Finishing of the Coop!

The past few weeks have been BUSY.  Between my anniversary, a trip, applying and interviewing for several positions, tearing down a fence, rebuilding the fence, building a coop, and sickness...life has had me "cooped up" for almost a month.  And I have neglected my blog, even tho I know there were many things I wanted to--and needed to--post!!  So here's to catching up...

Our big news from the past few days is that the coop is FINALLY finished!  To build it, we had to tear down our privacy fence (something we wanted to do to make a more open, larger encompassing fence) since we wanted to reuse those pickets for the coop.  Plus I wanted it to fit the dimensions of a dog run that we already had, so that we could reuse those materials as well.  This way it was as "upcycled" as we could make it.  And I am SO happy with the results!!  We still want to make a few modifications in the future to make sure that our girls are as happy and healthy and safe as possible, but that will happen as we have time and issues present themselves. 

The finished coop is 10" long, 6' high, and 2' off the ground.  Here's how it came together:

My dad and hubby assembling the frame--the massive 10' long that I thought was only 6' originally!

Frame is made, and next came the plywood to top it off.

The plywood was topped off with some inexpensive (unattractive) lineolum tiling.  Makes for easier cleaning.

The bottom frame and the wall frames outside in the new location.

My dad helping with putting up the frames for the walls.

Quite a few steps later...the walls are up, the roof is on, and they are installing the nesting box.

The installing of the two ladders into the coop.

Inside the coop: the roosting area

Inside the coop: The nesting box area

The chickies getting to check out their new digs

Attila (the Barred Plymouth Rock) and Annie (the Buff Orpington) coming out of the coop to see the new grounds

Attila allowing Z to pet her. :)

And that is how it all came together.  :)  Several weeks (weekends mostly) of building, in an easy to look at Cliff's Notes version of the coop coming together!