A Little Progress

pallet wood

You know some days I just feel like I haven't gotten much accomplished. Unless I write things down. Then I can see that I did get something done, it just seems like it should have been twice as much in the time I had.

Well building projects around here start out with ripping pallets; this is part of about 6 I took apart first thing this morning.

front of breeding pen

I then seemed to have spent most of the day building this front of a breeding pen, complete with door frame. The door still needs wire, hinges & a latch.

Along with that I did eat breakfast, washed and hung up two loads of clothes.

eggs in the nest of the layer house

I also managed to do all my chicken chores and collect eggs. When I was done building I cut all the trash wood up and brought it in for the stove.


I did take some pictures of some of the birds today. I also checked and spritzed thirty odd chicken butts for lice. They have been a terrible problem here and while some birds never seem to have any, other birds seem to be covered. I'll do all the rest of the birds tomorrow evening.

mamma silkie and her foster babies

black copper marans hatched Nov 28th

Mamma silkie is taking good care of her babies.












The three Black Copper Marans chicks from November look like two boys and a girl.

Henrietta

Henrietta

Henrietta is a show quality Buff Orpington pullet.

Claire

Claire is 75% English imported Buff Orpington.

Claude

Claude is 100% English imported Buff Orpington. This trio belongs to my friend Cindy. I just get to keep and take care of these wonderful birds as her breeding partner. I have 4 of Henny's eggs in the incubator now and will continue to collect and hatch her eggs for awhile. We are waiting for Claire to lay her first egg. From the color of her comb and wattles, it ought to be pretty soon!

Claude with the wind blowing

Claude has been hanging out in the layer pen and looks like a jolly golden giant compared to the little Easter Egger girls.  Today when I was working on the breeding pen Claire and Henny snuck in there too. There was some fussing with some of the older layers, but nobody was really serious enough to take on this giant golden girls! But all the layers had to come in and investigate the part of the building they usually can't get to. They were all underfoot while I was trying to work!

The Roof Goes on the Silkie Coop

rafters installed

Well as predicted I didn't get much of anything done on the little silkie coop during the week; just not enough day light after work.

Here's where I left off, with the rafters on, during the week I managed to put up the trim around the back vent and install one bird block.

Today I added the rest of the bird blocks and started on the roof.

roof decking going on

roof in progress

Like the rest of the coop the roof is not really square or quite flat. But with two or three layers of tar paper it ought to be weatherproof until I can get some sort of shingles or roofing on it.

hole in the floor

I also cut the hole in the floor for a sliding pop door to the bottom section of the coop.

Tomorrow I'll add several layers of tar paper to the roof, figure out how to make the supports for the sliding door and finish constructing that. Then I just need a door on the front and it will be done enough for the broody mamma to take up residence. If it doesn't all happen before dark, then broody mamma will spend a few days in the house while coop construction is completed, because the eggs are supposed to hatch on Monday!

And I still haven't spent a dime on this coop!

Busy Busy Building!

Blue Silkie rooster

If you had told me a year ago that I would be building doll house coops for foo foo chickens I would probably have laughed in your face. However, things change and I am learning, never say never!

I have now been given 5 silkies, bought one and won some in a raffle at a poultry show. I had decided that since Silkies have a great reputation as broodies and very good mammas that it would be nice to have some as baby sitters for my other chicks. 

So now of course they must have housing. Some are living out in bigger coops because they came with a group of foster birds that were later given to me and they were used to it. The others were much smaller and younger when I brought them home so they are sharing the baby coop but it's getting crowded in there.

One Silkie is broody and since I have eggs in the incubator I decided to build her a little coop so I can give her the chicks to take care of when they hatch.

I have also decided that I wanted to make these small coops cute & fun. Something that would make me smile whenever I go by them. Since they will be in the side yard right  near the front gate, that will be several times a day. So I have been designing in my head, and poring over tons of pictures of cute little chicken coops on the internet. Last weekend I got busy.

coop floor and framing boards

I happened to have picked up a pallet that was 40x48" with a piece of heavy plywood already nailed to it. That would become the floor. It looked a little greasy so I checked the paint cabinet and found part of a can of Kilz, getting a bit dried out, but a lot of stirring and a touch of water got it to a brushable consistency. So I put on two coats and while they were drying I found and cut some boards to make legs and a frame work.

Mr. Abominable Snowman

That was about all I had time for the first day.  The next day I managed to attach the legs and frame work and cover the back wall with boards on the bottom half.

The coop will be a double decker, the top enclosed to be safe from predators and to be warm at night, with the bottom enclosed with wire so they can have sunshine and fresh air during the day and still be safe.

A lot of details are still fuzzy because there are no plans except the picture in my head and that changes with each new idea as well as each new piece of found material that I can recycle. I did however decide to work out a gable roof because I wanted to practice making the angles. I haven't done that in almost 30 years and have forgotten nearly everything I knew about doing it.

The framework as of Friday evening

I've been slathering on the Kilz as I go, to help protect the wood from the weather. All of this wood is from pallets and is rough and raw. I figured it needs all the help it can get. So here are a couple of the boys checking it out before I got started on it this evening. I got a little bit more done before dark, but no picture. I'll take a picture in the morning before I get started.

It is not quit square or plumb. However it is, after all, just a chicken house and they won't care, as long as it isn't drafty in their sleeping quarters and has enough fresh air and light, they will be quite happy.