Off to a Flying Start

sorry about that rather tenuous chicken related intro, but the henhouse is started!

After much scrounging and planning, i got two pallets from Hillam Feeds, and broke them up yesterday, today i marked out and cut the big sheet of plywood i inherited in the garage. This was covered in handles and bolts, think it might have been a cover for a trailer. Anyways, it will form the floor (removable) and the roof of the henhouse. The rest will be made from salvaged planks from the pallets (i think about 10 pallets in all) and some 3x3 legs, if i can scrounge some.

So, i now have a stack of planks...

19 planks are needed for each end section, thats about 2 pallets worth. One end is fixed and will be slightly larger than the other, which will be hinged to allow me to get in to clean it out. The floor will slide out that end as well so i can scrape the poo off.

The design of this house has been done so that, from the outside, it will look a bit rough, with all the framework external. The reasoning behind this is that it allows the inside to be as spacious as possible and to have the minimum of corners, so cleaning and controlling red mites should be easier.

Its off shopping now, i need hardware (nails particularly) so i can crack on building. The salvaged handles and bolts from the plywood will be used as furniture for the door end, i need to scrounge some big hinges and loads more chicken wire.