Ramblings on planning for and the building of a chicken coop...

I have been 'teasing' everyone for a couple of weeks about building a chicken coop. For once in long time, it was not raining this Saturday so I was able to break ground and finally get this project started. This has been something I have been wanting to do for over 2 years now, and by golly it is gonna be done before June I hope!

The picture above is what it will look like when I get finished with everything...

Before I get into the actual construction of the foundation I would like to talk about placement of the chicken coop.



The picture above shows my site planning. It is very important to plan where you will keep your chickens at so they will not be a bother after you worked so hard to build a home for them. You don't want to hear that rooster right outside your bedroom window as you are sleeping in on your off day. You also don't want the prevailing winds in the Summer blowing right into your outdoor entertainment area and bringing with it the 'scent of a chicken'... and I am not talking about BBQ chicken on a grill either!

I have studied the prevailing winds for my area for several years so when I got my coop, I would know where to place it. It is also close enough I can keep an eye on it if I need to.



Basically the building is designed to sit on a slab foundation, but it can also be setup on treated wood runners directly on the ground. I didn't want to go with either of those 2 option so I made up a third... Build a slightly elevated platform to get it off of the ground.

First of all I AM NOT A CARPENTER... I repeat... I AM NOT A CARPENTER!!! Sure I have fiddled with wood before, even built a few things, set a few posts in concrete (never when they had to line up though), but never anything like this so far...

I am a perfectionist as well as someone who can build ANYTHING strong from a engineering perspective... but not always the cheapest or most efficient way... So if any of you carpeneters out there read this and laugh... I never claimed to be an expert, but hopefully I will gain some experience with this project...



Looking at the pictures of my foundation, you are probably thinking, "wow that son of a gun is gonna be HIGH!!!". Actually the 4"x6" on the front posts is gonna be where the building will sit... not the boards on top of the posts... they were left there after some of my crazy plumbing and squaring techniques! The posts will be cut off much shorter but will have a little stub sticking up to tie into the building's floor.

I had a real hard time drilling the posts for the 5/8 bolts because all I had was partially charged batteries. As I would get close to getting done, I would have to wait until the other battery charged. Sad thing is that I got a serious set of Dewalt cordless tools with batteries... It was just I did not expect my project to progress as well as it did today so I had not charged them up!

I still have a bunch more work on the foundation part as I want to add another set of posts in the middle with a 4"x6" beam to give the building a strong support! Like I said, it may not be the easiest way, but it will be the strongest!!!

So hopefully that has wet your whistle this week and let you know that ZA finally has got the ball rolling on the coop!

Thanks for reading!

Later,
ZA

Ramblings on One Second After by William R. Forstchen...

I have been hearing a bunch of great things about "One Second After" by William R. Forstchen as a great 'think' piece on what America might be like after an EMP(Electro Magnetic Pulse) in a very enjoyable, easy to read work of fiction.

I was pleasantly surprised that the story took place in an area of North Carolina I once lived near. So the story took on a very vivid and personal note as I have tread upon many of the places that were mentioned in the book. I could easy see the pictures that Mr. Forstchen painted for me in my mind on the canvas of my memories of those places.

The story is about a man named John Matherson who lives East of Asheville in the beautiful small town of Black Mountain, NC. As we begin the story, life is business as usual as it would be in any small town. As we read on the power fails, until we find out later on in the story that America has suffered a EMP detonation that has crippled all of our technology that we depend on so much today.

Later on in the story we discover how John and his community try to struggle to survive and still try to maintain a resemblance of civilization. How they handle power hungry towns as well as the 'golden horde' that eventually tries to plunge the last bastions of civilization into anarchy. How John struggles with ethical and moral decisions that regard others as well as his family...

The characters come alive and you really feel their pain and feel as if you know them. Even though this was not the typical SHTF/TEOTWAWKI novel, it is probably one of the best written scenarios of how how things could come to pass should America fail to heed Mr Forstchen's warnings.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars and I highly encourage you to get a copy of this book and read it...

After reading it I found some holes in my own preps and some things that I have never considered before, but are being corrected as you are reading this...

Lord forbid that this scenario (or any other World Changing Situation) ever play out, and hopefully this will get the folks in Washington realizing that this is a threat that needs an intelligent discussion and gets 'their heads outta the sand'...

Thanks for reading! Now go read Mr. Forstchen's book!

Later,
ZA