It seems I didn't do much, but I suppose I did although I didn't take all that many pictures.
The guest room bathroom is now functional. Cutting the flooring in around the Tardis (shower stall) proved to be a bigger challenge than I expected, and I expected it to be pretty blecherous. I've not yet figured out how to do the final trim around the shower base, as so, I've not taken any pictures of it finished. But it's really nice to be able to take showers again.
Final install of the NSF certified Sun-Mar NE composting toilet was a big leap of faith, I gotta say. Tracey was up over the weekend when we finally 'commissioned' the toilet. I shan't go into details, sparing everyone that undignified bit, but in the end, it's been weeks now, and I can happily say,
No Smell! yes! it works!
Some reading on composting, or rather, the seminal work on composting toilets and you may read it online if you choose, as it raises some very interesting points:
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Click on image for the pdf
Okay, enough of that for now. Interested folks can learn more at that link than they likely ever wanted to know about poop.
And in the mean time, Tracey was planning to head off the Michigan with the grandboys for a week and the question came up about how to tend to the chickens in her absence, which spurred me last week to see if I could get started on realizing what I had been pondering for some time.
So I dug a hole,
Then another hole
And another hole, then another.
Then I shoveled some gravel in the holes, then set some old treated 4x4s I had laying around in the holes,
Tied it all together with some old treated 2x6s I had laying around, and then concreted the posts in. It was at this point I realized I'd missed my dimensions by 3" all the way around (of course). No matter, onward thru the fog.
In typical cold comfort style, just keep adding wood, and try to keep it in the same neighborhood as 'plumb'.
Then out comes the protractor, the level and some scratching in the dirt math.
Umm, , I'm at 40.8 degrees north latitude, , and the base is about 8' and I want a 7' roof line, and so the inverse tangent is, , ah, no wait;
I want sunlight to start hitting the inside just shy of the equinoxes and fill into the winter, then shade out the summer, so, I'm at 40.8, and the earth sits at about 23.5, so, 90-(41+23)= (winter solstice angle) and 90-41 is the equinox, so, more protractor and guessing, ,
Something like this, (I hope)
Roofing going in
I like skylights, and will probably have to sort out some kind of reflective shade panel for the inside during the summer months.
Jacking the door frames, a chicken coop must have 2 doors. I'm sure you know why.
Now, Big Dummy was a huge help on this build. However, hauling sheets of plywood is -simply put- just asking too much. So, , ,
Prius truck gets into the fun.
The strong 3" mis calculation in my initial layout is punishing me at this point. Well, that coupled with my very sad to non existent framing skillz, but it'll keep the raccoons out I think. Which is really the point. I opted for thick T111 siding despite it's cost for a few reasons. I had initially wanted to use recycled materials, such as salvaged pallet planks as siding, but I was under a ever-diminishing time constraint, and I really want the coop to outlast us, so this was really the right choice,
The warm weather window is a framed in box covered with 1/4" hardware cloth. Hopefully will defeat critters that love tasty chicken. And we all love tasty chicken, so I understand the temptation.
The cold weather window will be an old double glazed sliding glass door panel I have laying around.
The sunlight breaks to the west wall at 12 mins before true solar noon. So, I missed on my dead reckoning of true solar north on my foundation layout by 12 mins. Oh well.
Not yet done, but done enough I think. Still have some do-dads (features) to add, but right now, it's time to go fetch the girls first thing in the am. Besides, it's really hot, and I'm done for the day.
Welcome to your new home!
Happy chickens!
I had to explain the nesting boxes to'em. But once they learned about the raised platform and nesting boxes, they were quite happy with the set up.
A very expensive egg!
Some notes:
The coop's internal floor dimension is 64 sq/ft, adding in the roost and nesting box platform, I have a lot of internal horizontal space. Local codes require a minimum of 3sq/ft per bird, so, technically, I'm good for 20 plus. However, codes also limit the amount of birds we can have on a residentially zoned lot to 8. sigh. At any rate, we've got enough floor space to store the feed and bedding in the coop in critter proof containers. And keep a supply of water and such things. Also have room to add a pen for peeps when that time comes, to keep them safe from the nattering old hens. :).
Now, sadly, the local ordinance does not require an outdoor run which basically means that if the coop is properly sized the chickens may end up living their entire lives 'cooped up', making it possible for folks to have those little backyard coops that I've come to call "My First CAFO". Now, folks wanting to accept some responsibility for their own food is a good thing, a win. So, there are certainly worse things, esp for chickens. Even many of those 'my first cafo' set ups are tended to by folks who love their birds, even if they don't let them out, so it's not as bad as factory farming by a long shot. But moving right along, we want our birds out doing their chores and tending to their business of finding and devouring all the bugs, and kitchen cast-offs, fertilizing and renewing the much abused soil, and so forth. So, these birds will be 'free range'.
So, what does 'free range' even mean? Well, here in the US, not much. Seems that about all the USDA (US-Duh) requires is that the birds have to be able to at least see grass from some place where they are kept. The EU however, is a bit more realistic.
The EU defines Free Range to include (among other things) that the grazing area be covered with vegetation and maximum stocking density is not greater than 2500 hens per hectare of ground available to the hens or one hen per 4m^2 at all times. Translated, no more than 1 bird for 43 square feet.
We will be enclosing the coop area in a 50'x50x hard-fence area as materials are available. This means 2500sq/ft minus the coop. Divided up into 6 paddocks in order to be able to rest the ground 5 days to 1 day of use, or more to the point, rest for 5 weeks after 1 week of chicken scratching (which can really put the hurt on the vegetation, believe you, me) that means we'll be able to accommodate 9.6899 birds, give or take. Since we are limited to 8, we're good.
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