As we're coming into an age of scarcity, with a dramatic increase in living expenses, we must look for alternative ways of living below our means while not feeling like we're regressing. Because everything is going up, supply chains are broken, and the economy worldwide is probably being manipulated in a way that will not help the majority, we have to learn to think of our world as our elders use to.
Homesteading is not a new thing, it may have a different meaning today, but the concept of self-reliance is the same. There were lots of times people had to rely on their know-how to thrive. I love to bring up the 8 forms of capital, because it shows how there literally are riches all around us. Even in times of economic depression!!!
Our good friend needed to find a home for some chickens, and we happily took them in. We are both part of each other's social capital. The only catch was that I needed to protect them long enough to build them a proper coop, and a chicken run.
The chain link fence area was already here when we moved into this house, and it quickly became the place we would imagine chickens would be.
Night time was on its way when I decided to build a temporary structure for the chickens, so that they wouldn't become something's dinner... we already had taken a chance the night before, without a coop at all, so I really needed to get on it, and build something quick.
Luckily I had collected a bunch of scrapp plywood, and other dimensional lumber from the last TV show I worked on. The wasted material that comes out of the film and TV industry is ridiculous. I've buit a few structures from scrap lumber(including a barn) I collected on other jobs.
First I gathered my thoughts, and looked at the material on hand. I wanted to build something that required the least amount of cuts. I had a pallet, and a few of pieces of plywood that would do the job just fine.
Notice that the back piece is slightly higher so that the roof can have a slant to let the rain run off. I screwd a piece of 2x4 as a ledge for the roof to be supported by, and have something to attach to.
I also decided to build it in place, so I wouldn't have to move it. It proved to be a little tricky because I placed it against a corner, which gave me little access to screw it together. Some parts of it had to be stitched from the inside, so it took a little more thought. I just had to add some 2x4's to the next piece before placing it where it needed to be.
Once that side wall was put in place, I grabbed a full sheet of plywood (4'x8') and screwd it on, where I could. That's where that ledge on the back wall came in handy!
It's nearly done:
These chickens have no idea they'll be sleeping on the film set of "Pretty Little Liars" tonight. That back wall came from the floor of the high school we had built!
All we had left now was the front wall and a door!!! That was easy really, just cut a piece of plywood to fit, and left enough room for the chickens to get in.
By this time, the chickens were all asleep on their perch I had put up temporarily the night before, so I moved them all into their new home one by one and closed the hole with another piece of plywood.
It took me about two hours to build, with a little scratching of the head, I figured it out with the material we had... only made four maybe 5 cuts, and best of all was that I didn't even look at youtube.
I ended up fixing the coop, a few days later (when I had more time to spend on it) to be more practical for us, and more confortable for the birds, with a trap door I can slide up and down from the outside of their run!!!
I'll write a post about that one of these days for sure. For now, I'm happy to let you know we slept without worry this night, and the chickens were all safe when we woke up the next morning!
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