Mossy Trees: Chicken House

Finally on to the hen-house!

We found a lovely color in the "Oops" section in the paint department of our Home Depot. 10 gallons for 20bucks! So, that determined the new color of the coop ;-)

I took the door off and hubby helped flip it onto the side so I could replace the support beams.

It took days to get those off even being half-eaten (literally) by termites. I gave up and had to enlist the hubby to help with the de-construction. Way too frustrating for me and gives him a chance to use a power tool ;-)

So, we got the thing deconstructed and it took us no time to re-construct it using 2x4's we had laying around the place. It took about 3 hours and had it back on its' feet. We set it up on concrete blocks I found on the property and we leveled it. Hopefully we did OK.

eye bolt for hanging feeder

I made the nestboxes from a $7 sheet of 1/2 inch OSB. I used OSB because it was half the cost of plywood and it was for inside the coop protected from rain and will be painted.

Got a feeder from the feedstore for $13.

Used 80cent eyebolts in the rafters for hanging the feeder.

Here is the paint-job phase one (trim still needs to be picked out). It's difficult to paint this time of year. My 1st coat was done in the rain. Luckily, the next day was sunny and breezy and dried the 1st coat allowing a 2nd coat to be done.

roost hardware

The roosts are untreated fir 2x2's that are rounded slightly on the edges. I found them at home Depot in the culled wood section for 50cents each (about 46 -48" lengths). The hardware we had leftover from building our deck in Texas. I got a few extra 2x2's for just in case and this fixture makes it easy to unscrew the pole for cleaning or replacement.

There were a few sunny days in the forecast so I took advantage and rushed out and bought a quart of Haystack colored paint (mild school bus yellow) and knocked it out. My daughter picked the color.

I layed out the run area and got the sandbox ready. For the sandbox, I used a 2x6 treated garden frame found on the property and lined the bottom with the door from the crushed metal shed to keep the moles out. For the run, I am using some livestock fence we had left over from when I made compost bins a few years ago. Will finish it off with 1" chicken wire. The posts are from treated wood we found.

I still need to finish off a few things in the house and get the run ready.

It is getting close to finished and it is time to start looking for the girls.
I scoured the internet and asked locals. The locals were not willing to downsize their flocks. Ordering chicks is complicated if you want less than 6. All the places that did small orders would all be about $60 for about 6 chicks. Then I have to "baby" the babies until about 6 weeks indoors under a heat lamp. Then it will be iffy to put them in the hen-house at 6 weeks since it will be in the cold of December.
I found a horse trainer about 7 miles down the road who also grows chickens and had pullets at 7 weeks for $10 each (and in the breeds I have been looking for). I went down to see the birds. They were kept in good facilities and looked healthy and happy and had been vaccinated. They are hen-house ready and still young enough to be trained and get used to being handled.

So........ introducing our girls!