Today's activity included a little bit of chick preparation, with a lot more to come in the next few days. I went to Erikson Grain and purchased a large bale of pine shavings for bedding and 5 lbs of medicated chick starter feed. The feed is medicated to help the chicks build immunity against coccidiosis, a nasty bacterial illness that the babies are susceptible to. Many die from the infection. Although the likeliness of my chicks getting it is low (I've never had poultry in the area before), better safe than sorry! The chicks stay on it for their first 1-2 weeks--then, they can go with regular feed.
I got cracking on the coop's roof today. Or at least tried to. Actually, that started on Thursday, when I brought my two 2"x8"x8' rafter boards to the high school for Mr. Arabian, the wood tech teacher, to help cut for me. It was a very difficult cut along the diagonal of the board--a cut that neither my sister nor I had enough experience to make. I'm very grateful that he was willing to help me with my project. Thank you, Mr. Arabian!
I wanted to complete the cuts on the rafters today, so I could really start the roof. But, I ran into a road block--we had no good way to make one of the necessary cuts. The blade on the chop saw isn't big enough, and my sister and I do not trust ourselves with the circular saw (it's a very rusted blade, and we were having trouble figuring out how to change some settings on it). I am waiting for one of my friends who owns a table saw to return from a trip to help me make the cut. She'll be back soon.
I was, however, able to work on the roof purlins (long parts the roofing panels rest on) in the meanwhile. I cut 2"x3"'s to the appropriate length, and then attached them to make longer pieces using mending plates. So I got a head start on that step. I cannot complete the roof until I have the rafter cut, though.
Attaching two-by-threes using mending plates
Incomplete rafters awaiting further cuts.
Four long purlins
Later in the day, I began to frame the henhouse of my coop. I had to toe-screw braces into my already-made frame (toe-screw=screw at an angle). I had some problems here too--one of the 5-foot pieces I cut did not fit flush with the rest of my frame (I really should have measured to be safe, but I also can't afford to cut more of my 2"x4"'s for this). There was a quarter-inch gap between the brace I was trying to set up and the stud from the frame. But I did not run out of ideas, although it was a close one. I used small wedge-shaped pieces from a previous cut to fill the extra space. I'm pretty proud of my last-minute fix.
Example of toe-screwing. The screw is inserted at an angle into the adjoining stud.
My quick fix! Filling the gap with scrap pieces!
More pictures and update to come, hopefully. Stay tuned for chicks!! :)
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