All posts in Unsuccessful DIY

This post is coming to you from the lesser-half of Interiors by Kenz. Usually I’m the behind the scenes person, making the blog actually RUN. Today is different though; today I am going to tell you the tale of when I accidentally built a chicken coop when Kenz what as orchestra rehearsal.

As you may remember, Kenz and I got chickens. We debated about what type of coop we should build. And then we went to Disneyland and tricked my brother left my brother to look after them (and the dogs) for a week. When we came back we found out that we had in fact bought MUTANT CHICKENS (and one rooster). They grew about triple the size in the week we were gone.  (One of the ladies is also a man.  Shoot.)

I feel bad making my brother take care of them, but not as much as you might think. He DOES still owe us money for a chair we “sold” him (no real, actual money has changed hands yet), and we brought him back a super awesome shirt from the Magical Kingdom.  (Not a poncho.)

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Upon our return to find our little baby chicks had tripled in size we realized that they were WAY to big (and stinky) to remain in the house. I decided that the next day I would set out to build a temporary pen for them in the garage until we could decide what type of coop to build.

So, the next day I stopped off at Cal-Ranch on my way home from work the next day (sidebar: I don’t recommend going back to work the day after vacation… it sucks) to buy some chicken wire for my TEMPORARY PEN. While I was there I bought some wood shavings to be used as bedding for the pen. After I made my purchases I headed home to start my quick little project.

Some of you might know (and the rest of you will learn) that Kenz and I never hesitate to knock down walls. Because of that (and the myriad other projects we get up to) we have LOTS of scrap material. This meant that I had plenty of wood (he-he, get it?) to get the job done without a trip to the beloved lumber department at Lowe’s. I started the project by clearing a spot in our junk-filled garage for the TEMPORARY PEN. Basically all I did was put away Kenzie’s panting supplies. Seriously, the girl has more left-over paint than the blue-man group after slow-season.

After cleaning and some quick measurements I began cutting some of the scrap into what would form the frame of my TEMPORARY PEN. And then I measured and cut some more… for sturdiness? Whatever, I just wanted to do the job RIGHT.

Some of the cut up scraps, all ready to be screwed together.

TEMPORARY PEN

Well, I got the basic frame laid out in my mind… and added to it (wouldn’t it be nice if they just had a little roof here? And a ramp there?). So I cut some scrap up for that too. At some point I realized that plain old drywall screws just wouldn’t do, so I sent Karl to the store to get some SPAX screws. Seriously, these are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. They come with a special bit, and they are designed so you don’t have to drill pilot holes. USE THEM.

Well, like I said… I set out to build a TEMPORARY PEN. But that’s not really how it worked out in the end. With some simple modifications to what I ended up with I can easily add a tin roof, or even a planter box. Now all we need to do is get rid of that rooster… chicken soup anyone?