Almost done!

I've been so busy trying to finish up the coop so the hens could move in, I haven't had the chance to post any updates.  Here are a few shots of the last few details. A view from our second floor sunroom shows the West side siding installed, and one of the windows sitting inside it before it was installed.

I made the nest box out of the siding material, with a 3/4" plywood lid roofed with some left-over cedar shingles.  The lid is quite heavy, which I imagine will make it more predator proof.  There is one divider in the middle making two boxes 14 x 14 x 14" high at the back and 18" high at the front.

 The windows were removed from my house when we got new windows, and are installed with some galvanized strap hinges at the top, which will later be covered up with molding

  You can see behind the coop the run is now installed.  It's made with pressure treated 8 foot 4x4's in two feet of concrete.  There is 1/2" hardware cloth buried 6 inches deep and 12" out leaving about 32" above ground.  There is 2x4" welded wire fencing from the ground up to the top rail which is pressure treated 2x4's.  The top is covered with black polyethylene deer fencing.  There is a 3 foot wide gate (just visible in the next picture) so I can get in and out with a wheel barrow.  I plan on putting my compost in the run for the chickens to pick through and eat insects and worms that it attracts, and also add their manure to it.

The soffits are made of reclaimed pallet decking boards, and will be left unpainted because they will never receive direct rain water, and I like the look of the wood.  The paint scheme is from Sherwin-Williams from their Woodscapes line; it's called "woodcutter's cabin".  

Here are the chickens when I first opened the door to let them out into the run.  They're 9 weeks old, and have been living in the coop for 1 1/2 weeks.

They loved it outside, and immediately began eating the barley, oats and wheat I planted for them.

Chick(en)s first time outside

I brought the chickens outside last Sunday for a taste of fresh air and the opportunity to scratch and peck a little.  The Speckled Sussex was the most comfortable scratching around, but the others just stood there looking a little shell-shocked for a while. Clockwise from top left they are: Freckles (Speckled Sussex) Ahsoka (Golden Laced Wyandotte) Lucy (Golden Buff) and B'Ellana (Barred Plymouth Rock)

Coop siding

The coop is gradually getting closed in; last Saturday I put the siding up on three sides. This took my Dad and I about 5 1/2 hours including a trip to HD to get the siding.  It took longer than I expected, but we also cleaned out half of my garage to make space for painting. I used T 1-11, which is an exterior grade plywood with a textured surface and vertical grooves to make it look like barn siding.  I cut the overall size and then applied one coat of Sherwin Williams Woodscapes, a semi-transparent colored polyurethane sealant that allows the woodgrain to show through.

 The siding on the gable end is left open at the top triangle, where the opening is covered with 1/2" hardware cloth, and will have a hinged door that could be closed in really windy, cold weather if necessary.  The two long sides are also open at the top 6 inches, which is not visible due to the overhanging eaves, but should provide plenty of fresh air for the chickens.

  The next day, I cut out the window and nest box openings with a sawzall. I then applied the polyurethane sealant to the cut edges to protect them in case they get wet.  This took about 1 hour. The next step will be installing the window and door frames and trim.

The Hens won't get wet

...So I won't have mad hens.

I finished the roof of the chicken coop last weekend.  Earlier in the week I installed the fascia boards and the plywood sheathing.  On Saturday I nailed up all the trim on the gable ends, installed drip-edge, tar paper, and shingles.  That job took about 4 1/2 hours with a helper. Much of the time he was just standing around and entertaining my 5 year old, which was a big help, but having him there to hand me shingles or cut ridge caps also saved me climbing up and down the ladder all day.

They say you need one bale of shingles for each 4x8 foot section of roofing, and my roof used two 4x8 sheets of plywood; but I bought opened bales with some damaged shingles (for 40% off).  I only had 5 shingles left, so I'm glad I bought three bales instead of two.

I'm very happy with how it turned out.  My two summers of roofing work paid off!  I might eventually install gutters and a rain barrel, but I'll wait on that until everything else is done.  The clock is ticking and the chicks are growing rapidly, so I need  to get their home ready for them.

Roof framing

This past weekend I worked alone, and although I completed the work I had planned, there were some tense moments and frustration that could have been avoided with a helper.  Next time I'll call a friend.  I built one side of the roof framing on the ground and then lifted it up to nail it in place.  That was very difficult alone, and would not recommend it. The next side I did in segments.  Here are the details:

The West gable end has an overhang of 12" to provide weather protection for the door (facing you in the picture below).
The eaves overhang 16" in a straight line which is about 12"horizontally out from the wall.

The East gable end (on the right in the picture below) is flush with the wall to allow the run fencing to attach to the wall.  There is a small overhang at the very top to keep rain out what will be a triangular vent, this will be above the top of the run.

Instead of cutting out notches on the rafters to rest on the top plate, I made little triangles to transfer the load onto the wall.  I had no choice because of how the rafters sit on the gables, but I feel better with no notches since the rafters are only 2x4's and there is a large overhang.

Coop framing

Last weekend I once again had the pleasure of working with my Dad on the chicken coop.  We made great progress, and like the previous week, completed everything I hoped we would, which in my experience, rarely happens.  We finished the remaining three walls, and the outline of the two gable ends. The South wall (on the right in the picture) has two rough openings for windows, and the West wall (on the left) has a rough opening for a person door.  The chicken door will be cut out of the siding on the back and finished with trim boards.  I didn't bother framing out the opening.

I don't know the terminology for the way I framed the gables, but I opted to do that instead of continuing the studs all the way up to the roof line, mainly because it was easier, and this way I will have something to nail the siding boards to along the top edge.  I had been planning to make the roof a 10/12 pitch, but even with my engineer Dad, we could not figure out how to cut the angles correctly and gave up.  The 12/12 pitch was much easier to cut with a 45 degree angle on both ends!  And the bonus is that I have more head room inside.

Last night I cut out the ridge board and rafters which will rest on top of the gable ends.  I won't make notches in the rafters since they will sit on the outside corner of the wall top plate.  I will cut little right triangles off the ends of a 2x4 to go between the top plate and the rafter.  Pictures to follow.

Now here are the little puff balls that will eventually inhabit this structure.  They are only 1 day old here.

Chicken coop foundation

This weekend I began building my chicken coop.  I've been researching features and designs all winter, drawing sketches, making minor changes and pondering details of construction.  Last week I had a hearing at the Planning Commission of my city and had my application approved to keep up to four hens.  So in spite of the muddy backyard, I dug the foundations and started building.  Here are the basics of my plan.

1. I will have four hens
2. I decided on the advice of Harvey Ussery in his book "Small Scale Poultry Flock" to build at least 5 square feet of floor space per bird in the coop. I want a little extra space for feed storage, so I made the footprint 4'x6'
3. I want to be able to stand up inside, but not make it so tall as to appear awkwardly tall and skinny, so the wall height will be just under 5' with a gable roof of 6'4" at the peak. I prefer a gable roof instead of a shed roof because I feel the downward sloping eaves will provide better protection from wind and rain, and I want to have ventilation slots under the eaves and on each gable end.
4. There will be an attached run 8'x10' which is double the recommended minimum of 10 square feet per bird.
5. I decided on an "on grade" foundation, using a solid concrete block at each corner set on a 4-6" deep bed of pea gravel.  Here's a great video explaining how to do it; click on "how to build a block foundation for a shed"

Here's a photo sequence of my foundation work.  This took me 3 1/2 hours.

Build the floor joist frame, square up and lay in position

 Lay a concrete block inside each corner to mark the positions

 Move the frame out of the way

 Dig holes a little bigger than each block down to clay/rocky soil

Fill each hole with pea gravel

 Set the blocks and level them by adding or removing gravel

 Set the frame in place, recheck level and measure from corner to corner to square up the frame.  Nail a diagonal board temporarily to keep it square.

 Add floor joists.  The wacky colors and sizes are because I am using as much reclaimed lumber as possible.  I did purchase the pressure treated joists, block and gravel, but the rest of the framing lumber is salvaged from a building that was being gutted.

 Nail down the plywood floor.

The next day my Dad came over and helped me build the first wall.  It was a big help when nailing the studs together and having another person to think about dimensions and measurements (someone who is much better at these things than I am.) It took two of us 2 hours.  The opening in the middle of the wall is for the nest boxes.  Stay tuned for another post next weekend when I hope to put up more walls.