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Chicken Coop Day 11.

March 15, 2021

Today marks a momentous occasion! We have windows! Today’s project was tarpapering the walls, even though we only got about 2 walls finished. It was the back wall, and the wall opposite of the nesting boxes. We would just lay the paper on the wall, nail on at the studs, and then just fold the corners around the OSB. I got the walls sealed up at this point, and it is time to put in the window. Obviously, we just caulked it in, and then used “Window Tape” to make it air - tight. It looks so good! I think that we are going to do the rest tomorrow. Look for the next post!!

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Chicken Coop Day 10.

March 7, 2021

Holy mother of pearl was this day productive! I framed out all of the walls and the roof! Obviously, when I say “I” I mean my uncle, grandfather, and mom. They all helped me frame it out, and my uncle cut out the windows. It took a whole lot of screws, and it took a trip to get more wood. But now, I get to work on it some more, and I look forward to it.

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Chicken Coop Day 9.

March 6, 2021

I have a roof now! I put up the rafters and the OSB for one of the walls. I had to do a ton of research to figure out how to make a bird’s mouth cut, and then my uncle comes and he can do it perfectly. He spent his 40th birthday helping me with this. He is without a doubt the best uncle on the planet. Truth be told, I did almost nothing because I was hanging out with my cousins, but my mom, uncle, and grandfather did it all. After the rafters were up, they put the OSB up on the wall, then put up the overhang over the door. It looks absolutely incredible, and I look forward to working on it some more.

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Chicken Coop Day 8.

March 4, 2021

Today was pretty simple, just cause all we had to do was finish then put up the fourth wall. We had all of the measurements for the studs laid out, so we just had to screw them in, then put the wall into place. This really help square up the other walls, and it meant that we did not need the cross supports any more. I think that it looks great, and the coop is getting there.

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Chicken Coop Day 7.

March 2, 2021

After today, I have 3 walls to my coop! That was the project for the day, building and putting up the third wall. I also had enough time to mostly build the fourth wall. The third wall actually did not need that many studs, because the only irregularity on that wall is the door for the chickens to access the run. So that was pretty easy, and it helped square up the other walls. The fourth wall is the one going in the front, so we framed out the door, and it is looking pretty awesome. I love it, even though I do not have much to report on it. Look for my next blog!

[zacschickenadventure]

Chicken Coop Day 6

February 28, 2021

This was my first weekend day on the project, and it was INCREDIBLY productive. First, I was able to finish insulating and framing out the nesting boxes, so those ladies are going to have really warm butts when they are giving me my breakfast. The very first thing I did was use styrofoam and spray foam to insulate the floor of the boxes, which I covered with a pine 1x10. Now, the boxes have an actuall floor. Next, I put the dividers in, using these little brackets that were super difficult to use. I have the walls now, but we need to fill in the cracks. So, I just used some caulk and got it sealed up real good. Just to review, at this point, we have a great foundation, one wall and mostly finished chicken coops. But then... I put up another wall! It was the opposite of the wall I already had up, so it was the exact same measurements. We put this up, and then called it a day. I look forward to seeing how the coop turns out, and I look forward to making more posts.

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Chicken Coop Day 5.

February 25, 2021

Today was probably my favorite of all of the days of this project so far! Today was the day that I framed out the nesting boxes! Personally, I think that they turned out really good, seeing as I have never done a project that took as much math and measurements. Honestly, my Mom did all of the measurements and the math, so I can not actually tell you what I did. What I can tell you is that I have 6 nesting boxes, and that they are going to be raised up 4 inches from the floor so that litter won’t be kicked into them, and so that we have space to insulate them. Those are kind of the highlights for the day!

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Chicken Coop Day 4.

February 24, 2021

Today was ten times more efficient than yesterday, because I got the first wall up! This is the wall that the nesting boxes will be on, but that did not effect the way that we put our studs in. On this wall and the one opposite of it, I am putting in windows. So, we had to frame out where the window is going, and this gave me quite a bit of grief. It was kind of hard to measure out because the window has to be high enough for the nesting boxes, but I also wanted it low enough that the sun would manage to hit it even though there will be an overhang to the roof. Once I had it all framed out and on the floor, I put it where it goes on the frame for the coop and screwed it in. Screws are obviously not enough to actually keep it up, so I screwed in a simple brace using some scraps I had, and called it a night. I have my first wall!!!

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Chicken Coop Day 3.

February 23, 2021

Today was a pretty uneventful day as far as getting things done, because all we got done was another layer of OSB for the floor. During the dance break last night, I realized that the floor was a little flimsy. Fortunately, I had kind of suspected that this would happen and had plenty of materials to use. On another note, I did a ton of research and found out that you want to raise the nesting boxes off the floor of the coop because then the litter can not get kicked into it, resulting with them staying clean. So, I decided to not put any more OSB on the floor where the boxes will be because we are going to put insulation there instead. I want there rear ends to stay warm while they give me my eggs. I think that tomorrow, we are going to start framing out all of the walls. So keep an eye out for that post.

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Chicken Coop Day 2.

February 22, 2021

Today, I put some cross beams from the legs to the frame for the floor. By the time I was done with this, I could barely make the frame shake at all, which was the goal. And, to make it even more secure, we put more legs on from the skids to the floor. At this point, I have six legs on the coop. Then... it was time to screw on the OSB! I had never done this before, so it took me a little bit to realize how to do it properly. As soon as this was done, I had a little dance break to test it, and then called it a night.

[zacschickenadventure]

Chicken Coop Day 1

February 21, 2021

Like many others nowadays, I am getting backyard chickens! Today, I am building a good foundation and structure to be the base of the coop. I decided that I wanted to be able to move the coop depending on the season, so the very bottom is going to be two skids. These were made out of pressure-treated wood, so that their contact with the ground would not cause rot. We made sure to build these as sturdy as possible, so we used a bracket for each one, then we put an L-bracket on it so that it was square, (It took a lot of twerking to get them to work with the frame afterwards.) Then, we put 2-4s around all of the legs, leaving some overhang on one side for the nesting boxes in the future. Once we had all of that assembly as straight as we could get it, we connected the overhangs with another 2-4. At this point, it was time to put in the floor joists. After screwing all of them in, we called it a night.