Vermont Chicken Coop Build Log

[jtbrown]

Nice birds and coop!

 

[Patricia Jane]

Beautiful area your in. Great idea putting hardware cloth under the floor. I know you will have a secure coop for your chickens. Can't wait to see the end result.

and

 

[mstrrlm]

Quote:
You might not get to close to tress as allows easy access to certain predators

 

[ladyride]

 

[MadChickensVT]

Quote:
Any predator jumping from a nearby tree is going to land on a steel roof. Not much traction on a 6:12 pitch. But it won't matter even if they manage to stay on it. My main concern is weasels, and they can climb just about anything, so I'm building the coop with the assumption that predators can access any part of it. Soon you'll see why it's being named "Fort Cluck"

 

[rngrbill]

Thank God the only weasels we have here are the 2 legged kind.

Looks like you have this well thought out.

 

[Rosaleen]

One year I found a weasel nest...den(?) on the other side of our coop in the barn so my hubby rehomed the whole family to another area far away from us.

 

[MadChickensVT]

Day 4

I managed to get in almost 4 hours this afternoon/evening. I finished screwing and nailing the floor down, stapled the hardware cloth underneath, and then framed the side walls. Before I stood them up I painted the bottom of the bottom plate and the floor in that area to help fight any moisture that works it's way in there. It's always satisfying to stand up the first walls, it really makes it look like something

This evening when I was putting the chickens back in their pen in the garage I found our first egg! Maybe I should setup a temporary nest box in the pen. I gotta get the coop done! Time's really flying with a 3-month old baby and lots of work coming in.

 

[happyhensny]

A milk crate with some shavings or hay works great. Busy has just begun for you!

 

[MadChickensVT]

I just found another! Same shape, size, color, and location. Looks like one of our ladies is laying!