Coop progress at last!!!
After weeks of rain and very little coop construction, we had a productive weekend. At long last, the coops is taking shape. The coop, itself, is now well passed the half-way point. I'm very optimistic that it will be finished and ready for its tenants by next weekend. Woohoo!!
It took Steve hours to finish the framing on Saturday. We awoke to rain, which really put a damper on things (no pun intended), but Steve rallied during the few rainless hours of the day to get this much done. He decided to add extra support to the floor. His progress was greatly hampered by his drill battery dying.
Steve bought thicker plywood for the floor, figuring we'd have at least 14 chickens weighing an average of eight pounds each jumping around on it. He got it laid in place, but the notching would have to wait. More rain came in and the rest of Saturday was lost to it.
Sunday lived up to its name. It was sunny all afternoon. The morning was overcast, but devoid of rain, so we got a lot done on the coop. The floor was in place by lunch time.
We had vinyl tiles left over from redoing the guest bath floor a couple of years ago, so we used them in the coop. A vinyl floor will make clean-up a bit easier - or so I've been told.
The coop will have two runs. One, what I call the under run, is directly beneath the coop. That will be the first run we construct. This is the access port to it. We're rigging a trapdoor that will give the birds access to the run.
After a break for lunch, we headed to town to buy supplies for the next stage of coop construction - the walls. Here's the Jeep loaded with our conquest.
It took a bit of team work (and my back still isn't very happy with me), but we got the plywood in place. Steve is busy getting the first wall done. He caulked along the plywood where it met the frame, so we'd have a bit of a barrier against bugs and rain. When everything's done, we're going to fill all the gaps with expanding insulating foam to further stave off said bugs and weather.
Steve gets the second wall in place.
Even though it was getting late, Steve was so jazzed by his progress that he opted to get one more wall in place before calling it a day. It was 8:30 before he came inside.
Here's Onslo, looking very much the handsome cockerel. His comb is gorgeous and his wattles are coming in nicely. He's a very proud boy. I made it a point to hold him the other day, because the last thing I want is a human-hating rooster. He loves having his neck scratched. Ever since then, he's one of the first to run to me and jump out of the cage when I open it. It's quite cute.
And here's Pascua. She probably won't get a comb (she's taking after her Ameraucana heritage), so she looks more like a raptor than a chicken. She's the smallest of the bunch. Even the Phoenix babies are getting bigger than she is. But she's not low-chicken on the totem pole. She's a feisty little thing and isn't above jumping over Onslo's head to get where she wants to go.
So that's our coop progress. We're installing a galvanized roof next weekend. Steve's cutting an access door on the front of the coop for me to get food, water, bedding, and birds into the coop. And we're getting the trap door beneath in place. We're also installing plenty of vents and a fan, so there's air flow. My babies are used to air conditioning, after all. If the weather holds and we get that all done, then the birds will move out to their new home Sunday. They won't have use of the run, yet, but they'll still have so much more room than they have now, I think they'll be loving the new digs.
It took Steve hours to finish the framing on Saturday. We awoke to rain, which really put a damper on things (no pun intended), but Steve rallied during the few rainless hours of the day to get this much done. He decided to add extra support to the floor. His progress was greatly hampered by his drill battery dying.
Steve bought thicker plywood for the floor, figuring we'd have at least 14 chickens weighing an average of eight pounds each jumping around on it. He got it laid in place, but the notching would have to wait. More rain came in and the rest of Saturday was lost to it.
Sunday lived up to its name. It was sunny all afternoon. The morning was overcast, but devoid of rain, so we got a lot done on the coop. The floor was in place by lunch time.
We had vinyl tiles left over from redoing the guest bath floor a couple of years ago, so we used them in the coop. A vinyl floor will make clean-up a bit easier - or so I've been told.
The coop will have two runs. One, what I call the under run, is directly beneath the coop. That will be the first run we construct. This is the access port to it. We're rigging a trapdoor that will give the birds access to the run.
After a break for lunch, we headed to town to buy supplies for the next stage of coop construction - the walls. Here's the Jeep loaded with our conquest.
It took a bit of team work (and my back still isn't very happy with me), but we got the plywood in place. Steve is busy getting the first wall done. He caulked along the plywood where it met the frame, so we'd have a bit of a barrier against bugs and rain. When everything's done, we're going to fill all the gaps with expanding insulating foam to further stave off said bugs and weather.
Steve gets the second wall in place.
Even though it was getting late, Steve was so jazzed by his progress that he opted to get one more wall in place before calling it a day. It was 8:30 before he came inside.
Here's Onslo, looking very much the handsome cockerel. His comb is gorgeous and his wattles are coming in nicely. He's a very proud boy. I made it a point to hold him the other day, because the last thing I want is a human-hating rooster. He loves having his neck scratched. Ever since then, he's one of the first to run to me and jump out of the cage when I open it. It's quite cute.
And here's Pascua. She probably won't get a comb (she's taking after her Ameraucana heritage), so she looks more like a raptor than a chicken. She's the smallest of the bunch. Even the Phoenix babies are getting bigger than she is. But she's not low-chicken on the totem pole. She's a feisty little thing and isn't above jumping over Onslo's head to get where she wants to go.So that's our coop progress. We're installing a galvanized roof next weekend. Steve's cutting an access door on the front of the coop for me to get food, water, bedding, and birds into the coop. And we're getting the trap door beneath in place. We're also installing plenty of vents and a fan, so there's air flow. My babies are used to air conditioning, after all. If the weather holds and we get that all done, then the birds will move out to their new home Sunday. They won't have use of the run, yet, but they'll still have so much more room than they have now, I think they'll be loving the new digs.
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