So somehow my family talked me into chickens this year. Well it just happened to work out that the best place to incorporate an indoor coop and outdoor run was where my current 10x12 enclosed trapping room was inside our pole barn. I was cramped in that space as it was so I was itching for a reason to do something bigger for my fur shed. So early this spring, my trapping room became this:






So finally got started on my new fur shed in early May when one day the wife and kids come home with a couple of rabbits so I stopped the fur shed and built this to hold the rabbits:



So finally got back to the new fur shed. Its going to be 12x24 addition off the back side of the pole barn. This is in the edge of the woods and required a few trees to come down. Ground falls off fast so my plan is the floor to be deck construction (6x6 post support) treated lumber through the floor joists then frame construction above. Separate man doors into the barn and to the exterior (this will help a lot with my access into the barn as well.) Going with T111 siding and metal roof. I forgot how much I despise digging holes. Too many large roots and large rocks to auger so they were hand dug with a spud bar and clam-shell digger. Finally got the holes done, gravel spread and a little demo work. Lumber coming tomorrow morning. Going to take most of the summer due to my schedule but just need to be done by the fall. I have a good vision on how it will come together, but there is a little bit of design/build going on as well. I will share some photos as it progresses.





No sure why some of these photos are rotated?

Cool,man's gotta have a place to work.i spend a lot of time in my shop especially during trapping season.

Awesome! Can't wait to see it as it progresses.

On a side note, I am about to rebuild the nest boxes for my hens. How are those large nesting boxes working out? What are the dimensions?

Is that a full 4 inch lip on the bottom of the boxes?

Can't say how the boxes are working for egg laying as those hens are only about 10 weeks old. They so like to sit in them a lot but certainly no eggs yet. Boxes are basically 16" cubes. I think the two on the ends are closer to 12" wide just due to the length of the wall. The lip is a little under 4", probably closer to 3". As I mentioned they seem to like getting in the boxes so we will see when the egg laying commences.

So made a little progress last weekend. Finished our season coaching ball last weekend as well so i should have a little more time to dedicate to this. Progress is slow as I am a one-man band on this one.




OK, this is crazy. The pictures are right side up on my computer and phone. Then when I upload them they end up rotated. Maybe I will figure out the picture thing by the time I finish this project!

Gravity is really going to work on you

^^^ I bet he got a lot of gravel in his eyes, setting those footings.

Looks like a great place to house the next livestock the family decides on.

Hope this helps as I was having problems following the plot in the creative photo displays like a French art film at Cannes.

Question: What kind of chickens did you get and were they mail order or store? Thank you

The chicken being 10 weeks explains why ithe boxes look so big in the picture lol. Looking forward to future updates.

[quote=star flakes]Hope this helps as I was having problems following the plot in the creative photo displays like a French art film at Cannes.

Question: What kind of chickens did you get and were they mail order or store? Thank you


Chickens are from Rural King. I got three different breeds:

Black Sex Link
Australorp
Rhode Island Red

So I had some time to work on the new fur shed over the last week. Spent a bunch of time this weekend. Went through more shirts than I can count bu made a lot of progress. Everything just takes longer when you get the ladders out.










I have all the framing done (more or less)...walls up, rafters done, roof purlins done, sub facia on the eave. I did not get a picture at the end of the day yesterday but I have all but one sheet of T-111 on the lower 8'. I was firring out the upper portion of the two gabled ends with OSB to overlap the upper T-111 with the lower. Still have some work on those areas. I also now have the synthetic underlayment fastened to the purlins and will order my metal for the roof now that I have good dimensions.

Oh and I finally figured out how to get my pictures right-side up.

Well, finally pretty much wrapped up the new fur room. Still some organizing and internal amenities I am considering but it will be functional as of now. Pretty happy with everything except for the floor. I tried the deck coating on 3/4" TG OSB. I am afraid it will not hold up. I am likely going to need to cover it with something after this season. Ended up costing a bit more than i hoped, but much more space than I had before.

looks great

Looks Good

Oh man, cool man cave!
Jim

Looks great. Gives me some ideas on my pole building.

Looks like fine job you did.

Looks good. Are you gonna insulate and heat it?