Finally! We are FINISHED. :) 11 days of work, last 5 in the freezing cold & rain. My only help was a 13 yr old & he was great help! Here are the pictures. The ones of you on FB.. there are more pictures there if you want to see them. I put them up for ZZ. :)
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this is my $1 roost... :) the guys at the local Home Depot were very nice about giving us scrap wood.
next pic - looking in the front door
this is the nesting box i made out of scraps left over & a square hay bale
Great job!!! Looks like they have been enjoying the roost already. :)
Eggs!!! Go girls!!!
lol.... no eggs.. not those at least.. those are ceramic eggs. I put them in so they knew where to lay. I haven't taken a pic with real eggs in there yet. yes they were on the roost while we were finishing up. Their favorite is the 2x4 i put around the wall up near the ceiling.
Those sure do look real. I use golf balls. Maybe my pullets won't lay because I have insulted their intelligence with the "dimpled eggs".
o don't worry.. the first morning they kicked these out on the floor. Mom said it was because they were too cold on their rears. it was 28 here. They feel real too. I have on occasion had to look for the $1.33 marks still on the bottom of the egg so that I could figure out which was which... I intend on painting them. Pink, Yellow, Blue.. I'm hoping it will entice my EE's to lay prettier eggs. I found them at Hobby Lobby. Michaels has them on occasion too.. as does Cracker Barrel. :)
Thanks. I'll see if they have them at TSC. They seem to have everything else. LOL
Nice, grey! I love the color. And the amount of light... =0)
If I might make a construction suggestion, though... Turn the 2 x 4s supporting the roof on edge. Flat like that they are going to bow downwards, creating a valley to collect rain and snow, and are not as strong. On edge they are much stronger and less prone to bowing and making a valley.
Also, if I recall MO gets quite a bit of snow. At some point I'd try and put a pitch on the roof... so snow can slide off rather than collect. Even just a few inches will make a big difference. In general, try to avoid flat roofs; they are the devil's own for leaking.
Great use of materials, though. =0) And I'll bet the chickens love it!
Like your coop! Is the material covering the hardware cloth at the top plastic or row cover?
the roof isn't flat bc the building is sitting on a slope.. it drops a foot towards the back. We didn't have a level & its a bit.. crooked. We did the 2x4's flat bc its that way on the other coop & it worked better. The first coop originally had them turned on edge & it created too big of a hole.. & oppossums crawled right in. the other coop up the hill from this one is bigger & they never bowed but we always used treated lumber which is hard as a rock. i just can't use it bc they didn't build the base correctly & animals can crawl right into it.
the material over the hardware cloth is painters plastic floor sheeting, the heaviest you could buy. We tack it all over so that the coop stays a bit warmer in the winter & it keeps the blowing snow & sleet out. next spring doors will be put on that will lift up & latch that will block the rain in summer.
If you put the screws thru the ridge on the corrugated roofing u will get a leak just a slow one you might not see. If you put it thru the trough & use a screw with a rubber washer it will not. Especially if you drop a dollop of clear sealant just under the screw before you screw it in all the way. We tried the first way on the porch bc someone said it would stop leaks. We had to replace everything bc there were so many leaks. When we went back to the original way it never leaked.
Oh, I'm glad to hear it has a slope... however you get it! LOL
Did you run a bead of sealant on each overlap?
Yeah, I tried putting screws in the top of the ridges on a project of mine... what a mess that made of things. I also discovered the drop of sealant with rubber washered screws... perfect!
Treated lumber around here warps and twists so much I hate to use it. And it's not any harder than regular pine/fur, just wetter. =P
Yeah, I liked the "old" treated lumber much better than the stuff available today. It also didn't eat your nails.
our treated isn't pine.. it comes from our mill here, I think its walnut possibly..or oak. it was much harder than pine. We used self drilling screws that were super expensive but they went in very easily. as for the being wetter.. yes it was. it was raining & I could barely hang onto the stuff. i did not run a bead down the seams. I positioned the seams so that I put screws every 6 inches down them. I left it so I can replace a section on my own if we end up with an ice storm or something that busts it.
OMG... local hardwood boards... I'm so envious!
Neat idea with the seams... not that we get many icestorms 'round here. LOL
well last two ice storms we had half of trees come down... i don't care what you've got for a roof.. its going to break with that hitting it. I just need to be able to replace sections on my own, as fast as possible if that happens. Thankfully all trees, limbs & such missed my other coop. it took out the fence & half of my lilac bushes (12 ft tall lilacs....) that were around the coop tho. I need to figure out how to confine them during an ice storm also.. They wouldn't be happy.. but they'd be dry inside the two coops.. i can put water & food in there. I just don't want them wandering during that. We had live wires down from power lines & such last time. I do not need roasted chickens laying in the yard.
I hung up Christmas lights yesterday. :) they chickens thought they were candy. never touched the cords but they insisted on pecking the bulbs. Try hanging lights with chickens hanging off the cord trying to eat the LED bulbs. Its worse than a bunch of toddlers.
o I didn't mention we have 8 ft 2x4's left that I'll push up under the middle rafters standing vertical.. (one end in the ground & one bracing the roof) during an ice storm. That way if a limb comes down it hopefully won't come clear thru the roof.. just break stuff. Idk that I'd ever get chickens again If I had to go pull them out of a coop where the roof came in crushing them.
o & I'd like to buy pieces of Lexicon to put up over the hardware cloth during the winter instead of the plastic sheeting.. so it would be reusable.
bangbang nails... =0)
It's treated with copper these days, not hugely toxic to handle, but it sets up an electrical dialysis sort of chemical ion exchange that eats bangbang nails.
