Door to Run

Once we decided where to put the door, we left off the wire cloth and made the door frame.  We're making this up as we go along so it changes all the time.

The opening


We framed the door, attached the wire, then I realized I hadn't painted it yet, off with the wire, paint then reassemble.



I got carried away with the screws because the looked very industrial chic and I wanted to make a pattern. How many did I waste?  Not sure...

 

Next: building up the threshold and attaching the wirecloth.

The Run

We have begun the secure run. Because we made bigger overhangs which will be enclosed we changed the run adding 12 more feet and eliminating another proposed more open run. A lot of time was spent measuring and spacing the post holes. We put 4x4 every 12' and anchored in concrete. The we built 36" on center 2x4 posts and lifted them into place. Overhead we used 2x4's and joist hangers to nail the roof panels to.

Half the run has wire and under galvanized panel roofing.





2/3 under metal roof, 1/3 clear plastic



It's actually very nice inside the run now. The dust bath is at the end with clear panel roofing.
Hope the Chickens like it!

Overhangs

Overhangs, mini roof, awnings, we need to protect the openings from the elements, mostly torrential rains during the summer. We made the first one over the large door in front. It turned out ok, more support than needed for the flimsy corrugated metal roof. I plan the same for the front and a four foot cover over the two long ventilation cutouts on east and west sides.

After the cutouts were made and covered with cloth, Ken said "what's to stop raccoons and cats climbing up to where the chickens are roosting right behind the wire and terrorizing them?"
He wanted to fence in the four foot overhang for a second level of protection from predators.
So we compromised and made the four foot bump out an 8 foot one and roofed the whole thing on both sides.

That gives us three protected runs now instead of one and Ken feels better about safer chickens.

Wire-cloth installation

The ventilation openings have been covered with wire cloth, stapled and nailed in with more wood trim.  For the base of the shed/coop we are wrapping the wirecloth around the perimeter and screwing the wire into the base of the skid framing. I found these awesome little roofing screws that have the washer and rubber gasket on them already. Perfect! It's hard to work with and bend, but we finally merged to clip it and roll it around the corners.

Chicken Coop Ventilation

What I do know is that it's killer hot and humid down here in zone 9 Florida. Last year was the hottest ever. The coops we looked at had practically no ventilation and in danger of becoming an oven during the day, I cannot imagine a hen laying in those conditions.

Years ago I went to Hommosassa springs. We stayed in cabins that were all screened in but with no air-conditioning. It was very comfortable, of course the springs were bubbling icy water which cooled the surrounding air, but still, it was nice, slight breeze, hearing the wind and insects in the trees, very comforting.

Whats on our side:

• The future coop spot is mostly shaded during the day with the most shade cast in the afternoon from very mature trees.
• It's a relatively open space so air can move freely around it.
• It's mostly green ground cover (weeds) which is cooler than other ground material around here.
• The shed is a good size so hopefully will have more breathing room and interior air movement.

Whats not on our side:

• Humid, stifling, moist  heat.
• Record high temperatures.

I found this article which makes good sense to me by Patandchickens from Ontario: Cut more holes.
Also I found great info on fresh air housing in this little book: Fresh Air Poultry Houses.
It sounded about right to me.  I don't want to waste energy and hardware cloth on mistakes and have to re-panel the whole thing.

So, one square foot ventilation per chicken with a projected flock of 25 to 30 chickens will base my calculations on the number of openings Ken has to cut out.  I have to account for the roosting bar supports taking away space, but I want the northern exposure bigger because its so much cooler.

We cut the the full wall openings yesterday and stapled wire cloth on the openings. We also cut out the peaks of the shed which are the highest points. Now we have four direction ventilation. We screwed wood trim over the cloth to doubly secure it.  I love it inside now, very airy and light. It's coming along nicely, but we keep revising the plan as we go along.








More ventilation November 26th







I closed the door and worked in there the other day, it was nice breezy and comfortable. I will add more cut-outs in Spring when it warms up. Right now I think this is enough until the chickens get bigger and full-feathered.

Chicken Nest Project

Progress of nesting boxes project...

I painted before I did the cut-outs for ventilation. Once that was done it looked horrible from the outside.

This color way is long gone.

SaveSave

Double Fork-lift Day

I'm up at 3 in the morning habitually because if I stir, coop details flood my brain and always some detail I have to research comes up and I have to work it out right then and there. Next morning I flood Ken with all the details, his peaceful newspaper, coffee, breakfast routine is smashed to bits.

I don't know what I would do without graph paper! I've downloaded and printed pages for the coop design and more smaller scale pages for the run designs.

After many revisions we arrived at a plan that would be the most cost effective and least wasteful of materials, using the best value materials instead of different dimension more expensive choices. This saved about 2/3 the cost of the original plan. So we will have a 7' high run instead of 9". We did splurge on a couple super cool materials because they were just so perfect and could save work and time in the long run (we hope).

On halloween afternoon about 4ish we we out and about in the truck heading home to wash up for the   grandkids big trick and treat event (crazy awesome garage transformed into a spook house) When up pops a home-depot 10% off coupon on email. Ends today! Do we have time to get there, get stuff, feed dogs, get dressed and get to haunted house in two hours?

With all we need 10% is a big deal, everything counts.

We get the PVC board, galvanized sheeting (sharp nightmare stuff, perfect for halloween actually) I want to send the guy who helped us get it on the cart three dozen roses.
Screws for the wood, great screws with little washers and rubber pads on them already for the hardware cloth, plastic sheeting for my cute design dormer bump-outs that will shield the ventilation openings, and 12 bags of fast set concrete.

And... a pair of double sueded palm gloves for Ken if he was going to load the stuff right then and there. So that adds gloves, googles, and pulley/hoist guy to the safety budget.

Today, we go to Lowes as we have a 10% coupon and their lumber is less money or the same. I have my legal pad with our materials list so we get to gathering. Everything was easy until we got to the hook and eye to keep the shed/coop from swinging open/shut. (that's another story for another time, can't wait until we get to hinges and closures).

This will be a two trip deal. Our faithful blue truck can only take so much.

We offloaded the first batch then go back for the pallet of 2x4x8's
208 pieces
Scary
Buying it all was scary, watching them trying to load it was scary, the danger involved was scary, so scary in fact, we met some guys who just hung around the watch the drama.

Anyway that's another story too, very well worth telling as Ken and I got into another differing point of view regarding broken trucks insurance, maimed people etc.

Finally, we have the materials, the design vision and if it all goes wrong Ken can blame me because I made the list and the plan. Perfect!
He loves to gloat, he's a gloater.