Hen House Plans - fingers crossed!

[Prickety-prackety]

Excellent thread TP keep going, i think you should definatley add a nice colour, cornflower blue or purple looks nice with some scalloped edging will take on a play house look, thats what i am after so if it works I wil print it all off, like Country Fayre says when you have finished read these back and make a e-book.
Good role model keep it up

[TPeers]

Saturdays work!

Spent so long working on various things over the weekend, I hardly had the energy for the Sunday Chat, let alone posting progress!

Still, on Saturday I managed to panel the back of the nestbox, the side of the coop next to the keepers door, the top board at the front with ventilation holes and most importantly got the roosting bar in place! This was the hardest bit so far, I wanted to make the bar firm for the birds to roost on, yet removable for cleaning.

Richard came up with a solution for me and suggested metal bolts and slots into the beam. It works like this, having decided on the height of the roost (about 8") we proped the beem with offcuts and drilled through the previously set supports into the beam, placing bolts with the screw thread cut off into the holes. Then, removing the bolts, we lifted the beam out and cut, from underneath, to form slots up to the bolt holes. After which we replaced the bolts into the framework and simply lift the beam in and out.

I found that the beam was likely to twist slightly, so probably cut the slots too wide, this has been corrected by adding shot stops under the beam, against the existing framework.

Hopefully the photos will make this clear.

[TPeers]

It's a week since I put anything up here - work has progressed and I will post photos and so on - blame the Easter hols - I get no time for me!

Currently I have finished (piccies later) the egg hatch, the keepers door, a lift out back panel for cleaning. The ramp has been mended, the wire 'gates' are in place and the lower sides have been braced and wired (had to involve the OH in the wireing - turns out I'm allergic to the wire! Lovely case of scabby bleeding hands from the zinc coating, don't 'alf put a crimp in things when you can't hold anything!

Anyway - can now tpye again! Will go out with the camera after lunch and post this evening given the chance.

Thanks for the responses and you patience!

Terry

[daisychook]

I had to smile when I saw your post (and this reply is well out of sequence), but I think you are really brave and doing a fab job. My OH is at this moment in the garage building an internal nest box, we have alreadytoday had to drive 70 mile round trip to see an example, then had B&Q rage up and down the aisles, took 3 hours (felt like) to pick the most suitable wood, and has now been in our garage for the last 2 hours banging, sawing and saying some naughty words!!!! Me? I am keeping well out of the way indoors!!!!
Your project is amazing, you should be proud!!!!

[chickenjane]

dead impressed with your carpentry skills.Have you doneanything like this before?

[TPeers]

Not to this scale, no, Jane. I helped Mum build a desk for my bedroom when I was 17 - about 22 years ago!

Other than that, just the usual lottie things, assemble a shed, assemble a greenhouse, Ikea furniture....... (and Boy! do you need a degree for that!)

Put up posts and so on to train plants over........

Oh Yes, helped the Father in Law to build part of his train layout - otherwise described as pass things while he works!

Does any of that count?

Was very good with Lego and Mechano as a kid!

Carpentry is just measuring acurately and not hitting your thumbs, it's not so hard, honest! And this project is very much on the lottie principles of if it don't fall down, it's fine! It's rather fun in fact.

Just got the roof to do and then the run extensions, so not much more.

Thanks for the comments, a lovely way to start the day!

Terry

[Lord_Azrael]

Seems to have gone a bit quiet in this thread now?
I've just joined the forum and am very interested in how you're getting on Terry.
I'm just about to get an old rabbit hutch that has been converted for free to use as a basis for my first chook house.
Luckily I've got a woodworking shed at home and all the machines and tools I need to build stuff, so I'll be having a play with a few designs.

You're doing a fantastic job so far by the looks of it, hope all's still going well..

[TPeers]

I'm on the wrong computer at the moment - will try and update/finish this when I can get my hands on the main machine - TOH is busy writing software for his brother at the moment, so may be a while!

The hen house is finished, and painted a fetching shade of blue (not my choice) and the hens now have a lovely 4'x8' run, 2'x4' of which is under the roost and therefore dry even when it rains - ha, ha.

Two more hens comming on Thursday to bring the number up to 4 - will put them in the little ark next to the big run for a few days and then transfer them late one evening.

Should be fun trying to teach two more hens how to climb the ramp!

Terry

[chickenjane]

Looking foreward to seeing the finished results

[Paulottie]

Thanks Terry.

LordA I just converted rabbit run and hutch for my first two chooks..I'm a furniture maker so have a pretty well equipped shop as well. I have to say i am really impressed with Terry's skills as well. Eagerly awaiting those pics!

[chickenjane]

that's high praise from Paulottie

[Birdie Wife]

Looking good TPeers, I'm sure the hens will be equally impressed and will lay twice as many eggs as before!

[TPeers]

..And now the final instalments!

Having finally got the camera out and fought my way to the main computer.

The saga so far!

I left this on 31st March with the sides incomplete and no roof...

Since then

Side (Keepers) Door - This is my acces to the house to put the birds in/out, check that everything is ok etc... The door is made of shiplap screwed onto a rectangular framework and the whole hung by two 6" black hinges. It is fastened shut with a twist lock bottom left and a Hasp and Staple which goes round the corner to the back of the house. There is some tension on the staple to stop the door from being able to spring open and I could put a padlock on this if there was need.

Rear Hatch - This is the access for cleaning, as with the keepers door it is built on a rectangular framework. The hatch is fastened with two twist locks and two hasps and staples - I can't find the photo so will need to put that up later. The floor of the roost is coverd with an old piece of lino cut to fit. This makes cleaning easy - just lift it out and carry the droppings away. Hose down the lino if needed, dry and replace. To prevent mite problems the floor under the lino is heavily laced with mite powder!

Egg Hatch - on the same principle again this time only two bars for support, note the chamfered ends to let the hatch shut. These are cut to 45 deg. The hatch is limited in its opening very simply, a braided cord (made from string - very easy) is passed through a hole drilled laterally through one of the supports with the other end tied to a small ring thing from the picture hanging stuff that I have. The fourth picture shows the nest box in use with straw, both hens seem to find this acceptable.

The roof - This was probably the hardest part for me, the size of the piece of board and the height of the roof made this quite awkward, I did manage on my own but it would have been easier with help. The basic structure is a large piece of strand board, 19mm thick (3/4") The overhand is 2" at the back 4" at the sides and 6" at the front. The long overhang at the front stops rain blowing into the ventilation holes and the short overhang at the back allows the rear hatch to be more easily moved. The roof is fixed down with several 3" screws into the frame work - be careful of the angle you drill at, remember that the sides have a 6" slope front to back and the fixings need to be square to the roof NOT vertical into the framework! This is important because the roof is then felted and any sharp edges could cut the felt destroying it's waterproofing ability. The felt is standard shed felt, quite cheap but durable and easily replaced at need. I'm not tall enough to photograph the roof, so will get Richard to do it later!

More to follow

[TPeers]

... more...

Having built the house the next thing was to fix the broken ramp - quite simple - cut replacement pieces of wood, re-enforced the underside with an extra batton and re mount

The pictures will hopefully say it all!

The ramp is raised and lowered from outside the house using a metal braid. This is fastened to the underside of the ramp then runs up through the house in the corner by the nestbox partition and the rear hatch, through a ring eye, horizontally accross the top of the nest area and out the side of the house. The wire is then attached to a handle that Richard turned for me and this is clipped into a spring clip of the type used to hang up tools (only smaller). Again I can't find a photo of this so will post later.

[TPeers]

... and more!...

With the house and ramp complete it was time to turn to the run.

There is an area of run directly under the house, this gives the ramp somewhere to go, of course, but also means that the food and water supplies are always under cover!

The Sides and Back are covered in fine grade Avery mesh, 12mm holes and the back was given some extra support with a vertical mid brace and two diagonal braces while the sides only received a diagonal brace each.

The Front Gates - to allow access to the run the front is made of two gates, each is a rectangular frame with diagonal brace, wire covered as before and hinged such that the can oped a full 180 degrees. This is so accress is still available when the extention run is in place. The doors clip together with a pair of 3" hooks (see photo) these work quite well and are the method used to clip the extention to the doors to secure the run to the house.

If it is not clear from the photo I will take a few more and try to explain better!