Part 1
Fortunately, we had another weekend day with great weather so we packed the kids up in the truck and headed to Home Depot (with a quick stop at Starbucks and Costco first) to pick up some materials for this phase. We began by framing in the back wall. It has two windows to match the front.
Fortunately, we had another weekend day with great weather so we packed the kids up in the truck and headed to Home Depot (with a quick stop at Starbucks and Costco first) to pick up some materials for this phase. We began by framing in the back wall. It has two windows to match the front.
We will be using the Deep Litter method for our coop which basically involves about 5 inches of mulch in the bottom of the coop. Every other day or so we will just rake it quick which will hide the chicken poop fertilizer and its smell. Then once every few months we will rake it all out and replace it with new mulch. Meanwhile, the old stuff is perfect for using in our garden, planters, etc.
You may have noticed there is no base plate on this wall. The bottom half of this wall will be on hinges allowing us to lift it up to simply rake everything out into a wheel barrow.
Here is my dedicated helper making sure the wall doesn’t fall down.
The last wall was tricky because it involved the nests. I got all the pieces cut out and put almost the whole wall together in my shop then transferred it to the coop. The nail gun made quick work of getting it into place. Later I will go back with screws all over the place to solidify the whole structure.
The nests are external and will eventually have a roof matching the coop roof that hinges up allowing us to collect eggs without entering the coop itself. The far section will be enclosed and used for storage. They say to allow one nest for every 2-3 hens. We will have three nest so definitely room for expansion of our flock if it becomes legal.
Jess took offf for a photo shoot but I was fortunate enough to have my inlaws volunteer to help. Jess’s mom watched the kids while her Dad and I made quick work of constructing the trusses for the roof. A little geometry and they went together very quickly.
After that it seem like things just started going our way. It turns out with two people cutting and 8 foot by 4 foot sheet of plywood it is a lot easier. We cut the roofing and installed them, layered some tar paper over that, then added the corrugated roofing Jess picked out. This thing will definitely be water proof.
We had to keep reminding ourselves we are only building a chicken coop as we caught ourselves trying to fix things that were a sixteenth of an inch off. I think it is coming along nicely, don’t you?
Stay tuned for Phase III when we look at shingling the sides and finishing off the nests.
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