[NectarNook]

Original blog. This is my own content.

Well, after a hard day of working nearly non-stop, we now have four walls and two windows in the coop. Wanna see? I knew you would.

Our coop fit nicely in the back of our truck. But it won’t stay this small for long…

It starts! One wall nailed together and ready to get squared.

The first wall is up!

Second wall goes up, and the squaring process continues.

Third wall complete. Just one more and it’ll really start coming together.

We didn’t have the best area for building the walls, but we made it work.

At the end of the day – four walls and two windows. Not too shabby.

Now that all you jpegaholics are satisfied, I’ll delve into the details of our work site transformation. It all started a couple weeks ago when I decided I didn’t have nearly enough work to do. (This is where people who know me will laugh because they know all about my volunteering and dinner hosting and triple-picnic planning.) So I paced out the rough edges of a chicken coop and run. My pacing gave me a run that was about two inches off of square – good stuff. I dug each post hole two feet deep, except in two cases where I hit ginormous rocks about twenty inches down. I concreted and tamped the posts in, making sure to check for level often.

With the fence posts in, I started going nuts in Google Sketchup. For those of you who are unfamiliar, it’s an amazing program that (with a few minutes spent watching tutorials on YouTube) allows you to draw any three dimensional object in as much detail as you are willing to put into it. I soon had the basic outline of what I wanted. I’ll admit, I’m not very fast with this program yet, but I have the basics. I forwarded it to my husband, who coincidentally also didn’t have nearly enough work to do. Insert laughs.

He extrapolated on my basic outline, taking away a ton of excess lumber because a building as utilitarian as a chicken coop obviously doesn’t need studs sixteen inches on center when two feet works just fine. He also cut out the double top plate and headers from the windows and doors. I had build the thing up like a house – it was overkill. So our new, simplified plan used about half the lumber.

While I was waiting on the plans, I dug out the foundation. A foundation, you ask? For a chicken coop? Yes. We have a healthy population of mountain lions, bears, wolves, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, and other critters who would probably love to dine for free on our lovely livestock. Due to previous experience with losing chickens to predators, we decided that it would be in our best interest to make this coop as predator-proof as we possibly could. Predator problem number one is digging. What better way to thwart a digger of any size than to pour four-inch thick concrete walls two feet deep around the entire perimeter of the coop?

My husband came home on his three week R&R from Afghanistan just after I finished digging the foundation. He and his grandpa started building the forms, then I helped him finish the forms. This is where our novice-ness shines. We knew concrete was a pourable substance, and that we would have to contain it, but we had no idea how thick and HEAVY concrete is. Our forms were pretty weak since they were all made with one-by’s. Lesson learned. Don’t skimp on the forms! Oh well. They worked… just not as well as we had hoped.

With the forms complete, we priced out concrete. A 60# bag around here runs about $3.65. Sixty bags are needed for one yard. We calculated that we would need at least two yards for this project since our foundation was 8′x18′ in dimension, 4″ thick, and 2′ deep. That’s 120 bags of concrete, or about $438. To rent a mixer would have been $76 per day, and mixing up that many bags of concrete would have taken us at least a couple days. Ouch. Then we stop at a local concrete company and inquire about a truck making a delivery. Lo and behold, they have a minimum of one yard, and they charged just $89 per yard delivered. Yahoo! So much better! Within an hour of ordering, the very competent and experienced driver showed up, smirked at our wimpy forms, and proceeded to pour concrete from a big ass chute into our little four inches of exposed space all around the coop. He hardly spilled any, and it was all said and done within a half hour. Plus we had enough extra left over to fill two wheel barrows!

Extra? That means more work, doesn’t it? Yep. But fun work. While my husband floated (ran a smooth edge along the top of the forms to make them uniform and level and oh so pretty) the concrete for the coop foundation, I trundled these two extremely heavy wheel barrows over to our fire pit and got busy. My hands were stained black for days afterward, but it was so worth it.

You’ll notice the pile of rocks on the left. That was what was left over after I removed every dry-stacked stone and rearranged them using the leftover concrete. It looks so nice and uniform now, and I like that I can actually step on the edge or set a hot pan down without worrying about the rocks tumbling me or the pot into the hot fire. Eventually, I’ll build up a spit that goes across all six feet of the pit so we can roast an entire goat if we should choose to. I will also add on a flat corner or two with flat fire-brick bottoms that clean out into the pit for dutch oven cooking. Lately when I use the dutch ovens I have to push the fire over to one side so I can lower my pot down onto some prepared coals in the corner. What a pain in the buns.

Anyway, back to the coop. So we got it poured and floated, then while it was still setting up my husband went around and stuck in J-hooks. They’re these J-shaped bolts that have their screw-end sticking straight up out of the concrete so that walls can be securely fastened down to the foundation. The concrete set up pretty fast. Within a half hour, we couldn’t push our fingers into the surface. At this point, we then took a four day break to get sun burned and completely tired while circulating between several different water parks in Wisconsin Dells. All work and no play, you know.

When we got back, my husband and our oldest son immediately set to breaking apart the forms. The forms that had bulged ever so slightly in a few places and been buried in extra concrete in others. We weren’t able to recover all of the forms. Oh well. Like I said – lesson learned. Our carefully measured foundation wasn’t so perfectly square and straight anymore, so we had to play around a bit to find centers and right angles. We started by lining up a pressure-treated 2×4 on the top of the J-hooks. Once we had it lined up as straight as we could, we pounded it with a hammer to make indents, drilled out the indents, then popped it onto the foundation. Voila! We now had an 18′x8′ start.

The walls went together pretty easily. We laid them out on our no-so-level gravel parking area, nailed them together, squared them with a panel of siding, then propped them up one by one and tightened the nuts and washers onto the J-hooks. As we got more walls up, we checked for level and pounded them together with nails. Many nails. Not all of which were completely straight. If we actually had close neighbors, they might have wondered what was up with all of the guttural growls and howls of frustration. We’re going to need a strong magnet to find all the curly-cue nails we threw to the ground in anger.

So that was it for our progress so far. I was surprised at how quickly it all came together. We will be going back up there tomorrow to get the roof on, finish the siding, and have an informal dinner party with some friends.

Yikes. And we still need to unload a trailer full of wood. The first of at least five trailer loads that we just purchased from some relatives who are moving out of state. Who can say no to three years worth of wood? The work never stops for this family…

See y’all tomorrow!

 

[NectarNook]

And a little teaser from today's progress...

Tomorrow we'll be installing shingles and adding a covered porch!

 

[Rockyriver]

Wow, my chickens would of thought they died and went to chicken little heaven
If they had what you are building.
So far you look like you are relly going all out, keep us posted this gives me incentive
To give an upgrade my chicken coop.

 

[catmando]

wow that is some coop..how many chickens will it take?
do you plan on hot and cold running water,possible commode and/or air conditioning ?
it sounds like a place for you to crash, when you and her get into it..lol...
anyway.. great job keep us informed...

 

[KimJohnJr]

When is the A/C being installed?

 

[NectarNook]

Yeah, it's a pretty big coop. It's 18'x8', and by the standards I've always kept that means it can comfortably fit 50 birds. But if you also take into account that we are building it with full 8' walls and a peak of 10', we have lots of upward room as well. I'm estimating we could keep more than 100 birds at a time without the birds getting too ornery with each other. Not that I plan on having that many. I think at any given time we'll have around 50, depending on what we cull and when new birds hatch. We eat a lot of chicken.

This time around I'm going with a pure flock so that I can replenish my stock without buying new chicks every year. I'm still torn between Ameraucanas, which lay bluish-green eggs that would probably go over well for egg sales but have small body size, and Black Jersey Giants, which lay larger eggs in smaller quantities but make up for it with their size at slaughter time. I have already contacted both breeder associations and found breeders near me. Late this fall I'll make a decision and start visiting farms to inspect their stock. I've ordered from Cackle Hatchery and Murray McMurray before, and while I was happy with what I got for the most part, it was quite the grab bag and not all of the birds had top quality confirmation and breed characteristics. I would like to be a bit more picky, especially if it means I can register to breed and sell pure bred stock from a known line. Chicken snob? Maybe. This has been a long time coming, and I'm so excited!

For those of you who are curious, this entire project came to a total just under $1000. We used mostly new materials.

We're taking a break from working on it today. Going to get family pictures taken before my hubby has to go back to Afghanistan on Saturday. We'll pick it up again tomorrow.

 

[HandLoad]

We're not as cold as you are here in WA State, but we have Buff Orpingtons, and they make (Mostly) BIIG Eggs, and are also for Meat - they would be little small compared to the Mutants they sell at the markets, but plenty big enough.

My Girls (Eight) stayed on the roof of their House for all Winter - coldest we got this year was around 20, and that only for a few days. I selected the Buffs because they were supposed to thrive in temps as low as 20 degrees, and because they are Dual Use Birds. For their First Autumn, they were making right at an Egg a Day per Bird, but they have slowed this spring and summer to about .6 eggs per bird, per Day.

You sure are ambitious keeping 50 Birds!!!

Thank Your Husband for His Service - My Daughter just got back from the Sandbox.

Reading your Thread with Interest.

Your Coop is gonna Be a Palace!

 

[NectarNook]

Thanks, HandLoad.

I actually really like Buff Orpingtons. Some of my friendliest roosters have been from that breed. I think if either the Ameraucanas or Jersey Giants don't work out, Buffs will be my fallback birds. I once had a Buff roo named Henry whom everyone dubbed the WalMart Greeter. It didn't matter who came to the house, he'd hop up in their lap and curl up like a cat, waiting to be petted. He ended up flattened on the road because he took a fancy to greeting passing cars. Poor thing. Good birds, though.

I'm still trying to decide on a name for the coop so I can start painting up a sign or two this winter. I'm sort of partial to "The Chook Nook" or "The Chick Inn", though with the size I'm starting to lean toward the inn. It's definitely beyond a nook! If anyone has other ideas, I'm open to them.

 

[Donfini]

The roasters roost

 

[TitanRX8]

I like the Easter Egg hens, but the roosters are meaner than snakes...at least the ones I had. All of those boys went to freezer camp.

If you are looking for good natured chickens then I would recommend you to look at the New Hampshire or Partridge Rock. I have both and the roosters are real calm and the hens are good layers. The New Hampshire rooster gets pretty large if you are looking for dual purpose. The Partridge Rock is not as large, but still a nice sized bird.
The Partridge Rock hens I have have gone broody on me if you are wanting to hatch babies. The New Hampshire hens do not go broody on me, but the ones I have lay some pretty dark brown eggs.

 

[Xanthro]

I know you aren't done yet, but you don't have enough ventilation for 50 birds.

50 birds will create a large amount of heat and moisture at night, and this requires a large amount of ventilation. While I live in a hotter area than you, my small coop which is 4x8 has more ventilation than your 8x18.

Heat kills chickens far faster than cold. At least have the gable ends covered in hardware cloth for more ventilation.

Since you have predator problems, make sure your run is safe as well. The easiest way is to bury hardware cloth two feet down and at least two feet out, all around the run. The hardware cloth is attached to the bottom of the run fence.

Remember, chicken wire keeps chickens in, but doesn't keep predators out. You'll need hardware cloth for that.

BTW, not all the Easter Eggers will lay a blue or greenish egg. Some will just be a light brown. Some people are disappointed when they get the light brown egg. Naturally, it will always be a blue egg or brown egg from the same bird. It's not as if a hen will sometimes lay a brown egg.

It is a very beautiful coop. I wish I was allowed one large enough to walk in like that.

 

[NectarNook]

Thanks, Xanthro. I have been wondering what I could do to increase that, actually. There are two windows and two doors. I'll be covering each window in hardware cloth instead of screen, and I had also planned to make two "screen" doors out of hardware cloth and 2x4's. The last coop we had was about 28'x12' and had an entire end wall of screen. That worked out very well for us. Maybe I'll have to play with the spaces between the studs in the end. Or remove some of the blocking from between the roof joists and top plate and staple in some hardware cloth up there. Food for thought.

I was planning on burying chicken wire 1-2' deep around the perimeter of the run from about 3' above the ground for keeping smaller chicks in and predators out. I've never had anything successfully break through chicken wire, but then again I've never been up against bears either. I'll definitely look into hardware cloth. For the top of the run, I was thinking of simple bird netting held up by tall, cemented-in poles down the center. I figure that should discourage hawks and eagles.

I love the constructive criticism here. That's one reason I posted this, because I am well aware that I don't know everything. Thanks for the thoughtful responses, everyone!

Yesterday we got all the roof sheathing up and the holes dug for the covered porch. We didn't have time for much else because we had spent the morning doing another wood run.

I drove my husband to the airport in Green Bay today, where he caught a flight out of the country again. Three weeks with him wasn't long enough. Hopefully when he comes back next April, he'll be back for good. We'll see.

This next week is supposed to be stormy and yucky, but I'm going to try to get the posts for the covered porch cemented in. I will also try to get the tar paper on the roof, and maybe start shingling it as well. My dad said he would come out and help next weekend if I need it, but I'd like to work on it before then if the weather allows. Another we'll see, I guess. If it's too bad outside, I might just spend my time stacking wood. I have a few cords to tackle.

Progress will be slow from this point, but I'll keep y'all updated. Thanks for reading.

 

[mattmuttsmith]

This is great. I really admire your work here. Please keep the update and pics coming.

 

[NectarNook]

Yesterday I was able to go up to the land and work on the coop a little. It took me about an hour and a half to dig out the three 3'-deep holes for the posts that will hold up the porch roof on the coop. Yeah... that's right. Our coop will have a covered porch.

I am using some wonky, debarked cedar posts. It was fun trying to get them to look straight. No... not really. It was actually pretty frustrating. I ended up having to stand back and hold the level up in the air because of all the knots and twists in the wood. After bracing each post several ways due to the high winds, I mixed up three bags of concrete and spread it evenly in each hole. I figured on giving them at least 24 hours to set up completely, so once that was done I got busy mowing.

Since I didn't have much to do up at the land today, we went strawberry picking at a local you-pick-'em. I picked just over 61 pounds of berries, then proceeded to spend the ENTIRE day processing them. I quit once I hit 60 pints of jam, but I still have about 20 pounds cleaned, cut, and ready to do something with. For now, they're in a cooler on ice. Maybe I'll get to them on Thursday.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the covered porch framed and sheathed. Then maybe I can tack up the tar paper in preparation for shingling on Friday.

Other big news (though unrelated to the chicken coop) - the builder for our house finally called and said he wants to meet to set elevation and go over the final details! Woohoo! I'm meeting with him tomorrow. He wants to have the foundation dug and footers poured before the 4th of July. So... I'll probably have to start another thread for the house. EXCITED! It's all finally starting to come together. I just wish my husband could have been here to see something on the house.

 

[NectarNook]

A picture I took while I was working today. Yeah, I'm going to have to get creative with the trim to cover our gaff with the siding by the window. No worries - I have a plan.

If tomorrow is nice I'll trim up the edges and start on sheathing. Man, this stuff takes a long time when one is working alone with two children underfoot. And entertaining company. And meeting with a builder for the house. And... there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Slowly but surely.

 

[NectarNook]

More progress! Today I had a little help from my dad. Four hands are SO much better than two for some of this work, especially for nailing up really long boards and working on steep inclines.

First thing today was to get the sheathing done over the porch area.

Then we added tar paper, fascia and drip edges. It's not a perfect building by any means, so we had to get creative with some of the cuts. It works.

Finally... we started on shingles. I've never shingled before, so I tackled this alone while my dad made cuts for me and wrestled with a tricky bit of fascia on the back. After three hours of crouching and nailing, this is what I have to show for myself.

Yes... the beautiful picnic table my husband made while he was home has been turned into a work surface. A spare piece of OSB acts as the cutting station for shingles while the area underneath the covered porch was turned into a coloring station by my boys. It's such a nice table. Maybe someday I'll post pictures of it and give y'all a link to the plans my husband found online. He whipped up two of them in just a couple hours for about $60 each. Much sturdier and heavier than anything you could buy in a store.

Anyway, that was it. Oh! Except for a bit of excitement we had while moving boards around. My dad jumped and shouted, "What was that?!" He's got this fear of snakes, you see, so anything large and sinuous MUST be a snake. Turns out, it was a little family of five lined skinks. I caught one of the juveniles and put it in my boys' tiny terrarium. Maybe tomorrow I'll catch more.

This isn't a photo I took, but it's close to what we found. They took off in every direction and were difficult to follow through the grass. Their tails are just gorgeous - shiny and bright blue. This picture doesn't really do credit to how luminous they are.

So that was today. Tomorrow we hope to spend all day shingling. It'll be nice to have the roof done. In my excitement, I stopped at Menard's today and picked up some paint swatches. The coop will be the same finish as the house, so whatever I decide on now will be going on the finished house a few months from now.

 

[Xanthro]

Thanks, Xanthro. I have been wondering what I could do to increase that, actually. There are two windows and two doors. I'll be covering each window in hardware cloth instead of screen, and I had also planned to make two "screen" doors out of hardware cloth and 2x4's. The last coop we had was about 28'x12' and had an entire end wall of screen. That worked out very well for us. Maybe I'll have to play with the spaces between the studs in the end. Or remove some of the blocking from between the roof joists and top plate and staple in some hardware cloth up there. Food for thought.

If you aren't getting 50 birds right away, do as you said and put hardware cloth on the eves. Then latter build a gable or copula just for ventilation.

I was planning on burying chicken wire 1-2' deep around the perimeter of the run from about 3' above the ground for keeping smaller chicks in and predators out. I've never had anything successfully break through chicken wire, but then again I've never been up against bears either. I'll definitely look into hardware cloth. For the top of the run, I was thinking of simple bird netting held up by tall, cemented-in poles down the center. I figure that should discourage hawks and eagles.

Go with the hardware cloth underground. Chicken wire is not sufficient, raccoons will dig through the chicken wire. Can't really build anything to keep out a bear.
I've found that bird netting warps and creates gaps with time, so now I use chicken wire on top. Racoons can climb up and get through the chicken wire, but my girls are locked up in their raised coop at night. I'm mostly worried about hawks. Again, it can get very hot here, so you might not have any issues with bird netting, and it's much easier to use. I zip tied the pieces together to create seals and it held up pretty well for the first two years.

Another trick is to have shade cloth in areas where you can pull it over and create more shaded areas when it gets too sunny.

It's amazing how fast your can lose all your birds in a heat wave. I've lost 90% in 2 hours before.

There are chicken specific sites out there, but if you ever have any questions on chickens, feel free to send me a private message. If I don't know the answer, I can at least point you to a source that will.

 

[NectarNook]

Very good advice, Xanthro. I will have to pick up hardware cloth when I go to town to pick up another pack of shingles. Yep. I ran out. We got both sides done all the way to the top, then a little over half the ridge done before the last one was used.

That's what it looked like at the end of today. I'm taking a break to run to Michigan to help my dad clean up his house a bit tomorrow. When I get back on Monday I'll finish the ridge.

This is where I intend to put hardware cloth to increase air flow. I will also leave 2-4 of the stud gaps open with hardware cloth covering them. I still need to finish this area with some more support studs and a layer of siding to make the top come flush with the bottom.

Since we were over halfway, I decided it was time to put up our weather vane. It works really well, but I might adjust the NESW part downward since it looks crowded as it is. I'll do that when I finish the ridge next week.

Now that the roof is done, it's time for me to start planning out the doors and nesting box. I have lots of scrap wood for each. Expect another installment here soon...

 

[NectarNook]

Another trick is to have shade cloth in areas where you can pull it over and create more shaded areas when it gets too sunny.

It's amazing how fast your can lose all your birds in a heat wave. I've lost 90% in 2 hours before.

Yikes! I will remember that. I'm assuming you mean the shade cloth gardeners use on sensitive plants, right?

The most birds we lost at one time was 6. I had no idea where the birds were disappearing to until my husband just happened to walk past an old concrete watering trough for the previous tenants' cattle. Rain had filled it and there were 6 chicken corpses floating in it. Yuck! A bit of work with a jackhammer near the bottom edge fixed that quickly. It's amazing how sensitive and stupid chickens can be, isn't it?

 

[Xanthro]

Yikes! I will remember that. I'm assuming you mean the shade cloth gardeners use on sensitive plants, right?

The most birds we lost at one time was 6. I had no idea where the birds were disappearing to until my husband just happened to walk past an old concrete watering trough for the previous tenants' cattle. Rain had filled it and there were 6 chicken corpses floating in it. Yuck! A bit of work with a jackhammer near the bottom edge fixed that quickly. It's amazing how sensitive and stupid chickens can be, isn't it?

BTW, your coop is amazing. I'm quite envious.

Yes, the shade cloth can be of the type for sensitive plants, or for shading porches. Really, you just need something to provide shade during really hot weather and sun.

It can be frightening how fast you can lose an entire flock. We had a heat wave where it was 58 in the morning when I left to take my wife to the airport, when I got back a couple of hours later, it was 113 and 26 of 28 birds had died. Just simply way to hot too fast, and I didn't expect that much of a temp swing.

Unfortunately, I lose a bird or two every year to something. Egg bound, get ill, or just apparently die for no discernible reason. Though the two that survived out of the 28 are still with me, and one is my favorite so that's always good.

I really enjoy watching them and having them eat out of my hand. The eggs are really just a side benefit.

I can't wait to see your finished coop!