A new coop for the flock

Having a flock in the backyard has certainly been a learning experience for us! The coop that we built last year has been wonderful; it is light weight, easy to move around the yard and it keeps the Ladies pretty well contained..... for the most part......Fern has figured out how to get out coop if the house is not lined up just right and the dogs have figured out how to get in if the sides are sitting cattywhumpus. (it is not the birds they are after, it is the alluring chicken scratch that inspires them to break in) The birds flying the coop would not be such a big deal either except for the fact that they jump the fence to the neighbor's yard and while I can mostly appease the neighbors with eggs on occasion, I rather not have birds running around the neighborhood all willy nilly. Then the "Arctic Blast" hit Vancouver in December with more than a foot of snow and it became obvious that the coop was not designed for snow loads either!

So with the rough winter behind us and hens that are flying the coop in the afternoons, I decided it was time to re-vamp the ladies living arrangements.

It all began with a vision of PVC.... With a few joints, some cuts and a bit of glue I could easily build a lightweight, sturdy and secure chicken coop, right!? A pretty straight forward weekend project. No problem!

Gee, if it were only that easy!! The more I thought about it (and had Russ's guidance) the more I realised what I needed for a roof, supports and joints, I came to the realization I had a full blown engineering, design and construction project on my hands. So I hunkered down to get it done!

The first step was to figure out what parts I'd need so I had to draw it all out. Fortunately, Russ had all the tools I needed to make it to scale. There was much sketching, erasing, figuring, re sketching, crossing out and revising in the initial phases. This quickly became more than a weekend project! As I quickly realised, the complicated part of PVC comes when you want to make something 3 dimensional. Plumbing wasn't exactly designed to go 3 or 4 different ways so finding the parts for a corner of a cube isn't always easy. Fortunately, the Internet will find you just about anything you want, and I did find a supplier in Oregon that carried exactly the joints I needed for the roof and corners.

The next step was to lay the whole mess out and figure out what lengths to cut the PVC.

So far it sounds pretty easy and straight forward, but I assure you, this was quite a brain teaser to figure out how to make all the corners work, how much PVC to get, and still have an angled roof with braces to hold up to wind, snow and whatever other weather we might get in the next few years. And on top of all that to make sure all the joints are square, you really have to think hard in what order to assemble the pieces to have it all come out square.

So I measured, calculated, measured, scribbled, cut, measured and repeat a hundred times over until I had a bucket of pieces and a list of measurements ready to assemble. It was sort of like a huge Lego's project. I made a diagram and labeled everything as I cut and measured so I ended up with a bunch of different lengths of PVC with letters on each end... A-L with letter on each joint telling me where to fit everything together. I must say, it was pretty clever the way I kept myself organized.

Then it was time to start putting the frame together....

Then came the next task of calculating how to get it to the backyard before the final gluing and chicken wire installation. So more configuring and calculating, and careful maneuvering through the canopy (storage area) and I got it all in the back yard in 3 or 4 pieces. Phoenix was pretty happy to have me move the project to the backyard, as she wanted to oversee the progress too. She approved of the design.

After a few more days of attaching chicken wire and then configuring the roof tarp, the coop is complete.

It took the ladies a bit of coaxing to get in the new coop, but they seem to have settled into their new abode rather well. It is much roomier than their old pad and it even has an out door roosting option. (they have a perch inside their hen house, however this new pen has an outdoor roost as well. The roof provides ample protection form the rain and sun while the sides can be pulled up when the days get drier and warmer to allow more for more air flow. It is quite the elaborate chicken hut, that is for sure!

Even though there is still snow on Star Mountain...

..my garden is planted! I couldn't resist. We had a few days straight of sunshine and warm temperatures, not to mention the Home and Garden Idea Fair (a big plant fair and sale for local vendors and Clark County residents) I did some plant shopping and decided they all needed to get in the ground while the weather is good. I have 5 tomato plants; Brandywines (a tasty heirloom variety), Early Girls, Romas and Sungolds. I also have 4 pepper plants(bell peppers and one chili pepper for salsa), spinach, beets, lettuce, carrots, basil, beans, cilantro, broccoli, onions, peas, radishes, cucumbers and cantaloupe. The peas and carrots I planted early, they are coming up and doing very well. I think I might get a squash or two going in the next few days too. I am also trying my hand at asparagus, but I know I have to leave that one alone for a year at least. I have little sprout on it already though! I must have done something right.

I am trying to keep the garden a little more orderly this year, so I have more substantial tomato cages (some of my tomatoes exploded out of the cages and all over the ground last year) and I am going to try to teach my cantaloupe and cucumber to grow up instead of out... we'll see how that works out.

In addition to tomato cages, I also put "Kozy Koats" around the tomatoes. They are a cylinder of water you put around your plants to help them stay warm and better absorb the sun's rays on cool spring days. I have heard many gardeners rant and rave about the wonders of these protectors, so I thought I'd give them a try this year too.

More Spring!!!

First it was cherries now it is apple, redbuds and pink dogwoods showing thier tribute to the warmer weaither and londer days! The color is out and spring is here!!! I even have a bloom on my little redbud I planted after moving here from Georgia. I LOVE the redbud color its like a big lavender tree when in bloom. That and a pink dogwood; my favorites! There are several on our street that I have been enjoying this past week .

1 year and many more to go!!!

Russ and I have been married one year today!! In celebration of our first year of marriage we took a trip out to the Gorge for a hike and to look at wildflowers. We went to Catherine Creek, a park in Washington, just off HWY 14, out past White Salmon. (about an hour from Vancouver and just east of Mt. Hood and Cascade mountain range) We found beautiful views of the river, the bright purple Camas, in full bloom, a drier ecosystem and a welcomed sunnier- than-western- Washington sky.

A meeting of bright lights

Russ and I loaded up the doggies and a case full of flashlights and struck out for Seattle Saturday afternoon. Our goal was to meet a group of Northwestern flashlight enthusiasts from the Candle Power Forum (an online information sharing group to which Russ belongs) We arrived at the icnic site at dusk, a good size group of light flashers had already gathered, but Russ figured the best time to be at the scene would be after the sun went down so everyone could get a better idea of shining lights. There were a number of followers there with tables full of their best and most intriguing lights to share. Russ brought a case full as well. As the sun went down, more and more lights came out and there was much shining, spotting and flashing going on. Good thing we were in a remote picnic area along a large lake where we wouldn't disturb anyone too badly. There were one or two HD lamps and a laser or two (that ran on car batteries) that had some serious throw to them. Those operators had to be careful to only aim the beam at a solid surface in the water and not up or across the lake as they would indeed attract potentially unwanted attention from across the way.

It was a friendly and fun gathering. Everyone brought some sort of food and there were all sorts of sharing of ideas and lights. I have a suspicion there will be more flashlight gathering planned for the future....

Construction Project: Phase II

Last summer, Russ took on a construction/design project for a friend. He added extensions and a roof an existing deck... it came out so well that the home owners wanted him to come back and build an addition to the other side of the deck. So Russ has been working diligently on building a pergola over the other side of the deck. He managed to find some beautifully lumbered wood from a mill in Oregon and has been designing and joining the wood with groves and notches. It is an impressive structure and it is coming together well.

Spring in the air? well... it is starting to look like it anway

The days are getting longer, the grass is starting turn green, the ladies are laying more regularly and the rain is.... well it is still falling and it is still cold, but it is starting to look like spring around here so maybe it will start feeling more like it sometime soon!! I can hardly wait for a bit warmer temperatures to get the garden planted. Actually, I did put some broccoli in the ground along with some carrot seeds and peas. I figure they can brave the colder temperatures just fine. I have added 2 more beds in the front yard for more growing room. I will put raspberries in one and tomatoes in the other...