Chicken Coop - Lots of pictures

[domdee]

Evening all,

A little project i had to do as a result of getting 4 chickens at short notice.

It started out as some kind of chicken coop / dog run / shed that was already at the property when we moved in. It was in a poor state and i used it to sling a few logs in amongst other crap.

The roof was rotten and the bottom of the walls where also knackered and the timber floor was almost disintegrated. I had bodged the roof last year to keep some logs dry but was a very rough job to make do.

I had planned on just pulling it down and selling on facebook or burning until the chickens come along.

I was drawing up some sketches for a new coop and pricing up timber etc. and it was becoming very pricey for a chicken coop.

One of the wifes better idea's was to just use what we had.

 

[domdee]

Before pictures

 

[domdee]

dismantling. New washing line post put in as it was fastened to the shed before

 

[domdee]

I had to relocate the shed as it was originally out on a limb away from the house. we wanted it closer and where it is positioned now we can see it out of the kitchen/utility window

block work going down.

Forget to capture foundations but it was a spades width and depth, with a bit of rubble compacted down at the bottom with about 4" give or take of concrete.

Block work isn't my thing so isn't the best workmanship by a long mile.

As I had to replace the bottoms of the walls, i made a rough frame out of the timbers cut to length to set my blocks first before repairing the walls.

 

[domdee]

wall bottoms repaired

 

[domdee]

concreted the enclosed floor area to make mucking out easier, and i didn't want another timber floor to rot in time.

4 inch of hard core compacted down. didn't have any sand to bind with so naughtily used a bit of soil. dusted an inch over the hardcore, compacted it down, then spayed it with a hose for 5 mins to wash away any voids. then put a black weed membrane down to soften any sharp points from the rubble, followed by a sheet of poly i had. not your conventional dpm or sub base but it will be reet.

4 inch of concrete laid on top. mixing it by hand in a barrow was hard work in the weather we've had. made the mix a bit wet out of laziness as it was easier to mix and just poured/slopped it in.

 

[domdee]

offered the walls up to the block work and kept my fingers crossed things lined up.

Had to carry them 100 yards on my own which again was hard work in the heat. they seemed to get heavier with each step/shuffle.

 

[domdee]

end of play today i got the walls secured to the blocks using frame fixings, and just screwed the walls together. they was coach bolted when i dismantled it but didn't have any to hand and put extra screws in for good measure

Replaced the purlin's.

Next is to sling some osb boards on the roof and then put tin on.

I need to make some nesting boxes and perches inside.

I am pinching a couple of hours here and there so this will take a couple of weeks to complete.

 

[domdee]

A view form the kitchen window below...

Got a couple of OSB sheets up yesterday. Quite a fiddle.

Everything is in twist and out of square at the moment - apart from the wall sole plates. I got them bob on before securing to the block work. The doors are binding a bit and the lock bolts are a mile out. Since its an old tired/rotten shed and probably built out of sorts in the first place, I am struggling to pull everything round.

The top wall plates are bowed outwards by 2" either side so i'm going to have to put temporary timbers in to pull them back inwards something like. I can push the 2 gable ends plumb, but they spring back so again I am going to have to temp brace them in place.

I added some 3x2" barge boards to the end of the purlins. When screwing the OSB on, I started at the back end, got it level with the back wall barge board and secured that full end. Then I had to push/swing it at the front up towards the ridge and secure. Ran a string line front to back along the ridge centre so I had a better idea where to get the OSB to.

Since there is going to be a cut line on the front OSB sheets, i might start at the front and work backwards and meet in the middle if things don't look like they will run square.

Its only a battered old chicken coop at the end of the day so i'm not that fussy, but at the same time i want to get it as close as i can. I'm hoping the bracing will hold it all something like while I finish up the OSB and roof tin. And once secured that will maybe stop thing springing back when temp timbers are removed. Failing that I will just have to live with it.

Bye for now.

 

[domdee]

 

[HERTS P&D]

WOW!

Well Done.

Andy

 

[domdee]

So the jobs finished now. I did the roof osb as I said above. Starting at the front and working back. Helped twist things into shape a bit. I put a few screws in to hold it in place. Then braced things up to where I thought it should be, then fully screwed the osb down. I then put the tin on. I had 2ft2” wide sheets. Thought 6 lengths would do the job but under estimated the joints of the tin. Ended up needing 6 and a bit sheets wide. Roof is 12ft long. But since I had 10ft lengths to start with, and only needed 2 lengths of 4ft per sheet, I had half a dozen 2ft off cuts. So I utilised these instead of cutting another full sheet up. After tex screwing the tin on putting on I removing the temporary bracing, the old heap sprang back to its resting position. Not a big deal in the end. Moved the door bolt catches and you’d never really know. Painted in Cuprinol wild thyme which we had left over from a play house we painted. Put a bit of fencing up and knocked together a gate all out of old reclaimed stuff I had laying around. Nothing too secure but will keep the chickens something like contained.

 

[domdee]

WOW!

Well Done.

Andy

Thanks Andy. Glad to have it finished so I can get on with other things!

 

[domdee]

A point with mentioning on the ridge tin...

because it wasn’t the correct angle for the ridge, I had a pig of a job getting it to fit. I started along one edge doing the full length and thought I’d be able to tease / manipulate it down along the other edge. I did get it screwed down however I was fighting it all the way and it’s a bit wavy now finished. The wife said to put more screws in it but there is too much pant in it, it just wouldn’t be worth it. You can’t tell really from the pictures and that’s the wavy side.

 

[HERTS P&D]

I'm sure the chickens are well pleased with it and won't notice the roof.

Andy