The inner makings of a chicken coop!

(The two white boxes on top... please ignore, everything loaded, I just cant delete them for some insane reason.. but its a free site, so I'm not complaining)

The amount of wood and cement WEIGHED down my F250

I had 5 1/4 inches of clearance with the wood in the truck!

Without the wood my hitch has over 9 1/2" of clearance!

Some of the wood from the truck

Foreman Cheyenne approving the 8x12 coop floor

Using a timber framing method to help save on cost. 8' 8" high front wall

Some of the hardware

I went to the "local" wood yard/home improvement store 35 minutes away (B & B supply in Highland Ar), and I must have looked like a deer in the headlights. A sales associate (Brandon) found me in the nail isle looking like a dummy and I think he knew right away I am very much a beginner (pretty much sums up my whole experience out here so far) when it comes to carpentry.  After looking at my plans from 1976 (it was outdated, even the nails have changed!) and analyzing what I was trying to do, I made a custom order instead that hopefully took some of the total cost out of the coop. I will tell you this much, a truck load of wood, nails, hardware, and cement will cost you right around $600 in material. Luckily the walls of the coop will be made out of timber that came with the property.

After I got back to the property, it promptly started raining again, and even though I got everything pressure treated, I felt that the best thing to do was get it in under cover as soon as possible to prevent any type of warping and future headache. Luckily I had a guy from the timber yard that was "assigned" to me to help me load my truck with all the wood, which was great because I would still be there scratching my head trying to make it all fit in the truck bed, but unloading it was all me.

After I got it all unloaded I decided to just keep on working, and next thing I knew I had the floor of the coop all nailed up and with joist's. When I was finished I couldn't believe that I even was able to do that by myself, but once again found a good sense of accomplishment. I hate to keep patting myself on the back, but I never imagined a few months ago I would be running fence lines, building and tilling large gardens, pulling rocks and building a chicken coop! I have never built anything this large before. I believe I helped a buddy in Washington state as a kid nail some scrap pieces of plywood in a tree to make a fort, so as I move along in this particular project, I am feeling more and more confident on my ability to make something from nothing, and I cant help but take some pride in that.  I hope I don't bore you guys with my constant amazement with myself. :P

Basically, the only thing that is from a blue print is the floor. From there, I am taking over and going completely custom from here on out. (SCARY!!!) But, at the end of the day, its a chicken coop, not my new home. The goal from this project is to make it functional and somewhat visually appealing. I plan on making both goals a strong reality. When I start putting my energy into something, I tend to pour myself into it. I just have to keep going while the steam is there! So, after I was done with jointing the floor up, I decided to make one of the walls out of 4x4. (We are going with a timber frame to save on materials and money in wood. Once again, its a chicken coop, not my new residence.) After I was done, it looked GIANT, total height of the wall is 8'8". So, while that was originally going to be the back wall, I have made it the front wall and it will house a door and window. The back wall I plan on making 6'8" high so that will make the roof flat and sloped. (that's the goal anyway, not feeling trusses and extra cost)

This was all done yesterday Friday the 23. So tonight I will have another post about what I am doing today... leveling the cylinder blocks and putting the skids down outside to rest the flooring on so I can finish building the coop. This stage of the construction, I could definitely go without, and think I will call in the pros to lay my foundation on my personal property because.... IT SUCKS! :P But yet again, ohh so rewarding when its done... and I can say, the leveling part of it... IS DONE... more to come, stay tuned!