the coop: part deux/intermission

part deux:
last saturday after much hemming and hawing, i proceeded to work on my first ever chicken coop.

i scouted out scrap wood from my rental and my parents house that would be able to create the frame in the dimensions that i had decided on: 5ft long x 4ft tall x 3ft deep. my thoughts were: frame first—figure out the nest boxes and windows later.

the saw was terrifying. it was loud and the safety measures had been removed. facing it alone i putzed around the garage hoping to find anything i could do that wasn't actually using the saw. i got all my wood together and organized by size.

thankfully after my h&h, my brother was sent out to help me and we braved the saw together until a friend showed up. as is typical to guys, the friend fairly took over and did all of the manual labor. to his credit, he did listen to my directions and did as i wanted—and i doubt i would have enjoyed having an audience while i did all the work.

to attach the walls right we picked up some L-shaped metal "thingies" so that we could build a box frame and then build up.

all in all, not much to report.
we built a frame and it required wood and screws long enough to go through two 2x4's. and the coop won't be 4ft tall, its more like 3ft9 by some odd mistake that i still don't understand.

sunday i made no progress on the coop because i don't have enough plywood sheets to cover it and i haven't yet given into the idea that i need to buy them from home depot at $12/pop (at the cheapest).

intermission
for the time being the chickens are living in a large travel dog crate supplied by my parents. frankly, its ingenious. there is more than enough room for eight growing chickens and their essentials.

i've placed garden stakes through the grates on the sides and it is tall enough that they can all roost at night, its darling. only tselma isn't brave enough to jump up there, instead she loudly peeps and roosts on the floor. last night i put her little chicken butt on the roost for her, she seemed to like it.

its not quite "home" to them yet though, they still huddle by the backdoor when it gets dark and nighttime is still a bit of a hassle, but the morning are easy, their becoming accustomed to living outdoors, and i can rest assured that they have enough space.