Coop Construction begins

Well, we've officially begun construction on our chicken coop. Below you can see the shed we are using. You can see that it was full of things that had to be stored somewhere else. My DH cleaned it out last weekend to prepare it for our renovation.



Here it is all cleaned out. It is approximately 8 feet wide by about 10 feet deep. However, we are going to put a wall up in the back to make it a little smaller so it will be about 8X8 when finished which will be plenty of room for 5 hens.



Earlier in the week we borrowed my dad's truck to go to Home Depot for some lumber. I felt totally cool shopping on the lumberyard side of HD and hauling our big stash of wood in one of those carts that holds the wood upright. Below you can see our materials.



Yesterday afternoon we framed in a new floor using 2X6s. We just laid it right on top of the existing floor. The floor was kind of soft and rotted out in some areas. By raising it up we are hopefully making it more predator proof in addition to providing a nice solid surface for our chickens' new home. Here is what it looked like framed in. In hindsight we wish we had added a 3rd floor joist, but I think it will be okay.



And here is what it looks like with the new floor in. We also added some wall supports under the existing shelf in the back. We will make a wall below the shelf and keep the shelf for storage. We used 5/8 inch OSB (I would call it particle board, but apparently it has a fancier name) for the flooring.

You can also see in the above photo that we removed the doors that were previously on the shed. We will put in a new frame using 2X4s. As you are facing the shed as shown in the photo, half of the new doorway will be a "people door" and the other half will be walled in with a chicken door in it. We are planning (as of now) to build the chicken run right off the front of the house.

The highlights of the building experience for me so far are: #1: Doing a project with my husband. I LOVE it that we are working on this together. We don't really have any hobbies in common so it's really special to me to do this with him. We got along really well when we were doing the work yesterday. We both have good ideas and make a good team. #2: Using my husband's new circular saw that he got as an early Father's Day present. I totally felt like Amy Wynn on Trading Spaces (although she has a fancier saw). #3: My dad being there while we were working. My dad is an awesome woodworker. It was great to have him on site with us while we did our work yesterday.

So............our next step will be to add Styrofoam insulation to the walls and then to add another OSB wall over the existing studs. We will do the same to the ceiling. In the midst of all that we have to cut a window opening in each side wall and trim those out. They will be covered with hardware cloth on the inside and will be latched open on the outside for ventilation in the warm months. In the winter we will cover them with Plexiglass. Stay tuned for future construction posts as our coop takes shape.