Wednesday, September 4, 2013

A Chicken Coop Built for Chicken Sitting the KFC way

I can assure you, no chickens were harmed or sat on in this post!
  This coop was built for chicken day care.  Some good friends of ours (chicken owners) tend to be worldly travellers. They also enjoy fresh eggs.
Hmmmmm....  I bet when they are away, they rob birds nests or perhaps farmers' chicken coops for eggs.
  Anyways, when they are off on one of their many adventures, they need someone to watch their flock.  As they only have a handful, I decided to build a "chicken daycare" for them.  This saves me the commitment of my own, but the joy of fresh eggs while they are off robbing other chicken nests.
  I built the pen around an old chicken exit as this was originally a barn that housed many a chicken in its day.    I had a few rolls of mesh that I got in the clearance bin of our local hardware store.  Armed with 2x4s, an air nailer and a staple gun, I went to work.  I had to cut and assemble while I went as this barn is old and crooked.

  I found myself just "winging" it  

 Here are some photos taken with my I-Phone.   Too bad I didn't have a before picture of all the junk I had to move.
Still missing some mesh on the upper left opening.  I ran out so I may have to scrounge some old chicken wire from somewhere.



My plan is to use an old cupboard for the nestboxes.  I will close off the top with chicken wire and use the bottom for nests.  The wall on the right side is OSB as there is no window on the other side of this new wall.  I kept the rest open using mesh, as I wanted the light from the only window to shine in.  See the old exit door on the bottom left of the pen?  Eventually I will build an outdoor run too..



I built the door using a 2x4  ripped into a 2x2.  Reinforced the corners with plywood triangles and covered it in mesh. 







After all this was done, I finally went in and grabbed a real camera!

I used a simple lock for the door.  I drilled a clearance hole through a sanded piece of plywood cut to fit the door and side of the coop and secured it the to frame of the coop using a lag bolt and washer.   This lets it spin over the door to keep it closed.



I scrounged an old piece of barn board....



cut the ends and brushed a quick coat of watered down white paint....

And came up with this using my Cricut!
KFC
I named it "miss Karen's Finishing Coop"
 I am thinking instead of it sounding like a snobby school for elite birds, it sounds like I am finishing them for the butcher house, so that will definitely have to be changed. 







One of my new grape vines for our zone 3 climate.

Time to make pickled beets again


I still have some finishing touches, like constructing a roost using safety glasses and maybe some paint on that back wall to brighten things up!  Oh and for sure a new name for my coop....of course staying with KFC.  I am not sure if everybody is familiar with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).  They are a fried chicken restaurant chain here in Canada and the US.

 Thursday will be my guests first stay here at KFC.  I will share some pictures this weekend!
 Just to give all you egg producers out there a heads up, watch out for the worldly travellers cuz they are off on another adventure!
Cheers!

To see part two of  a luxury resort, 
where only the finest feathered holiday at,