Victory and defeat

The day started out with great optimism. We were going to finally build the hen house door.

When we walked out to the coop to take final measurements, we were met with a flood in the run. As the weather warmed, bringing rain storms to melt the foot of snow out back, it transformed our yard into a swimming pool. We measured 3 inches (!) in the run alone.

In all fairness, we’re not done with the run yet. We plan to fill it with tube sand, which would help with drainage. While initially alarming, I told myself there’s nothing I can do right now. Since it’s mid-January, I’m guessing we’ve still got a few more snow storms before the ground gets a true opportunity to thaw out.

Since we’re getting the chicks in March, and they’ll live in our house until May, that gives us plenty of time to drain the pool.

So after shaking off the shock, and snapping a few pictures, Matt and I retired to the basement to build the door.

We had struggled with the design. Really struggled. We looked at countless variations of the Wichita Cabin Coop, and for months just couldn’t figure out the construction.

Then about a week ago, it was if an angel visited Matt. A chicken angel. Suddenly he had a vision. It was clear what we had to do.

So today we went about putting it all together. We build a basic frame out of 1×4 wood, then reinforced the frame with 1×2 wood. Then we laid in tongue-and-groove pieces that we stained last night. Matt cut some pieces shorter to accommodate a window. I helped by putting in the screws.

The final product is gorgeous. Much better than anything I could have imagined since we started this project.

Installation is tomorrow!