# Pen Re do/ add your own helpful hints



## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Well you know how you think that a project will take a few days and it takes a few weeks. Every day I think I'm going to be done and I'm not. Hopefully tomorrow and I'll get pictures.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Yeah, for me it's usually the weather that slows me up when building coops and pens (the heat.) I dont work on a coop or pen all day long, it wears me out and then I make mistakes. During the hot summer, I start about 8am and finish by noon, then call it a day. Then work on it like that until it's completed, usually ten days to two weeks depending on the size of what I'm putting together. I've only built one coop and pen during the winter. I think I hit my thumb with the hammer three times the same day in the cold temperature...so I kinda shy away from building coops in the cold. I'm no carpenter neither.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

Well, I am ready to get back on our pen redo, surgery has waylaid me long enough. Unfortunately my body and mind are disagreeing about whether I am ready to rejoin the 'building world'. Soon, hopefully. VERY soon, hopefully!


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Zamora, always nice to get back to building!

Jim, I find that most times it's the worst weather when I feel like going out to build. And being OCD, I will stay out there until it gets dark. Right now is perfect weather. 

To avoid hitting thumb, and for me all the times I really can't get the force behind what I do, and carpal tunnel, I have a set of tools that take all that into consideration.

I just bought an impact driver. Like a drill but works differently driving a screw and needs much less effort. I just don't have the power to take a regular drill and put enough weight behind it to not strip screws. Having a drill and driver makes it easy to drill starter holes for some big screws. I have this thing that takes those big U shaped fencing nails and you hammer on this knob on the top to drive the U nails in. Hammering those big nails in is a real finger getter. 

I have a guide for my drill to keep the screw straight when putting it in. I have done everything with screws because I can't take the hammering. Costs more I guess but makes things easier on my hands. And if I make a mistake, I can just un screw the whole thing.

They sell this larg scissor thing for cutting hardware cloth that cuts it faster and easier than a wire cutter. With wire cutters, it pays to buy the best you can . 

I bought a pack of washers, but there are so many that are too big for the screw head. It would have been better to take a screw with me to the big box hardware store and get the right size only.

Easy doors. I'm tired of wobbly flimsy doors that don't last long. Now I take 2 -2x4x8's. Cut each one to 5 ft and 3ft. Cut each corner at a Diagonal. The hardware is a bit pricy but it's a three inch corner fastener that covers the corner. Get rid of the flimsy screws that come with it and use bigger better screws. When finished, these doors are "Ram tough", and easy for women.

Pen wire, hardware cloth, chicken wire, or fence wire. Sorry there is no good way to put the darn stuff up. I normally get cuts and scratches, It's awful. 

I'll add more of my methods of easier when I think of them. I would like anyone to add on their own. I'm sure I could learn more.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Pennies are cheaper to use as a washer,just drill a hole through it.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

I used some 1x2s to secure the hardware cloth on the inside of the window.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Hardware cloth is easy to cut through. I use a disc grinder lol.
Nm156, I use 1x2's w/ hardware cloth and screen on the windows as well.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Cheap window idea.
1 20"x25" barn sash $16.99
1 1"x2"x6' furring strip $.99
3 lathes $.29 each $.87 cut to length and glued to front and back of furring strip to match exact thickness of the window.
1 2 pack of hinges $1.97
1 door latch $1.97
1 25" 2x4 remnant $.50
1 locking eye hook $.85 
$24.14 + 6% Tax $25.59
Sloppy paint job free


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

Cute! (Past my coop budget though.... My last coop cost zero... The one before that was 8 bucks)


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Very nice Nm156. I wish I had your carpentry skills, I'm no good at it. However, I'm a decent painter.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

VERY nice coop! I paint well - if and when I get to it. I use this big thick scissors to cut hardware cloth. I moved the coop/hutch in, and the silkies. I have the back wall sectioned off so they can't get near it until I hang more hardware cloth. So they have a 16 x 16 foot pen. They had started to sleep on a ramp instead of huddled. I worked til it got dark.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I got one pen roof done. 16x16 using horse fence panels. You can see one pic with the finished pen and the unfinished pen side by side.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

The buff hen is one as a 2 week old chick, she stopped walking, and was dehydrated and not eaten and with the help of Casportpony, tube fed and saved her life. It took 4 months for her to catch up in size, now she lays eggs. 

I see I need a few more supports to straighten those panels. : )


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

That will be super predator proof when done. Awesome!


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Here's the a fore mention window at the start. 
View attachment 18550
p1


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

The roof is done and the pen is re opened. I still have some prettying to do. But done. I actually had to stop and put a tarp up because it started raining. ---for 5 minutes it turns out.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

I am sure it stopped raining as soon as you were done with the tarp.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Yup. I just didn't want to get my tool box wet. But I'll bet some ungrateful bird chaps on it tonight. I raked a pile of leaves and stuff and you know that's gone.


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## Alaskan (Aug 22, 2015)

Yeah... I hate when they chap.


Haha!


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