a good idea gone bad

Building a chicken coop (8x8), getting all teh walls framed, then figure that I'll build the roof on the ground, roof it all, then just pop it up
Great idea huh?

The roof is 8x10
Build it all, get the plywood on, put the tar paper on, put the roll roofing on.
Great
Ok honey, let's lift this up and put it over there.

OMFG, this thing must weigh 500+ lbs [Shock]

got it halfway up, wife is getting squished, oh $hit
ok, run adn go get the tractor, put hte forks on it
Ok, that holds it
kinda
Now WTF are we going to do with it?
We got it moved, it's up against the garden fence
I have NOOOO idea how I'm going to lift it up onto the roof
who wants to help? [Weight]

2-3" dia pipe or fence post/logs. you can roll it up and onto the top .
me and the missus moved a 12x10 wood shed using 5) 2" fence post.
get 2) 4x8 1/2-5/8 " plywood tie them together using a few (3-4) 2x4's underneath, this way you have a ramp. lay the 2) 4x8 up against the coop secure the roof with some strapping ran over the top and while you pull back on the roof with the tractor have the missus place the rollers under the roof. if you go slow it might take you 20-30 mins tops. if you dont do it right well the roof would end up on top of your collasped coop.

OR have a few of us over to help you. lunch and some .223 would sway me.
NAH........ forget the food, with the price of grain steaks are up there. the .223 sounds good.

I wouldn't go and build any boats in your basement if I were you [:D]

i would help if i was a little closer. how many chickens do you have? my current flock consists of about 50 with 20 eggs going in the incubator this weekend. we also have 3 geese and 2 turkeys.

Zero so far.
We thinking of starting with like 5 to 10 this year, then getting chicks next year.
Coop is 8.8 (should I say palace?) and that should be enough for 16 chickens.

Tell me about chickens, you obviously know a lot.

What kind of chickens you going to get?
For eggs?
For meat?

my coop is 8x8 too. 30 will go in there to sleep no problem. even more if you build you roosts stagered. i have about 60 chickens right now and have two coops, other one is 12x20, about half of them choose the smaller coop. just make sure they have a big yard with outside shade and you"ll see how little time they will spend in there. what do you want to know? i'm no expert but i have hatched chickens from eggs. we have 20 going into the incubator in the morning.

I can run over any time Brian!

i would just start out with chicks. my first mistake was buing adult chickes that were someone elses problem birds. if you buy chicks now they will be laying by spring and feathered out enough to be ok for winter. my chicks from febuary havent started laying yet and should just start in a few weeks. they will just be going into full lay for winter. then you have to give them light to keep laying. my new hatch "if all goes well" will be ready to go for spring and i can let the first group moult. if you are buying for eggs chickens lay the most in the first year, almost everyone gets rid of them after their 2yr because the egg count goes down. i use mcmurry hatchery for our baby chicks but you have to get 25 at a time. if you got 22 hens and 3 roosters you should be good to go as you will lose a few for one reason or another. you don't want less than 6 hens per rooster or they will fight. they seem like they handle 10-12 hens each. i also find if they grow up together they are nicer. they might pick on somebody if it is a different breed we have 7 breeds and the bigger ones run the show.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 7idl

I wouldn't go and build any boats in your basement if I were you [:D]

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You've been watching NCIS too much.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnTRourke

Building a chicken coop (8x8), getting all teh walls framed, then figure that I'll build the roof on the ground, roof it all, then just pop it up
Great idea huh?

The roof is 8x10
Build it all, get the plywood on, put the tar paper on, put the roll roofing on.
Great
Ok honey, let's lift this up and put it over there.

OMFG, this thing must weigh 500+ lbs [Shock]

got it halfway up, wife is getting squished, oh $hit
ok, run adn go get the tractor, put hte forks on it
Ok, that holds it
kinda
Now WTF are we going to do with it?
We got it moved, it's up against the garden fence
I have NOOOO idea how I'm going to lift it up onto the roof
who wants to help? [Weight]

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You need a crane! Seriously Brian Be very careful that you don't collapse your frame work when you attempt to push the 500lb. roof up (poles, ramps, or what have you,) That's a lot of force. One thing that might help is to secure the walls with braces and if you haven't put on the siding yet, go ahead and do it first. Hopefully the siding will reinforce the structure enough. If your not on a cement slab foundation then block and secure the bottom to the ground so it can't slide around on you. Good luck and be safe. [Worth]

how high did you build the walls? how about some pics?
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...l/IMG_0036.jpg

I'll throw some pics up later, it's kinda busy round here, I might actually make some money this week (IF NOTHING blows up, again)
Would be a nice change.

chickens for eggs.
Might run a chicken tractor next spring for meat chickens.

Got it up, conned a few guys from church and a neighbor, wasn't too bad. Yeah, i thought of it collapsing it too, so I put some siding (you know, the ones that don't need to be cut) and some braces
Worked pretty well, got it up, nailed in, then put some hurricane braces on it.

The really sad part is that it's a design-build project and I realized yesterday morning that I made the building 8' by 8'3" instead of 8x8
oppps
I'll just "adjust" some things to make it work.
It is, after all, just a chicken coop. [Beer]
The TajMaCoop

I have a Hovabator incubator for sale, with auto egg turner, if your interested in hatching any eggs. Has chicken and quail egg trays. PM if interested.