Washingtonians

[Kaneke]

Quote:
It's an A frame where the roof ridge is a 90 degree angle- easy construction because nothing needs to be mitred. I bought two sheets of plywood ( all plywood is 4" wide; standard plywood sheets are eight feet long) and had it cut into two three by four and two two by two pieces, then had the two-by-two pieces cut into two by two by (the square root of 8 which is just less than three feet) triangles.

And beyond that I need either drawings or waving my hands in the air. Too tired to find my quadrile pad and draw it for you right now, will try to do it Sunday if that's OK with you?

I'm trying to visualize how this would go together myself -- usually I am good enough at mental spatial manipulation (a childhood filled with jigsaw puzzles) -- but somehow I can't get my mind wrapped around this

I can see, perhaps, two 3x4 pieces vertically as the end pieces, with the two 2x2x ___ triangles perched atop them and two 3x4 pieces horizontally as the roof, but that leaves the sides open ?? what am I missing here?

I had suggested three sheets of 4x8 plywood, cut at the lumberyard into 4x4s, one with a cutout for the pop door

plus two 1x6s or 1x8s, 4 feet long, with one of those ripped diagonally to make two wedge shaped pieces

paint them all before assembly -- a couple of coats of exterior latex (you can get cheap paint by asking at stores, if they have any returned mis-mixed paint -- or get it off Craigslist)

build an open topped box out of 5 of those pieces, add the 1x6 (1x8) to the top of the side with the door cutout, add the wedge shaped pieces to the two adjoining sides

(may be easier to put together with screws rather than nails; less likelihood of splitting the wood)

screw a couple of hinges to the 1x6, screw the remaining plywood piece to them as a liftable top roof/access door

throw a tarp over it for rainproofing .. hook it down with bungees, or install cup hooks or nails

I put mine on a "foundation" of four cheap "landscape timbers" .. which I already had, DS had bought them years ago to delineate the garden

just an idea for a quick to put together coop for maybe up to eight chickens, with your choice of run attached

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
It's an A frame where the roof ridge is a 90 degree angle- easy construction because nothing needs to be mitred. I bought two sheets of plywood ( all plywood is 4" wide; standard plywood sheets are eight feet long) and had it cut into two three by four and two two by two pieces, then had the two-by-two pieces cut into two by two by (the square root of 8 which is just less than three feet) triangles.

So...with those pieces, are you then just making the roof? The triangles would go together to make the end portions and the 8x4 pieces sit on top?

A frames in general are structures where the roof rests directly on the floor/ the floor is suspended from the roof. Hence the A part of the name.

I'm not snarking, here, it's just that I feel a little bit as if I'm trying to explain how to use an opposable thumb or something else I don't have to think about. And I am handicapped by not being able to draw pictures either in the air or on a black board/white board/ piece of 5X20 plywood...

 

[AriLovesChickens]

Quote:
See, I don't think of it as being on the ground. I think of an A-frame house as being one that has the A shape on top (the bottom part of the A hanging over the edge), which a box/rectangular shape below it. If you're talking about a coop where the side parts rest on the ground, fine. That's not what I was envisioning then (or what I want to build).

example of A-frame on the ground:

Example of A-frame house not on the ground

Your description of pieces led me to this:

which is what made me think the triangles fit together to make the ends (like a truss?) that the longer roof pieces would fit on.

 

[Kaneke]

d'oh !! of course !! usually I can think coherently by 10 AM .. my excuse it that I'm losing sleep every day by having to deal with this new dog

I need to stay up late enough to take her out for her potty stop at night, then she barks and whines for quite a while after being shut in DS's bedroom for the night

in the morning, good old Roopert's crows, about 5:30 AM, wake her up and she starts barking and whining again, and needs to go out

since she isn't totally aware of our boundaries, I must take her out on leash .... she has the electronic collar on and that first little ZAP from it, scared her so that she is mostly unwilling to go out into the yard at all, she must be carried or dragged out (I'm getting the wheat-free treats this weekend, since she has a wheat allergy, or at least that's what they reported)

ever stop to think how many dogfoods and dog treats, contain wheat ????

anyway ---

I think I now comprehend Julia's coop plans ..

if I weren't so cheap, I'd probably build one of those --- instead I will keep adding on and modifying the run, using these scrap pieces of "whatever" that I can pick out of the pallet scrap bins; and continuing to prowl Craigslist for stuff

DH will be going to Portland for the weekend, his DS and longtime female friend will be there; I'm just too exhausted to go, so I'll stay here and mind the dog, stick close to home since I am still not sure how dependable my old Trooper is (DH will have the newer reliable car)

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
See, I don't think of it as being on the ground. I think of an A-frame house as being one that has the A shape on top (the bottom part of the A hanging over the edge), which a box/rectangular shape below it. If you're talking about a coop where the side parts rest on the ground, fine. That's not what I was envisioning then (or what I want to build).

example of A-frame on the ground:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wj2y1BBpRwI/TNfxbvjVahI/AAAAAAAAABg/Lnweq07SPcw/s1600/A+Frame+Coop.bmp

Example of A-frame house not on the ground
http://www.benfieldatt.com/Images/McMahon.JPG

Your description of pieces led me to this:
http://www.nwcustomcreations.com/store/images/rightangle.jpg
which is what made me think the triangles fit together to make the ends (like a truss?) that the longer roof pieces would fit on.

Your second picture is a gabled roof, not an A Frame.

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
They make dog foods with rice and lamb for dogs with allergies, also potatoes and venison. I buy one without any grain for Miguel. It has pumpkin and sweet potatoes. I don't know that it's doing any good.

 

[Chickielady]

Hello guys, happy Saturday!
I am after the dosage amounts for Eprinex, got my bottle a few weeks ago, and it is fall worming time.
I plan on doing a coop a day, probably take 4-5 days this way, but it will work.

In the mean time, also took more pics of the Cornish Cockerals for Illia.
These birds are about 3 months old, and are in a pen with WR pullets from Derek Tuntland (ND)

The reasoning is:
Cornish Hens are poor layers, WR hens are good layers (and Buckeyes) so, I can harvest big eggs year round, and when we need meat, I hatch a doz or so eggs which will be sired by the Cornish Cockerals.
I am not going to raise any Dark Cornish Hens, as space is limited (for winter) and we have the house to build now, no more coops.
So here they are:

I am not too concerned with SOP with these cockerals, the whole idea is to breed for a nice meat bird that is not a freak, and give us clean, hormone-free meat from free ranging pastured birds.
The last batch we raised (28) and butchered was fantastic!
Barely any of the gobs & greasy hunks of fat you see on store-bought chicken.
Our gas grill has not had to be cleaned all summer.
The meat is tender, abundant, and oh so more flavorful!
So after a hatch & raise of the Cornish X WR, then I will have one Cornish over a few of the Buckeye hens, and hatch & raise those and see which we prefer.
I am guessing the Cornish over Buckeye is going to produce a very broad meaty & tender meat bird..dark feathered, but that was the way all chickens were raised bygones ago=dark feathers make it easier to see the feathers and therefore easier to pluck.
Dark feathered birds will also make it easier to raise meat birds here in the cold PNW even in winter months, whereas the "freak" commercial cornish crosses are practically bald and would no doubt have difficulty keeping warm

OK, I am off back to work....

 

[Illia]

Quote:
I know, but in most cases a bird fitting the SOP is far meatier than a bird not fitting to it.

Especially in breeds like Cornish. Have you seen the Cornish Al6517 has? Wow those are walking lumps of muscle!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
See, I don't think of it as being on the ground. I think of an A-frame house as being one that has the A shape on top (the bottom part of the A hanging over the edge), which a box/rectangular shape below it. If you're talking about a coop where the side parts rest on the ground, fine. That's not what I was envisioning then (or what I want to build).

example of A-frame on the ground:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wj2y1BBpRwI/TNfxbvjVahI/AAAAAAAAABg/Lnweq07SPcw/s1600/A+Frame+Coop.bmp

Example of A-frame house not on the ground
http://www.benfieldatt.com/Images/McMahon.JPG

Your description of pieces led me to this:
http://www.nwcustomcreations.com/store/images/rightangle.jpg
which is what made me think the triangles fit together to make the ends (like a truss?) that the longer roof pieces would fit on.

That's the idea, although instead of sitting on the ground like that chicken tractor (which is about a 45 degree ridge angle) the coop will be on legs- I wish I were rich enough to have CR make me a set of chicken feet a la Baba Yaga's hut, and I wish I could remember where I put the old oil barrel stand to support the floor!

Your second pic is only an A-frame in the eyes of some prefab log cabin builders and real estate agents. I'd call it a story-and-a-half gable end entrance cabin but then I learned these terms by helping my dad study for his Carpenters Union journeyman's test. A classic A frame (like some of the ski huts south of 1-90 just east of Snoqualamie Summit) has no external walls at all, and to be considered an A frame the roof has to make up at least some of the ground floor exterior walls.

I have been interrupted about one thousand and thirty times since I started to write this, I have another/a half-sole on my old cold, it's raining outside and I need to get the fence and raccoon-proof cover done on the wyandotte coop today, so any grouchiness/pedantry/general bad manners must be put down to me having run out of energy to pretend I'm a nice person, sorry.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
See, I don't think of it as being on the ground. I think of an A-frame house as being one that has the A shape on top (the bottom part of the A hanging over the edge), which a box/rectangular shape below it. If you're talking about a coop where the side parts rest on the ground, fine. That's not what I was envisioning then (or what I want to build).

example of A-frame on the ground:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wj2y1BBpRwI/TNfxbvjVahI/AAAAAAAAABg/Lnweq07SPcw/s1600/A+Frame+Coop.bmp

Example of A-frame house not on the ground
http://www.benfieldatt.com/Images/McMahon.JPG

Your description of pieces led me to this:
http://www.nwcustomcreations.com/store/images/rightangle.jpg
which is what made me think the triangles fit together to make the ends (like a truss?) that the longer roof pieces would fit on.

Your second picture is a gabled roof, not an A Frame.

X2
It is my understanding, through years of Architecture school, that all A-frames roofs touch the ground, they have no walls.
As the loft (upper story) in a barn with a gambrel roof, is considered a single story building even though it has 2 complete floors, for the same reason= It has no walls upstairs, as the roof meets & rests on the top sill of the first story.
I like the hay bale chicken coop idea that WA4-HPoultryMom suggested earlier.
She has Architecture training as well.
If the hay bale coop had a floor, to prevent predators from digging, and thus frame a door to that floor, it would work great.
Maybe 2 pallets, screw plywood to them to hold them together & provide a solid floor.
Stack the hay bales around a door frame, and ram the roof down by re-bar into the hay.
The weight of the hay should hold the roof down providing the winds do not exceed 80 MPH ...and a sky light that opens could give access to clean & harvest eggs inside.