We have coop. Phase two.

One must be centered before one works

This past Saturday morning was a lovely morning. So lovely in fact I had a little to eat and then went right to work on the next phase of the coop. I am calling this phase two, the addition of a base and a door. There will be a phase three in a few months, which will be the addition of a nesting box.

 

She asked to help all day long, so when I could, I did

I am going to keep this post simple. I hope. I hoped the same thing for phase two, but things got a little complicated. I spent a good amount of time squatting or sitting and just looking at what I had assembled so far and trying to figure out the next step. I had dimensions I had to work with in on paper, but everything else was either in my head or being made up as I went along.

Fitting the floor

I built the base. It was fairly simple, but then fitting to the existing coop, well, that was one step above simple. It eventually fit, with some skill saw and router action. I then thought up this contraption about a removable floor. Why removable. Well, the thought is for ease of cleaning. I don’t know if that is how it will work out in practice, but in theory and build that was what I was going for. I ended up making three sections. They fit, but I have not yet done the remove and clean thing yet. The last build for phase two was a door. This was the most straight forward and simple part of the build. I even added a little flair. I had two hinges that had a bit of rust on them. I don’t know what I bought them for years ago, or if I even bought them, I might have found them. However they came into my life, they were here and they had a bit of rust on them. I brushed them a bit with a wire brush and then had the thought I should hit them with a little paint. I walked over to the paint basket in the garage and the first can and color on top was a nice purple Jenn had use to paint Geneva’s bed. Perfect I thought. A minute later, I had purple hinges. I found a latch, again, I have no idea if or why I had bought it, but it was bought and paid for at some time by someone. I was and am very proud of the door. But it is just a door.

  

Base done, floor done, door in progress

The door also made me realize something about my design and building skills, or lack there of. I really enjoy designing and building useful things. Mostly to do with general home function or gardening and now farming. I think this is because of a few things. One, things don’t always have to look like a finished piece of furniture or cabinetry. Things can look a little rough. Two, function is ahead of form but does not need to be completely ignored. Three, because of one and two, you can use what you have, or use less than perfect materials. And fourth and last, you can fudge a little, well, a lot. If something doesn’t fit, make it fit. Shave something down, cut something more. If it is too small, add more wood or screws or glue. You just have a lot more leeway.

The door

So, base, floor and door. All complete and functioning as intended, except the floor. It is still unproven as a removable cleanable floor. The chicks like it. I have been throwing all sorts of beat up and old vegetables in there and they love it. Geneva puts all sorts of stuff in there too. One problem that has presented itself is they peck at the chicken feeder a lot, and a good amount of feed falls out and through the floor onto the ground. I am going to have to make some sort of fitted tray to put under it to catch and recycle some of the feed. The door does make the day to day feed and water refills a non-issue.

A peek on the inside

In closing, and to talk about the chickens at least once in this blog about chickens. They are doing well. They eat all the time and seem to like their new house. I held both of them in my lap for a while the other day and they seemed to be very happy and content to just sit there. And man are they warm. On a funny, and not so funny note. I guess either flies or mosquitoes have been landing on my feet and ankle area. Well, when the chicks are around me, they see those bugs as a meal, but in pecking said meal they peck me as well. The first time was funny and startling. The second time lost some of its humor. The third time, flat out not funny. I have to keep my eyes on where they are in reference to where I am standing, or I might feel an unexpected peck. Sounds funny, but it definitely sounds funnier than it is. It's tough being a chicken farmer. Even slightly hazardous, but just slightly.

Free ranging