Ready for occupation

I finished the inside except for the sills for the windows. It is painted and has wood pellets down for the floor bedding. I built a three rung roost "ladder" for the monsters to sleep on. I am going to give it one more day for the paint fumes to settle down and then tomorrow is move in day. They won't need a nest box for another five months or so, so that can wait.



I bought the lumber and fence for the run. I will probably start on that tomorrow. I wish Home Depot and the feed store were open tomorrow. I don't need any thing, but the expression on the kids' faces when I tell them we are going is priceless. Surly does not begin to describe them.

Interior walls

I finished the insulation and put up 1/4" plywood sheeting up for inside walls. I also set brick pavers in front of the door to cut down on the dirt and mud. Tomorrow I will paint the walls. Rain is not a factor now that most of the remaining work is inside. Perhaps the chicks can move in on Monday after the paint has had a day to dry.

Insulated

Mostly. I am a wee bit short of insulation, about a half a roll. Math is hard.

The egg door has been bothering me. I made it 3 pieces of shiplap high which meant the hook and eye had to be mounted on the fascia board. It was also too heavy. So I pulled the door, removed a piece of shiplap. The space left by the removed board was replaced with one of two extra pieces of shiplap I had left over from the siding.

Let there be light

I ran 1/2" conduit from the house to the coop and pulled 12 gauge wire. I tied the coop into the 20 amp circuit that has the microwave on it. The coop is not going to pull many amps with just a 60 watt bulb and the deicer on the waterer. I also put the other piece of trim on the front right corner.



My new favorite store is Fleming's Feed in Preston. They have everything that Home Depot does not. Chicken stuff, hardware cloth, all kinds of fencing, and baled straw. They also hatch their own chicks which could come in handy once the roosters in my flock make themselves known.

Chicken Plucker

Here's a neat contraption for de-feathering fowl.

I jacked up the front right corner of the coop and put a 1 inch thick concrete block on top of the cinder block to raise that corner a bit. The cinder block had settled over the past couple of weeks and the coop was a bit off level. I also put the weather vane up.

Shingled

I put the shingles on. Once the windows in the coop should be watertight.

Fascia board

Installed the fascia board and soffit. I also put in the wire mesh between the walls and the rafters inside the coop. The pop door and egg door got the rest of their hardware as well. With the fascia board up, the roof is ready for shingles. Sunny day tomorrow. Yay!

Painted

Two coats of a very blue self priming exterior latex. I cheated and used a Wagner Power Roller. When I get the trim up, I can put on the shingles. It should be watertight soon.

Weather Vane

Found one on the intarwebs, handcrafted in Maine, at East Coast Weathervanes.

Door

I finished the shiplap on the walls and built and installed the door. It did not rain and it supposed to be sunny the rest of the week. That means painting. Shingles after that and then trim.

Roof

Framed in the rafters and put the sheeting on. Doesn't sound like much, but it took all day. Burned a vacation day, but it is supposed to maybe rain tomorrow and I figured a roof was probably a good thing. No shingles yet. Or paint.

More Siding

I got the other long wall sided today and the pop door built and installed as well. I started putting up shiplap on the back wall but I ran out. The kids are here so we went out for Chinese food at a restaurant that happens to be next door to Home Depot. No painting or roofing today. Siding takes longer than it looks like it should. I probably should have bought a nail gun.

First Wall Sided

I got the shiplap up on the first wall today. I also built and installed the egg door on that side. It took slightly longer than I expect, about 6 hours. No rain so far today and tomorrow is supposed to be sunny. I hope to get the other long wall covered and the roof framed tomorrow. I should probably paint the shiplap before I frame the roof. We'll see.

Framed

The walls are framed and installed. I cut the flooring and started painting it today as well. No more construction because it is, wait for it, raining! The weather looks better later in the weekend so I can get the shiplap up, the doors and windows framed, and hopefully get the roof on.

Rain

Surprise! It rained today. No, really.

I went to Niantic and picked up the windows today. Stopped by Home Depot (again Surprise!) on the way home and got some paint and lumber to frame in the windows and to build the doors.

I got home too late for any construction, but I masked the windows and put the first coat of paint on them.

Subfloor

No rain so I framed in the subfloor. It is supposed to rain for the next whenever. I can frame the walls on the front porch and then install them when it dries out again.

Windows

Apparently Home Depot and Lowe's are not really hardware stores anymore as they do not carry fixed windows. They only carry the really expensive Andersen and Pella windows and want to charge you a fortune to install them. Anything else is out of the question.

I found the windows for the coop at Ring's End Lumber in Niantic. I had to special order them and they should be here in a couple of days. At least I could special order them.

The chicks were hatched on August 1st. I forgot to ask yesterday when I bought them so I called Salem Feed and Grain today and asked.

Someday it will quit raining in Connecticut. Really.

Chickens!

I bought 6 Rhode Island Red chicks from Salem Feed and Grain today. Let's hope they are all lady chickens. If not, we will be having coq au vin for dinner one of these days. The youngsters are in a puppy crate in the basement under a heat lamp for the duration of the construction.

Also made another trip to Home Depot. I bought plywood for the roof, shingles, and hardware for the door.

More materials

I went to Home Depot in Uncasville for more materials this morning. I bought most of the shiplap I am going to need for the siding, the 3/4" flooring sheets, vents for the ends, and some flashing for the doors and window. Home Depot does not carry fixed windows so I am going to have to look around.

It is supposed to storm this afternoon, so I am not going to start the framing yet. That and I dropped a sheet of the flooring on my foot at Home Depot and my little toe is quite purple. All the wood is on the front porch out of the rain with a tarp over the shiplap for extra protection.

Getting Started

I started clearing the area for the coop on Thursday. I ran all the fallen limbs and leaf mulch through the wood chipper, cleared out the big rocks, and cut down the sassafras saplings that were in the way.



Friday was the first trip to Home Depot with the kids for materials. I bought the wood for the skids, flooring, framing, and roof. I forgot the concrete blocks, so we stopped by True Value in Mystic on the way back from Westerly.

Today I set the concrete blocks and leveled the foundation. Much digging and swearing was involved, but the skids are level.



Done for the day.