Today we started building the home for our chickens. We decided to go with the Catawba ConvertiCoop plans I had purchased online.
Our friend Vita came over to give us a hand and our friends Patty & Deb loaned us their miter saw – thanks to you gals we don’t have to pick our noses with our elbows. Of course we’ll be sending eggs home to them as soon as we get our hens settled and laying.
Here’s a few pics of the construction process. There was only one tricky cut and that was the 60 degree cuts needed to make the peak of the coop. Fortunately the plans showed a little trick for making that cut.
We found the plans we not quite as easy as the designer says. While his cutting list is great, he describes the pieces as “trapezoids” and “parallelograms” which, geometrically are correct but for Lise and Vita who have forgotten their grade 3 geometry, this presented a small problem. Fortunately, being the visual learner that I am, I remembered my lessons and the difference between those two shapes. I know all my shapes AND colours! lol
My one suggestion to the plan’s designer is that in the future, he include more pictures of each step and maybe a little drawing of a trapezoid and parallelogram to do his bit to decrease the rate of arguments and potential divorce amongst couples tackling little construction projects.
Today we got all of the major bits built, including the doors. Tomorrow I’m going to go buy some stain (now that we’ve agreed on a colour), and stain the exterior. Then we’ll put the chicken wire in place and attach the hardware. The only remaining steps are putting together a wheel assembly I’ve been working on (but I have to find a pair of old lawn mower wheels for that), and buy/install water and feed holders.
We’ll be getting the birds after next weekend. We’re going out of town for a few days so we’ll wait until we get back to get the birds.