Building the Chicken Coop: Day 2

The construction continues! If you missed what we did on Day 1, you might want to go back and check out that post. As Day 2 dawned, we had a few tasks on our hands:

Now that I had gone to Menard's to buy more paint, we were able to finish painting the exterior walls. We figured it would be easier (and result in a more thorough covering) if we painted all the panels before we put them up. Also, we wouldn't have to get up on ladders!

By the way, I was a little surprised at the color of Pittsburgh Paints "Barn Red" paint. I typically think of barns as being bright red, and this ended being an almost orangy, deeper red color. Though not what we had originally intended, it ended being a very pleasing color that goes well with the green roofing.

Alex completed the framing for the interior and exterior walls, creating an opening for the roost box on the east wall. We put in the first interior wall, which will divide the living area for the chickens from the storage area for feed, straw, and other supplies or tools.

You can see from some of the photos that our concrete foundation has a curb. This is to help water flow out easily after cleaning (there is a downspout in the doorway), protect the lower portion of the wood walls from extensive water damage or rot, and to allow for easy weed whacking around the outer perimeter of the barn without damaging the wood (our neighbor John pointed that out!).

At the end of Day, we were ready to start putting up the exterior walls. At this point, there are no windows in the walls, but once we decide for sure where they will be optimally placed, Alex will cut out at least one or two window openings with his battery-operated reciprocating saw. We haven't decided if we are actually going to buy windows, or try and make simple ones out of polycarbonate.

If anyone out there has any good suggestions, we are always open to ideas! Although we plan to finish the chicken coop in the next week, the design is still a work in progress and we get new ideas daily!

Thanks for reading and I'll be back with another update soon!

Comments

[green roofing]

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