Monday, May 12, 2014

Almost There!

After spending the better part of Saturday working the 'Ride 101 Lakes' event (see Another Public Service Event Done!) I was afraid there wouldn't be a lot of work done on the coop this weekend.  I was wrong!  After Church on Sunday the extended family (25 of us, I think) met for a Mother's day dinner and celebration, (and a giant, indoor Nerf dart war for all ages at the request of one of the Moms - My 85 year Mom demonstrated her ability to handle a Nerf dart pistol by nailing one of my brothers square in the chest.  As a family we are bit unique that way.)  I was able to get some work time in.


 After some 30 minutes I was joined by my son and daughter #1's boyfriend.  That's when things started to happen.  I was busy enough I didn't may pictures while it was happening, but I have several of the work we were able to get done.  It still looks like a construction site, and there will have to be a sizable clean-up effort before the chickens arrive.

It was great to have the two guys helping.  Extra hands make a world of difference.  We got the door between the chickens' area the "people area" done pretty quickly. 







I decided to use hardware cloth to close out the areas I didn't the birds going into. The plan is to be able to store a little feed and other things right there in the coop on the shelf. I also wanted to be able to open the main door to allow the coop to cool off in the summer and still keep the chickens in the coop and yard.   I'm hoping to get things set up so I  can feed, water and collect eggs without going right in with the chickens.  That will come later, right now it will be a more conventional feed and watering system.


After we finished the inner door and the hardware cloth we were ready to close out the last wall.  We got that up pretty quickly with two holding and one driving in nails. That was a job I worried about getting done working by myself.  There is a 3 1/2" gap between the rafters and the roof I'll close off with hardware cloth with hinged door so we can close up some or all of the them up in the winter.  The dark circles are knots in the plywood.  I couldn't see spending a lot of extra on plywood with really nice face sheets for a chicken coop, and have decided that the red barn paint will cover a a multitude of material and construction sins.   I figure I'm gonna need a LOT of paint.  After getting the outside door hung and the corner closed out we left it mostly done! 

Next up: Replace the broken window glass, close out the space above the door, put in the "chicken veranda" and chicken ramp in and out, close out around the base, and paint, paint, paint.  After reading a very informative post on "5 Acres & A Dream" regarding whitewash, we're planning on whitewashing the inside. I believe I'll have a temporary chicken fence for several days before I get the permanent fence up.

I've been reading up on introducing chickens to a new coop.  I'm up for any comments on how others have done this, but it sounds like putting them in the coop for a couple of days (with plenty of feed and water, of course) before letting them out is the thing to do.  After that, I understand they can be let out, knowing you'll probably have to "help" them back in at the end of the day for awhile.

I'm getting excited!  Moving day is planned for something like this Friday.  There is still plenty to do, but I'm getting close.  They'll be lots of pics when the "blessed event" occurs, and good or bad it will all be posted here.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

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