A Trip to the Salvage Yard

We went down to Rhode Island this weekend to pow-wow with my dad and make some serious coop headway. After reviewing all the emails that I had received regarding coop construction, and visiting Terry Golson's coop, we revised our design.

One consistent piece of advice (courtesy of the Carlisle Chicken Group, Carlisle being the next town over) was to make the coop bigger than we thought we needed. This was recommended a) because we would soon become obsessed with chickens and want more than 10 and b) because of the hard winter here, it's nice to give them a little extra indoor space.

So we revised the design. Instead of 6'x4', it will now be 6'x8', with two basement windows to give it some light.



And based on the very important knowledge gleaned from my visit to Terry's, we're going to cut through the existing shed's window and replace it with a screen door. That way we can store all the chicken paraphernalia in the shed. This also eliminates the need for a door on the outside of the new structure, which I like.




Tim and I headed to New England Demolition and Salvage in New Bedford, MA on Saturday to try and find some attractive salvage windows for the coop (sorry Terry, you had so many good ideas). This place can be cool, and it can be a nightmare. The people working there are decidedly unhelpful and it doesn't really seem like they want to sell anything (although I find this typical of many antique dealers). However, if you find good stuff, it's worth it.



Here Tim shows off our narrowed-down selection of screen doors.



Here he is with the door of choice ($35)... and the windows.



I originally picked some Victorian sidelights for the windows that were very sweet, but the gentleman wanted $100/each for them. My chickens are not going to be that snobby. I picked up these vintage storms for $20/each. They need a little love, but they're solid.

When you see a SEA of salvage house parts, it's a little depressing. All those homes... in pieces. It's a bit shocking that there are so many usable pieces for home building out there and yet we all go to Home Depot, Lowe's, etc. just because it's easier. Now granted, it IS easier. But I do love the hunt, AND we're recycling :)