Home sweet Pete's Home

 Previously I had mentioned about how our family has come into owning a chicken that my son named "Pete."  Now Pete (yes Pete is a girl) has been living in our garage while my son and I came up with a plan to build a chicken coup. 

 This past weekend I originally planned on going out to our land in east Texas to put out more deer corn, set up the game camera and chop some wood for the winter.  As is with all good plans I was tired by the time Friday rolled around and rain and cold was what the news told me. 

 Instead we built Pete this lovely chicken coup you can see in all the pictures.  We started with an old palate that my wife made me go and get in the middle of the night from some people who had to get them off of their property so they could get a city inspection.  My wife was planning on building her dream (OK a modified dream) back patio furniture set out of palates.  On a scale of one to ten she is about an eleven on her crafts.  I still have a garage full of card board boxes that was supposed to be turned into furniture as well.

 The bottom of the coup is a palate and we filled the gaps with old fence boards we saved from when we had our fence replaced.  The the four supports are from an old landscaping timber we saved from the old fence as well.

 At an auction I purchased the chicken wire for one dollar (money well spent).  The the back boards are from another palate.  The side boards are cedar pickets from Home Depot.  The top is made of pressure treated 2.4's and two 6x2 sheets of corrugated tin also from Home Depot.  Then there are random nails, screws, and the hay.

We even built a nesting box for her with a ramp (we did forget to put the steps on the ramp) for her to climb into.  In the end I spent about 50 bucks and my son and I learned all sorts of things about how to build a chicken coup.  We could have purchased one at Tractor Supply for something like a hundred fifty dollars.  We do have to still paint it with some discount paint I purchased off of the wrong color rack at Home Depot as well.  This was a great father and son experience that we both learned alot and feel proud now that if we were homeless then maybe some palates could be our future home.  I am just saying.