Work on the Coop Renovation has started!

[Chicabee19]

could that be a possum baby?

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Quote:
I'm agreeing on the squirrels now... It makes sense, unfortunately they fell from inside the top of the wall and the one I took the photo of later died... I'm not sure of the rest, but they won't make it through the night. Mum is nowhere to be seen.

I just used Adobe Photoshop CS... but any Adobe Photoshop (I have 7.0 on my laptop...this is my mothers laptop I'm on mostly) will do the same thing.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Quote:
No they were the wrong colour for possum babies... I considered that, and a bit too small as well. Also possum babies do have a bit of control over their tail and these guys didn't quite seem to know what to do with them lol.


I think Squirrels for sure now

 

[kalaim]

I'm a wildlife rehabber and it certainly looks like a squirrel, if you keep the others warm and get them to a rehabber they could make it.

How cute!

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Quote:
Unfortunately they fell quite a way down onto a rocky bit of ground... three ran under the hay the nest was made out of in the wall, the other one didn't seem to be able to move his legs much but he was alive until about half an hour later when he stopped breathing. Mum hasn't been seen for days now, and they're very skinny so I'm guessing when we started work she abandonned them.

We're so far from even a vet that I think on transit they'd die, and with the cool temps today I'm almost certain the others are now dead.

It's unfortunate really.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Quote:
We will have 4 openable sash windows (they're shed windows, cheap, effective), one on each side, the front door will be a dutch door, and it opens inwards....we're going to put a "screen door," made out of a heavy duty, tightly woven mesh that can be locked, so the dutch door can be left all the way open during the day when it's steamy for extra ventilation. We will also be mounting an extractor fan...there is already a hole in the wall in the chicken area, and we've found the fan that used to be in it! ... It's currently mounted in our bathroom above the toilet, it's 1930-40's styled and it looks like a propellor from an airplane, it's all metal and very sleek... I'll post a photo for you later!

Since we're on a hill we get a nice wind, so I'm not really worried about ventilation at all, it's keeping it warm in the winter!...

 

[Chick_a_dee]

UPDATE:

Tomorrow morning we're pouring the first of the footings, this will be on the side with the side door... that door will be closed off as of tomorrow, we're running our footings there the whole length of the building for extra support. We will be purchasing more cement after doing so in order to fix the other side, and the end of the building. We're getting closer to putting up the sheathing!

Here are some photos of the progress, all sides have no sheathing...the ends with the peaks do have some in the peaks, that sheathing will come off last as its the hardest to get to and we will have to employ our epicly huge ladder.

Here are the windows we're using for the coop, they're shed windows, sash style, with a bug screen in the bottom. These will be covered by security mesh on the outside in order to predator proof them.

Here is the trim that will be going in both end peaks, it's painted the same colour as the porch trim on our house.

The main colour of the coop will be the colour of the siding on our porch, which is lighter than the trim on the house. Making the trim pop out.

And.... Just for fun... This is Henzilla my mum's favorite chicken at 6 weeks, with a few of the other girls in the background. When I'm watching tv in the ajacent room I let the girls roost on the side of the brooder, when we're working on the coop they're in our stud dogs outside pen about 20 feet from our construction zone.

They need their coop and SOON!

 

[dixygirl]

I love the scalloped shingles. Where did you find those?

 

[Chick_a_dee]

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At great expense from the homedepot, they're called cedarcast shingle rounds...they're actually like a vinyl siding, you never have to paint them.. but they're $300 for 50sq ft.

Totally worth it though, as my mum said.. "once i'd seen them, cost didn't matter"

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Just a little note! ... We were getting ready to put forms in this morning before getting some extra cement, gravel, etc. and I was pulling the side door off the coop, when I noticed on the back was a saw with a bunch of papers under it... I pulled them off and discovered this!

It's a little how to book made by GM in 1957! ... It's really neat, in really good condition so I think we're going to frame it and keep it.