UPDATE: Pics URL on post #24: Journal of a newbie coop builder

[Whitewater]

23 May 2010

Wow -- just got another signed form, this one was dropped off in our mailbox today

Dunno what made me look in there, we don't get mail on Sundays, but there it was. I checked as I was coming in from getting a bit more done on the coop. This puts me in a much better position with Animal Control when I go over there tomorrow, ie, Monday, to discuss the vacant house and the house that's just barely within the zone.

It was really hot today, and very humid (At least, for here!) which didn't really help. I worked for 2 hours by myself in the early evening -- when Hubby comes home from work he'll finish the cut for the hen house floor, so I can paint that later tonight, but for right now, I'm done. Really done.

I put up some more hardware cloth and finished cutting and installing the rest of the hen house siding. The hen house now has complete walls! The siding is done! All that's left now is the roof, putting on the rest of the hardware cloth, the floor, installing the nest boxes, and getting the incidentals (perches and roosts, mostly) in before we buy feeders and pine shavings and so on.

I think I'll finish and install the floor tomorrow, and get Hubby to help me finish the next box tonight -- all he has to do is hold the roof on while I drill in two screws, big deal.

Then we get to deal with the horror that is installing the hardware cloth. I hate that stuff. If it weren't for the fact that it's what we need and we can't use anything else, I WOULD be searching for something easier. Even with washers and screws and a good pair of tin snips, it's no picnic.

We have decided to hold off on the floating interior walls for now. When Halloween comes around, the hens will need them (and the insulation between the walls and the rest of the house) but right now, the coop itself is so well built that the hens might appreciate the extra ventilation here and there. It will get closed off during the winter so that they don't freeze in cross-breezes and drafts, but for right now, all that extra ventilation is probably a good thing.

We'll build the walls and cope with the insulation in a few months.

No pictures today, sorry.

ETA: Tonight when Hubby came home we got all the wood cut for the floors (we had to piece together one of the plywood pieces -- it resembles a jigsaw puzzle! LOL! But nobody will see it under the linoleum, so it doesn't really matter), we painted one of the bottoms of the OSB and got the roof on the nest boxes.

Tomorrow if I have time (doing errands, including going to Animal Control to discuss our permit) I'll paint the rest of the flooring and cut out the linoleum and finish screwing down the nest box roof. And probably work on the doggone hardware cloth.


Whitewater

 

[Prospector]

Wow, you guys are really doing great!! Love reading your updates.

 

[hanselong]

Wow, I applaud your perseverance in getting all that work done to get the signatures for the chickens!

If it were that difficult to get a permit here in Seattle, I probably wouldn't even consider it!

All the best!

 

[Whitewater]

You know, I think that's why they do it. I think they deliberately make it tough to try to weed out the ones that aren't serious.

But believe me, working with Animal Control wasn't nearly as bad as trying to work on the coop in this heat. It was 95' today (24 May 2010) with somewhere between 60-70% humidity. . . almost unbearable.

I painted 2 19"x58" plywood boards today for the hen house floor and by the time I was done, I was sweating so hard it was as though I was standing under a showerhead, or a fountain, or something. Yikes.

I cut the linoleum for both floor pieces today also (by hand, no less) and found some suitable screws for putting it all together -- tomorrow, and called it a day. Dang. I love heat, but only if the humidity is like, desert -- less than 20%, please! If it gets higher I start to melt.

Tomorrow Hubby is going to get another quart of stain (this project, in total, has used 2.5 quarts of stain, not bad all things considered) and a new blade for the jigsaw, so that we can cut the ramp hole in the floor and put the floor together and install it. And so that I can finally stain the rest of the henhouse frame! Poor thing has been sitting out there all raw, with the rest of the coop stained a nice mahogany color.

It's not supposed to be as hot tomorrow, but there's supposed to be thunderstorms. However, it was supposed to storm today to and never did, so we'll see.

Aside from the coop I also planted 6 pepper plants and a HUGE heirloom tomato today and watered the veggie garden just before dusk, but it's taken me all night to recover from working today -- I didn't know it had gotten so hot, or else I wouldn't have done all that work. I came in and was so tired that I forgot that I hadn't posted the day's accomplishments in this journal! After I hit 'Submit', I'm going to bed! (Which is strange behavior for me, usually I'm up until 3-4am, I'm nocturnal).

And I'm also not going to bring the phone up with me. I'll get a solid night's sleep and then, if AC called while I was sleeping, I'll call them back. If I haven't heard from them when I get up (probably noon or shortly before, given that it will be 2am before I get to bed), I'll call *them*.

My blood pressure was almost as high today because of this exotic animal permit as it was when we were buying this house. I'm starting to just want it settled, firmly, one way or another!


Whitewater

 

[kfchickenlady]

Whitewater, I feel like Im watching someone finish a 100 mile marathon!! You have amazing perseverance, but please be careful working in that heat, I cant imagine what that kind of humidity is like....no sense getting your chickens if youre so worn out you cant enjoy them,,,I for one cant wait till those chickens are there in your coop and the drama with AC etc is over for you!!!

Congrats for sticking it out and jumping through all those hoops, you are awesome.

 

[Whitewater]

Hey, now, most people who now me don't give me all those compliments (thank you, by the way . . . aww, they don't have a blushing smiley, well then, *blush*) . . . I just get called a stubborn old coot in training! LOL!

I do have a stubborn streak, I think that's most of why I didn't give up. Besides, it infuriates me that I have to have my neighbor's permission to do legal stuff in my own backyard!

But that's all in the past now, because WE GOT OUR PERMIT APPROVED TODAY!!!! Yay! I am so happy

It's only a conditional permit right now because they have to inspect our coop and it's not done yet (and they want to see EVERYTHING, where the feed will be stored, the predator protection, our feeders and waterers . . . even the bedding . . . *sigh*), but when they OK the coop, we'll be good to go.

They want us to have the coop done in the next 10 days! I don't know if we can do that, but we'll sure give it the old college try.

I didn't get any work done today because I was doing errands all day and having a bit of fun with Hubby this evening, and it's now thunderstorming up, well, up a storm out there (which is great for our garden after these last couple of hot days!) and there's no way to work. Can't even get to the garage!

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, though, and since Hubby went today and got a new jigsaw blade and some more stain, I know what I'm going to be doing tomorrow!!!

And tomorrow I'm going to take another whack at the blasted hardware cloth too.

Now that AC wants to see the whole setup, it's playing havoc with our finances, we had a budget for getting all the accessory stuff (feeders, oyster shells, food, a garbage can, etc) which wasn't supposed to actually be bought until the end of June -- just before the chickens came home -- but NOW, we're going to have to get ALL that stuff very much sooner. Oh well, we'll cope somehow.


Whitewater (listening to the rain and thanking God, 'cause my tomatoes and peppers and lettuce were looking distinctly wilty today!)

 

[kfchickenlady]

 

[Whitewater]

26 May 2010

I took a TON of pictures today, you can find them at http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/577727046doZyzb -- there's now TWO PAGES of chicken coop pictures! But that's because we got a TON done today . . .

First off, I started off the day by doing some gardening, and thinking out a few thought experiments about the coop -- weeding leaves your brain with a lot of free time, at least, it does me. I just couldn't figure out the doors (I have some learning disabilities) so when Hubby came home and saw me in the veggie garden, I told him about my door dilemma, and he solved it in, like, 2 seconds. It was amazing. And not only did he proceed to solve my problem, he also went straight away into the garage and began to cut wood and so on to hang the doors!

I was amazed. And so pleased!

Thanks to Hubby and his work ethic (man, he just plowed through the list tonight, I couldn't believe it!) we cut and hung both the egg door and the hen house access door, finished and installed the entire henhouse floor, properly re-hung the run door, installed the nest boxes, and we did so in time for me to stain all the siding and the doors that were fresh and new.

There are pictures on the URL above of all our hard work.

This means that the only major stuff we have to do is finish the hardware cloth and get the roof done . . . and then it's only the little things, like roosts and door locks, buying the feeders, and doing the ramp. Can't believe it!

LOL, I guess getting our permit approved really motivated Hubby!


Whitewater

 

[Whitewater]

27 May 2010

Just realized that if all goes well with the coop inspection, our pullets will be home 4 weeks from now

That makes me feel good. What doesn't make me feel good was that the chicken-hating neighbor 2 doors down was hanging over his fence with his mother (they're both well past retirement age) and he had a nasty look on his face and was gesturing angrily while looking at our coop. They saw me looking at them out of our office window and retreated back into their home.

He is just going to have to get over it, he's the only one in the neighborhood who has an issue, and from his yard, you can only see one corner of the coop, and they won't see the chickens when they're in the coop/run because of our raspberry bushes.

I want to point out that I wrestled with hardware cloth for almost 2 hours today and am pleased to say that 4 out of the 9 'panels' that need fencing now have hardware cloth on them completely. This of course doesn't include the roof, which also needs to be covered in hardware cloth -- I'm just talking about the sides of the run.

I am also pleased to report that aside from the incidentals, finishing the hardware cloth and doing the roof are all that need to get done. With luck, we'll have ALL the cloth done this weekend, including the top of the run.

(I also got the cukes and the beans planted today! Yay!)


Whitewater

 

[kfchickenlady]

too bad about your neighbor, but you are going to love the Australorps! They are so pretty in the sun and are Fantastic layers, I remember them laying over 300 eggs a year for me. Hang in there!

Today I see my new coop going up, my bday present from my DH. (bday is today

)