Upgrading the Shed Roof
Whilst the shed has a wooden roof that is loosely covered with plastic it’s not the ideal long term solution (!) and this temporary roof is being replaced with metal sheeting that will last for years and provide the hens with a dry indoor environment. I decided against using the supplied felt for the roof […]
Moving House
The shed’s all set up now – apart from a few finishing touches – and the girls have started to move in! We put down some thick plastic on the floor to help with cleaning, and weighed this down with bricks in each corner to also add a bit more weight to help reduce the […]
The Wheels Work!
There’s still a few things to do to the new coop but it’s almost ready for the girls to move in and today we moved it to the field to get it into position. This was a test for the castors and the method I’d used to attach them the base of the shed and […]
Shed to Coop | Base
The base of the coop is now complete and is effectively a large trolley that the shed will be attached to. We wanted the coop to be moveable and finally settled on 260mm pneumatic tyre castors to achieve this – two fixed and two swivel. These were bolted to two 150mm x 50mm stretcher boards […]
Shed to Coop | Painting the Walls
The shed had an initial coat of paint at the factory but the wood isn’t pressure treated and needs to be painted with a preservative – an ideal excuse to choose a nice colour scheme for the girls new home! For the front, back and sides we chose Cuprinol Natural Stone after being inspired by […]
Shed to Coop | Ventilation
The shed conversion to a coop has started! Having considered this for a while, the modifications won’t be as much as I initially thought, but one thing that does need to change is the ventilation that the coop will have, so I’ve removed a section of each side panel to allow good airflow. There’s no […]
Shed Shopping
Today feels like we’ve taken a real step towards scaling up – we’ve bought a shed! When I say shed, I mean coop, and this seemed the most cost and time effective way to have strong and secure housing for the first group of 50 hens. Going forward I’ll build the housing, but initially, using […]