Build a Chicken Coop Very Important Tips on Building a Chicken Coop

Chickens arent choosy animals, but they require few things in their life to stay happy, healthy and lay eggs regularly.


Light

Chicken are very dependent on light when it comes to their life cycle.
That is why you have to build windows in your chicken coop that will supply a lot of light.
Especially in the mornings.


Second use for windows is creating air circulation inside your chicken coop.


Failing to supply your chickens with an appropriate source of light will decrease their performance and cause them to lay eggs less frequently or during weird hours.
This, however, should be done under supervision of someone who knows how to build a chicken coop.
The other thing you have to remember is that with electrical light, your bills can get really high, so my recommendation is to always search for natural solutions.
You should estimate how many chickens you are going to keep and based on that choose an appropriate plan.


If you are unable to find a perfect fit for your flock, always choose bigger coop.

The next dramatic result of keeping your chickens in a small space is, aggression.
They also tend to break their own eggs so, pay attention to the size of your chicken house.
It can be the single reason that will kill your entire undertaking.


There are many ways you can cut the cost of construction.
This, however, requires information on what kind of materials are chicken safe and, which arent.
Yes, it is possible.
You will be surprised how much stuff you will receive.
It is better to wait until you save an appropriate amount of money, then rush into construction.




How much time can you spare

Your time limitations are very important when you are discovering how to build a chicken house.


Taking care of your chicken house is very important.
By creating a simpler construction that is easier to access and keep clean, you invest in happiness and health of your chickens.
They will make cleaning and collecting eggs way easier.
This simple trick will allow you to hose down your chicken coops floor, helping you to save a lot of energy.
It should stand on an even, hard ground in order to be durable and useful to your chickens.


What kind of a climate you are living in? Does it rain a lot? What kind of a soil is in your backyard? Is it cold for most of the year?

If you are living in a place, where the soil is very soft and it rains a lot, you should raise your chicken coop above the ground, or else it will drown with time.


If it is cold in your area for most of the time you have to use thicker materials and insulation that will help your chicken to remain warm during harsher weather conditions.
For more specific advice on heathers ask a person who has experience in the area of how to build a chicken coop.
If yes, you may think about building a mobile chicken house.


The only disadvantage of such a solution is the size limitation.
This, on the other hand, will force you to build a chicken coop which size allows you to carry it.
If it is very soft you wont be able to pull your chicken coop through it, without getting stuck.
But this issue is of utter importance and if neglected can lead to loss of your entire flock.
You can do it either by asking people near you or searching this information on the Internet.


If they will try to go from the top, you should cover the top of your chicken run with a fence.
If you think they will try to dig their way to your chicken house, make sure you dig the fence at least a foot into the ground.
Try to find ones that have a tight fit, multiple latches and overall there is no way to get in, for unwanted animals.
That is why you shouldnt rush in to the building.
It is plain stupid and you will have to spend more time doing necessary modifications then, you would spend on the entire construction, only if you would invest more time into crucial preparations.

Read More : Chicken Coop Guide

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On the Nature of Shop Time

Einstein was right - time is not constant.

My shop demonstrates this to me on a regular basis - "Ill just work on this for 15 minutes!" and then "What?! Ive been in the shop for 2 hours?" Of course, Im not complaining - I love being in my shop. Im just always amazed, and a little confused, at how it happens.

This time, I decide to try to document the happenings in "shop time." Here goes:

I am finally starting to believe that the Shaker cabinet might, just might, be finished before my son starts crawling. Todays job was to start making the molding for the top and the step-back. In a remarkably sensible move, I decided that there wasnt enough time to finish - Id just rip the strips, clean them up with a plane, and stop. "Should take about 15 minutes."

First - find the board I am going to rip. Okay, there it is - half-way down in the center of a stickered pile. Sigh. Well, nothing for it, start moving wood. Unpile. Pick. Pile. Not too bad.

Put board on bench. Set marking gauge and mark off two strips, one on each edge. Flip. Repeat. Done.

Move board to saw bench. Grab rip saw from till. Start to cut. What? When did this thing get so dull? Oh...probably when I was ripping the bamboo flooring...with its "scratch resistant" coating...probably "saw resistant" too. Hmm. Okay.

Get saw vise. Put piece of 2x4 in bench vise. Clamp saw vise to 2x4. Clamp saw in saw vise. Get file - the one with the handle so I dont hurt myself. Oh. That one is too small. Hmm. Okay.

Find piece of birch in scrap pile. Find brass plumbing fitting (I actually knew exactly where it was!).

Take birch to shavehorse. Rough it out with drawknife. Fast! Clean up with spokeshave. Cut off with saw. Round end to fit brass cap. Clamp cap in vise and drill hole through for file tang.

Hmm. It moved off-center. Okay. Clean up with rat-tail file.

Screw onto birch handle. Clamp handle in vise. Drill two step hole for tang. Clamp file in vise, tang up. Get propane torch. Heat tang. Force handle down over tang. Pull back off. Reheat. Reforce. Whack with hammer. Done. Wait. The "nut" look of the brass bugs me. File it round. Okay. Now its done.

What was I doing? Oh yeah, ripping molding strips. Right. Need to sharpen the saw first.

Run jointer down saw teeth. This creates small flats on top to the taller teeth. In theory, on ALL the teeth, but this saw is a long story. I bought on eBay years ago, and boy was it messed up. I tried to reshape the teeth, and didnt do half bad for my first try at that, but its not perfect, and the teeth are only slowly becoming more uniform each time I sharpen it.

Doesnt matter - works great anyway. At least when it is sharp, so back to that. Reclamp saw lower in vise, just below the gullets. File every other gullet - trying to remove half of the flat on the top of the teeth. Reverse saw. File remaining gullets. Not bad. Not perfect - but plenty good.

Back to the board waiting on the saw bench. Rip. Rip! Holy smokes is it better! When was the last time I sharpened this saw? Rip. Rip. Done.

Hmm. I wonder if I have time to clean these up with the jack plane? Look at clock. "What! Howd that happen?" Drat! Need to clean up and call it a day.

"But it will only take about 15 minutes to plane those two strips..."

Get plane...

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More work on the Media Cabinet

So for the last couple of days I have been working on milling more wood for the base. I really need to get the base right or the whole thing is going to be off. Also, as usual, Ive made a slight design change. In the stock picture, the base is flush with the rails and posts. I liked this, but it was going to be trickier than I wanted it to be. Also, Im using solid wood, not plywood, so this would be an issue with wood movement. So, Ive decided to change it to set on top, like a table top, with a 3/4-1" overlap on three sides (not the back). This solves my wood movement problem (sort of) but will also dress it up a bit; Im going to use a classic ogee profile on it. So, with that, Ive done all my mortise and tenon joints for the base rails.

From MediaCabinet

Here it is all dry fit.

From MediaCabinet

I have not glued it together yet as I want to add two cross braces about a third of the way in from each side. This will give me better support and also give me another place to screw the base into the bottom with slots for wood movement.

Next I milled up the 4/4 lumber that is going to be used for the base.

From MediaCabinet

And here they are LOOSELY dry fit to the bottom.

From MediaCabinet

I still need to cut them to exact length and glue them together. Im not in a huge hurry for that as I had to order the router bit I need for the profile so it wont be here for a while. But I think what I will start on next are the two main vertical support in the center of the cabinet, as well as the outside verticals. Im not completely sure how I want to attach these to the base, but I am leaning toward mortise and tenon here as well; input welcome on that one.

Well, back to the jointer and planer...

Be Safe!

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Rolltop Desk Rescue and Thoughts on Shop Satisfaction

I think it is interesting how shop projects give me satisfaction in various ways. In my experience, there are at least three distinct kinds of woodworking satisfaction. With most projects, its the creative aspect that I enjoy. With others its the challenge, or problem solving. And sometimes its just the tools. This last project was definitely in the third category.

Id been looking for a new desk for my classroom. I wanted something on the smaller side, with character, and definitely wood. After a lot of time online I found exactly what I was looking for - sort of.

It was a smallish roll-top desk and I really liked the way it looked in the pictures. In person though, it had problems - and a lot of them. It looked like it had fallen off a truck or down some stairs or maybe off a truck and down some stairs. Almost all the leg and panel joints were busted - or I should say had been busted. Someone had done some questionable repairs with a ton of glue and nails. Huh.

Clearly this was going to be a project and not just a purchase. I thought about just walking away, but it was the only desk I had found so far that I liked and it came with an awesome old wooden swivel chair. I ended up getting a much better price and it came home with me.

Now as projects go, this one was a little bit of a challenge. I had to figure out how to completely disassemble the desk without completely destroying the "repaired" parts or doing new harm to the few undamaged joints. It was also not without some creative elements. I had to create a new system of glue blocks to support the more damaged parts. However, it was the tools used that gave me the real satisfaction.

First, as I was getting ready to add the glue blocks, I needed to scrape off the old finish and much glue from earlier repairs. It just so happened that I had a cool old scraper holder sitting on the shelf. It worked great, and felt just perfect in my hand. I love putting old tools back to work; they just seem so happy.


Second, as I was adjusting the angle on the glue blocks the oak was really putting up a fight. Both my "go-to" jack and block plane were not quite doing it. I could have sharpened them and they would have done fine, but instead I decided to give the old bevel up jack a try. Shazam!




Talk about "the right tool for the job." Awesome and such a pleasure! Now I know a lot of folks are going minimalist, and there is a certain satisfaction in that (which Ive touched on before). I guess Id put that in my "challenge" category. But there is a special kind of joy in using a tool for the exact purpose it was created. For the purpose at which it excels. No "jack of all trades" but a true specialist. Could I have done this job without this tool - without a doubt. Would I have missed a deep and powerful satisfaction - yes! Im glad I have that tool, and glad I used it.

Oh, and the desk itself? Here are a few shots of the final outcome:

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