Hawken farm week two: Wensday-Thursday

The weather was nice enough on wensday to start working outside again. First thing in the morning, I helped Mr. Wilson unload the rototiller from his truck so we can cultivate the garden soil when the chicken coup is finished. After this, I went inside and worked on cutting the rafters for the chicken coup roof and a plywood ceiling for the nesting boxes in the chicken coup. The nesting box ceiling is important because it keeps the chickens from pooping in the nesting boxes. If they did, the chickens would be reluctant to lay eggs. I then installed the rafters and then placed the ceiling of the nesting boxes in the coup. I screwed in the rafters to keep them from moving but I just set the nesting box ceiling on the top so that it could be removed in the future for cleaning. Next, I brought out a circular saw to cut windows in the chicken coup. Windows are needed to let in light and also increase ventilation. I then stapled the mesh we bought to cover the window.

On thursday, our only goal as a group was to finish the chicken coup! We got started right away. Stuart went and worked on attaching the corrugated plastic roofing the the rafters, as well as cut a large rectangle in the ceiling board to create more light and ventilation. Allie and Liam went the home depot to pick up the remaining hardware and stain we needed to finish the coup. I worked on the roust for the chickens to stand on and also the ramp for them to walk up into the elevated chicken coup. Stuart found a 10 foot branch that we cut down to about 8 feet to use as the roust. I screwed in ply wood on the ends to more easily attach the roust. I then used the left over ply wood from the walls to create a ramp for the chickens to walk up. After lunch, Stuart finished the top window and cut down the roof so that it wouldn't have any over hang. Allie finished staining all the chicken coup. I cut trim for the windows and installed those. I also installed door latches and handles on the coup. The last thing we did before finishing the chicken coup was make a 12 by 25 foot inclosed area for the chickens to roam and also put chicken wire on the space between the coup ceiling and roof to keep out predators. While we are not completely finished with the Chick coup, we have done the majority and thursday night is the first night that the Chickens will stay over night at Hawken.

We also started to rototill the garden but only finished about a quarter of it. Here are some pictures of the almost finished chicken coup!