My Little Hoop Coop

[fuzzi]

And I had a revelation. Of sorts. There's a Lowe's on the same side of town as Tractor Supply!


Duh.

We're going to meet friend at TSC so he doesn't waste time and fuel going back and forth.

 

[Baymule]

Had 2 sets of twins this morning, different pens/fields. Had to get all ewes and lambs out of night pens, out on fields before I could move moms and babies to pens. Got all 4 scrapie ear tagged, CDT shots, watered all sheep, fed pens of rams and moms with babies, buried afterbirth, came on for glass of water. Still gotta give hay to the captives. LOL

THEN I can get on tractor and move dirt,
It’s been a good morning!

 

[fuzzi]

We're going to meet friend at TSC so he doesn't waste time and fuel going back and forth.

My "ride"!

I bought:
8 cattle panels
4 2x4x16' PT lumber
4 2x4x8' PT lumber
4 1x4x8' PT lumber (for door)

What a blessing it is to have good friends!

The 4 cattle panels I need for the coop.

The other 4 we put between the old shed and the small one. I'll use them later.

Oops, wood's too long for my big shed!

Moving them over to the extra cattle panels:

I put those short boards on top of the spare cattle panels, and slid the 16' boards on top.

All nicely supported so the boards don't warp.

I spent the next three hours going through the big/main shed, looking for needed hardware. Some of the boxes I sorted through were from my dh's man cave, full of odds and ends including hardware.

SCORE!

And since I hate not being able to find things, I did a preliminary sort and organize and set up of the workbench in the shed. It was covered with boxes and stuff.

It's not perfect, but it is a good start.

Tomorrow I may start zip-tying the cattle panels together. I'm not sure if I have enough, but more have been ordered.

I'm tired, but it's a good tired.

 

[Baymule]

You go girl! Cow panels, lumber, AND you found hardware!! Whoop!!!

 

[Baymule]

I moved dirt today! My Kubota is 23 HP, the bucket is only 4 feet long, but it sure beats a shovel and a wheelbarrow! The yard is not big, the hoop coop will go at the end of the porch. So it’s good I have a small tractor. The bush hog is on it, so that cuts down on maneuvering in tight places, but I have a dirt pad now!

I drove the tractor on the dirt to pack it down.

I stopped a few times to rake it out with a garden rake. I measured to make sure I was giving plenty of room.

I sure didn’t do my yard any favors. I stood on that spot and the ground was bouncy. So naturally I rocked from foot to foot, the ground quivered like jello. Must be high water table!

Beautiful day! Bright blue sky! And dirt therapy! I have a dirt pad now to build hoop coop on.

 

[fuzzi]

I moved dirt today! My Kubota is 23 HP, the bucket is only 4 feet long, but it sure beats a shovel and a wheelbarrow! The yard is not big, the hoop coop will go at the end of the porch. So it’s good I have a small tractor. The bush hog is on it, so that cuts down on maneuvering in tight places, but I have a dirt pad now!

View attachment 114813

I drove the tractor on the dirt to pack it down.

View attachment 114814

I stopped a few times to rake it out with a garden rake. I measured to make sure I was giving plenty of room.

View attachment 114815

I sure didn’t do my yard any favors. I stood on that spot and the ground was bouncy. So naturally I rocked from foot to foot, the ground quivered like jello. Must be high water table!

View attachment 114816

View attachment 114817

View attachment 114818

Beautiful day! Bright blue sky! And dirt therapy! I have a dirt pad now to build hoop coop on.

Excellent! You're on your way.

I drove a Kubota once, when we rented a rustic cabin on a NC barrier island. We had a blast.

 

[Mini Horses]

Wow -- both you gals have great starts!!!

Bay, you may have it done before you get chicks!

 

[Baymule]

Wow -- both you gals have great starts!!!

Bay, you may have it done before you get chicks!

I sure hope so!! I got 18 days to git’er done!

 

[fuzzi]

Wow -- both you gals have great starts!!!

Bay, you may have it done before you get chicks!

I built my first hoop coop in January/February two years ago. It's warm enough this time of the year to work without gloves.

 

[fuzzi]

It was a damp day, temperature didn't make it to 50° and it was "spitting" rain, so I decided to forego coop work.

After seeing @Baymule 's previous hoop coop...

...I am thinking of adding a solid material to the roosting end this time instead of a tarp. It's too damp here for OSB, and I am looking at another material that could block wind and wet without breaking the bank. T11 siding looks promising but it's almost as expensive as weather ready plywood

But buried in the shed may be a solution...

It looks like a sheet of plywood, about 4'x6', with a 2x4 attached. Ron started a lot of projects, it might be from one of those, forgotten for several years. It's behind two lawnmowers and piled stuff, so I'll dig it out later this week, to see if it might work.

If I added a solid end, something like like @Baymule 's coop above, I would probably leave the bottom 24" of the coop open to the air (with hardware cloth of course!).

Or possibly using a cattle panel on the end.

Thinking... thinking...