RD & Gwyn's In-Town Homestead

[doublel]

I love this thread! Keep up the amazing work Gwyn and RD.

[Gwynmael]

So when are we going to see some updates on your thread?

[doublel]

lol, I was totally feeling guilty seeing yours!! Its been a super wet and chilly spring here. I haven't gotten much in the garden...and its supposed to snow and freeze tomorrow night!

[Gwynmael]

That's ok doublel - winter &/or dormant pics are good too.

[Gwynmael]

Watch what you use to fill in the gaps a chicken will peck the foam or the caulking out in no time.

Thanks for all the info & ideas tk. We're going to put some trim inside and out on the "gap" area over the foam and the caulk is going just on the outside. As we're not insulating (coop sizing should allow the hens to stay warm enough with just body heat), we want to make sure there is as little "uncontrolled" ventilation as possible.

Great pics btw.

[Gwynmael]

Putting this pic separate ---- LEARN what the noxious weeds are in your area and what they look like BEFORE they bloom!!!

Several years ago I wasn't doing squat with our garden, RD was doing it all. My lack of labor input meant he only had enough time to do any weeding in the beds and that left other areas of the backyard get a little wild. I finally noticed some very large and beautiful flowers. I'm thinking "I know that has to be a weed, but it's rather pretty." There were three of these plants, they were HUGE, with multiple large trumpet shaped flowers. I knew I hadn't planted them, so realized I'd better find out what they were. I took some cuttings over to the county AG extension office. Lo and behold, it was JIMSON WEED. This is a very dangerous and toxic plant for livestock if ingested, and some two-legged idiots have been known to smoke it for it's hallucinogenic effect (very dangerous as it can trigger/cause respiratory distress). Unfortunately, because they had bloomed I've been fighting them in the yard and garden ever since.

These two were hiding in the spinach and got this big from all the rain we had last week.

[Gwynmael]

Garden update - all of my cool season stuff has had a growth spurt from all the rain we've had.



The poor green beans. At this time only ONE of the twenty planted has survived it's interaction with the dogs.


A similar perspective as last week so you can see how tall the peas have grown



Coop update -- did the caulking and spray foam around the nest boxes. Man that foam stuff is a pain to work with. Oh yeah, and caulk (including silicon) expires. Neighbor gave me five tubes that he didn't need. Three of them were partially used and RD said don't even bother trying to use those. Well .... I did anyway, if for no other reason that to become reacquainted with the caulking gun. No joy. Even the two that were unused had hardened and were no good. The first tube I pulled off of our shelf was no good. Finally got a tube of dark brown silicone to work. Sort of. Had a really difficult time getting a running bead going, ended up using my fingers to smoosh and smooth it. It was very greasy, RD said it was too old but it would dry. Eventually. I may have to scrape it out and go buy a new tube.

I did get a happy surprise with the primer that I got (for FREE) from our city's Product Reuse program (also got the exterior paint from there for free). My first thought when I opened the can was "Oh no, it's been frozen.", which pretty much renders it useless, because it was so thick. Turns out it's a water-based commercial grade bonding primer for "difficult" surfaces. This stuff will bond and create a paintable surface on smooth ceramic tile, masonry, fiberglass, etc. Pretty much Kilz 2 brand on steroids. AND whoever turned it in only used 1/2 cup at most! So I got nearly a full gallon of some amazing high dollar stuff. It's called STIX. You'll see in the pics how it thoroughly coated and lessened the depth of the knot holes and filled in various rough patches/areas in the plywood. Spots that I didn't get primered were where I used the spray foam and it needed more time to finish expanding. I also didn't primer inside the nesting boxes as I didn't want to cause any issues for the doors.

RD actually got off work not too far past his normal time, so he still had some energy when he got home. I had picked up a 4ft piano hinge (thanks tk) and other various hardware this morning. RD was able to cut and complete the egg retrieval doors! YAY! I still need to put handles on them and they're not exactly like tk's, but we had some design differences to work around. The hinge on the bottom door actually wraps around and is screwed into the underside 2x2 support piece.

[W.Lynn]

What does the build offer for roosts or perches for the ones that don't feel like occupying the laying boxes?

[Tex]

Gwyn, can you show us a pic with those doors open?

TK mentioned something that I was going to throw in, but he beat me to it. at the back of the nesting boxes, you need to put up a 1x, so all of the nesting material isn't resting right up against the door.

The coop is looking really good.



Tex

[Gwynmael]

Lynn - the roost bars come a little later in the build, after the roof is put on. Need to have the structure completely locked together before putting pressure on the sides.

Building is going to slow down even more ( ) as the next round of days long rain is coming in, a day earlier than predicted, starting tonight. I'll need to review that part of the "plan" as I'm sure, just like everything else, we'll need to make modifications/adjustments. I also just realized that because the original plan had one long horizontal row of nesting boxes at floor level, that we'll need to add a perch area to the front of the upper row.

Tex - that part hasn't been added yet. As we've had to make so many changes, we're having to get creative with the materials. So, larger pieces are being taken care of first. We have some trim board pieces out back, so will likely use pieces of that once the cuts are made to cover the foamed areas.

[tk]

You may want to add a simple safety hook and eye just in case your dogs nose at the dead bolt and some how get it open (strange things happen) and get them selves a chicken dinner. Roosting bars are every where just go out to the woods and cut some 1 inch or 3/4 diameter sticks chickens don't care if their straight or not. I'll add this now although early for you yet. My boy would rake up grass from the yard let it dry in the sun and use it in the nesting boxes . It keeps the eggs clean and its good for the garden when you clean it out . He would fill a couple feed sacks full of it to get him thru the winter. Being creative is what building is all about. There are a lot of free materials out there and you can make it look good .

[Gwynmael]

I planned on hook & eye for the other doors, possibly even a hasp latch. Will have to see what we've got.

If the dogs are able to reach the coop, they've probably earned a chicken dinner. Still won't make me happy though. The entire coop will be inside a fenced run area.

While I'm not looking forward to five days of predicted rain, I am actually looking forward to a rain-enforced building break as I'm having trouble keeping up with the rest of my responsibilities due to the amount of time this project is consuming. Including forgetting to take the time to eat during the day.

[Dode]

I would go ahead and change the slide bolts to slide down, instead of up. That way, no matter how much vibration they get, they will stay in a closed position.

This is quite a back yard project. Glad to see you making use of your back yard.

[Sacajawea]

gwyn - don't forget to eat - even if you just grab some carrots or an apple. I do that & seriously pay for it, every single time. There's this slave driver in my head - says: you ain't face down yet; keep going!! (And that's why he's an EX.)

[Tex]

I would go ahead and change the slide bolts to slide down, instead of up. That way, no matter how much vibration they get, they will stay in a closed position.

This is quite a back yard project. Glad to see you making use of your back yard.

Good catch, Dode. Those bolts do need to be aimed down. If they were to somehow come open the results could be disasterous.



Tex