Coop Construction Part (?): Too many to count

At this point I have lost count of how many days/hours/dollars we have spent building the chicken coop and run. I just know that this has truly been a "chicken summer." We are tentatively planning to move the girls into their new digs (and out of our bathroom!) by next weekend. I hope we can make that deadline. I start teaching again on the 24th and it would be nice to know the chickens are safely exploring their new home instead of crowded in a Rubbermaid tub in my bathroom all day. They spent about 4 hours outside in our dog kennel today while DH and I slaved away on their poultry palace. As you can see from the first photo, DH dug a trench and placed concrete bricks to serve as piers for the chicken run. Since it rained a lot yesterday the ground was soft and easier to dig. He also dug trenches between the blocks because we will bury the wire about a foot below ground level to deter predators from digging under and into our run.







We framed in the three walls using 2X4s.








Then we attached the walls to the coop and to each other. The east wall (right side in the photo below) has an opening where we will put a door which we have yet to build. This side also has 2 more 2X4s nailed to the top to create the height difference we need to build a slightly sloped roof. After we got the walls up I gave the frame 2 coats of paint. The next step will be attaching hardware cloth to the bottom of the walls and poultry wire to the top. The we need to build and hang the door, build the roof, finish the windows...........I think that's it. It still kind of seems like a lot to do but the end is finally in sight. When we are done we will have accomplished a lot and will have a chicken coop to be proud of.







I can't believe I haven't posted in almost a week. The chicken coop is occupying a lot of our time and thoughts right now. It will be nice to have it finished. At the end of the week I enjoyed my last few full days with the boys. We hung out in the pool and on Friday afternoon I took them to the new Disney movie, Ponyo. It was pretty good. The character of Ponyo, is so adorable. It's a very rare treat for us to see a movie in a theater. I pretty much love doing anything with my two sweet boys.