Life in Tee Harbor, Alaska

Chicken Coop Project - Day 10

When I was getting ready to go out and work on the coop project, I looked out the window and saw a bunch of smoke.  Looked like someone down on the beach was burning something...but I wasn't sure.  Then I heard the sirens of the fire trucks...I figured I better figure out what was on fire.  I called my dad to see if he was home since he lives on the beach, but he was in the valley.  So I drove out the highway to see where it was coming from.  It wasn't on the beach like I thought, it was further down the harbor on the point, about 1/2 mile from our place.  Lots of smoke...  There isn't a road out to those homes, just a trail so I don't know how the firemen got out there.  Not sure if it was someone's home or what, but I hope everyone is okay.  Didn't hear anything on the news, maybe tomorrow.

I worked on the coop most of the day and was by myself today.  Things went well.  I'm getting more confident with the skill saw - cut the plywood to finish off the wall with the doorway.  I secured all the plywood in the front - yesterday we just put in enough screws to keep it up so we could get as many walls up as we could while I had help.  Then I'll go back and secure everything really well. 

I cut pieces of 2 x 6 to fit in between the rafters on the front and back walls.  I haven't decided how best to secure them, so they are just loose for now.  Then I decided to tackle the roof!  I heaved a sheet of 5/8" plywood up on the roof and positioned it - got is screwed down.  Then it started to sprinkle...  so I gathered up all the tools and got them under a tarp.  I picked up all my scraps and put them under the coop.  Then it quit sprinkling.  So I marked a sheet of plywood to cut.  Then it started sprinkling again...  I really wanted to get the roof on - or at least set up because it is supposed to rain tomorrow.  So I went inside for awhile.  It quit again, so I hurried outside to cut my plywood.  Got that done and cut another.  Put those 1/2 sheets up on the roof and secured them.  Then heaved up another 2 whole sheets and secured them.  Whew!!  Basically got the roof up in 1 1/2 hours - that is alot of up and down on the ladder - I'm beat!!

So here is today's progress - front, back and side:

Now that I can work inside the coop, I will work on the doors, covering the wall between the coop and storage areas, framing in the windows, making a chicken door, and building some sort of fence for their yard.  The fence will be a challenge because it is near impossible to dig around here - too many big rocks/boulders.  So I will need to figure some mostly above ground method to secure the posts...

Untitled Comment

1:39 AM, Monday, June 2, 2008 .. Posted by AnIntentionalPeasant

Great job on the coop!
Have you thought of a "dog kennel" style fence? We use several kennel pannels for our chicken run. We have them on a rocky ground area. My husband took some gravel around the base of the kennel, building it up a little and then put some larger rocks all the way around that to ensure the chickens don't get out and to slow down anything that wanted to get in. Though if anything really wanted in they could dig down deeper to get through. We also put a row of chicken wire around the bottom portion of the dog kennel sense our birds are still pullets and small enough to get through the chain length fence of the dog kennel.