturdays and Tues/Wed evenings off, but for the coop to be done in time, I'll have to work on it by myself and get most of it done without him. It's a good thing I know how to use tools, and how to build and so on! Anyhow, I only work very part time so I have more time than he does. Seems only fair that I do most of the work. He will *have* to help me with the roof, but that's a couple weeks away yet.
Today I measured the sides of the coop and found the various cedar siding boards that will do the job for siding. We got them from Craigslist, remember? They're really quite nice and tongue+grooved, so they'll fit together nice and tightly . . . and one side is thickly painted white!!! That side will go on the inside, so we don't have to paint the coop. I will get a quart of 'oops' paint at Home Depot for the nest boxes, they're just plywood. Hopefully I can get a nice, neutral color.
A few of the boards I had to cut to size, but most of them are already lengths that I can work with, which is nice. Cutting wood takes time! I would have screwed the siding onto the frame today but nobody thought to put the battery in the drill/screwgun last night, so I will have to do all of that tomorrow. Gave me time to do my gardening stuff, though
I also did a bunch of gardening stuff today and will hopefully finish planting tomorrow, so that I can concentrate on finishing the coop. Does anybody know if roses are harmful to chickens? With the new orientation of the coop, I would really like to plant a nice tall rosebush against the open side of the coop, I'd love to be able to harvest my own rose hips, and give some more protection to the birds.
This week I want to get the siding and the hardware cloth on and put the nest boxes together; also put the combination lock/door handle on the run door and get the last of the outer frame together -- because we hung the run door BEFORE we framed it out, we're going to have to use angle braces on one corner of the coop frame, but hey, no biggie. BIL brought a whole big coffee can of used screws (mostly 2" round Phillips and 2" square head) so we don't have to worry about running out of screws
I may also get the henhouse framing done and the floor cut/vinyled, we'll see. Then I'll have to stain the frame, and then go over the whole entire coop again with the final coat of stain, once the siding and fencing and so on is applied.
After that, it'll just be the roofing! Hubby will *have* to help me with the henhouse door and the actual egg door, but I think he'll be ok with that.
I took pictures of what we did on Saturday, I can PM them to people if you want, I just can't post them in public because of our agreement with The Garden Coop.
Oh yeah, and tomorrow I'm going to call Animal Control, tell them where we are with the neighbors, and ask them if they might consider granting us our permit with our situation like it is. They seem like reasonable people, maybe they'll listen to the fact that the whole community is on board (with a single exception) -- just that 2 households don't want to sign a form -- and say 'ok'. We'll see.
Whitewater
Keep up the good work, you have the patience I wish I had!!!
I may have missed somethign earlier in the thread, but ehy not invite Minpin guy and the other guy over at teh same time for sandwiches, adn explain with both of them there that they are each holding up the other guy's signature. Show them the coop and the chicks, and try to win them over that way. As long as you are running between them, they'll never get teh eye-to-eye they need to geel like their argument is crumbling.
- Thread starter
- #19
- Jan 18, 2010
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Nah, you didn't miss anything, Prospector . . . I'd LOVE to show them the hens, but there are two problems with that: A) the city has to inspect the coop and approve our permit *before* chickens are living in our backyard (otherwise we're guilty of a triple misdemeanor), and B) Eastern Neighbor is always, and I mean *always* not at home. I dunno whether he travels for his work or has a LOT of hobbies or perhaps is in the armed forces reserves or what, but they're never there. I see his wife occasionally, but she's no help, she says 'He makes the decisions'. So there's really no way to get the two of them together. I don't like being the middle man either, but you do what ya gotta.
Other neighbors have suggested faking a signature and then showing it to both guys
I don't want to practice deception, but I may just be driven to it!
The odd thing is that they're both quite supportive of the project. They just don't want to officially commit, ie, sign the form and have the form be on record with Animal Control. I suspect this is because they both have unlicensed dogs and don't want to be on AC's radar. And yeah, I have to give over the signed form along with the permit application and $25 when I go to get the permit (then the AC guys come and inspect the coop, and then, if everything's ok, they ok the permit, what a process!)
If it wasn't for this neighbor permission thing, we'd have had our coop built and our chickens in on May Day.
Whitewater
Other neighbors have suggested faking a signature and then showing it to both guys
The odd thing is that they're both quite supportive of the project. They just don't want to officially commit, ie, sign the form and have the form be on record with Animal Control. I suspect this is because they both have unlicensed dogs and don't want to be on AC's radar. And yeah, I have to give over the signed form along with the permit application and $25 when I go to get the permit (then the AC guys come and inspect the coop, and then, if everything's ok, they ok the permit, what a process!)
If it wasn't for this neighbor permission thing, we'd have had our coop built and our chickens in on May Day.
Whitewater
- Thread starter
- #20
- Jan 18, 2010
- 250
- 3
- 121
18 May 2010
OMG. I hate the government. Now we have 10 days to get TEN signatures. Read all about it in my thread in the Laws section. *grrr* Don't really want to talk about it anymore.
That said, this is just a quick update to let everybody know that I put the first siding wall up today and it went pretty well, all things considered. Sure, it would be a TON easier if I were about 6" taller (as is it, I'm going to develop the Triceps From Hell, working above my head like this . . . ) and had another person to hold the boards up, but hey, it got done.
The inside of the coop looks AWESOME, you guys. I was totally right about putting the siding on with the unfinished cedar side out and the heavily painted (white) side in. The interior of the coop is going to be bright and cheery, nice and warm for winter, and pretty much solid and predator proof. I love it when my instincts are correct
Will take a picture once I get another wall up. I'm going to put the pics I already have up on my Webshots account, will probably do that tonight. Will post the URL here when they get done.
Ran into some problems putting the nest boxes together today, nothing I can't fix, though. Tomorrow I want to finish the siding and start on the hardware cloth (can't put the last siding board on the wall, 'cause the hardware cloth has to attach there . . . !), should be doable.
I feel like I'm crazy for building this coop when now, as of yesterday, our chances of having chickens have seriously dropped (my expectations of my neighbors are not high, I'm praying, but, well, just not expecting much) but I want to finish it anyway because I want to see if I can. This will be the biggest, most complicated thing I've ever built. And if we can't get the chickens, well, I guess we'll have a nice big compost bin. Or dog house. Or something.
Whitewater
OMG. I hate the government. Now we have 10 days to get TEN signatures. Read all about it in my thread in the Laws section. *grrr* Don't really want to talk about it anymore.
That said, this is just a quick update to let everybody know that I put the first siding wall up today and it went pretty well, all things considered. Sure, it would be a TON easier if I were about 6" taller (as is it, I'm going to develop the Triceps From Hell, working above my head like this . . . ) and had another person to hold the boards up, but hey, it got done.
The inside of the coop looks AWESOME, you guys. I was totally right about putting the siding on with the unfinished cedar side out and the heavily painted (white) side in. The interior of the coop is going to be bright and cheery, nice and warm for winter, and pretty much solid and predator proof. I love it when my instincts are correct
Ran into some problems putting the nest boxes together today, nothing I can't fix, though. Tomorrow I want to finish the siding and start on the hardware cloth (can't put the last siding board on the wall, 'cause the hardware cloth has to attach there . . . !), should be doable.
I feel like I'm crazy for building this coop when now, as of yesterday, our chances of having chickens have seriously dropped (my expectations of my neighbors are not high, I'm praying, but, well, just not expecting much) but I want to finish it anyway because I want to see if I can. This will be the biggest, most complicated thing I've ever built. And if we can't get the chickens, well, I guess we'll have a nice big compost bin. Or dog house. Or something.
Whitewater
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