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.