Ammonia smell in coop-first time owner

[Tutti Frutti]

I've learnt from quite a few mistakes whilst building our WIP WIR (Work In Progress WIR) and, seeing as there are a few of us planning new WIR, I thought I'd share a couple of my "lessons"

 

1. Don't turf it

 

2. if slabbing just around the edges (ie under the walls) and using membrane on top of soil to keep your flooring clean, make sure that the slabs go over any joins in the membrane. Otherwise the girls WILL find the joins, enjoy digging up the membrane, enjoy digging up the soil even more and WILL contaminate your lovely, fresh, clean Aubiose!

 

3. If building your WIR to fit in a corner and you want weather protection (rain/snow/cold), fit the shower curtains to the walls before assembling, rather than after. This saves you spending painful hours inside the WIR poking your little fingers through the narrow weldmesh to feed the shower curtain along the walls that you can't get to! Not easy to retro-fit

 

4. ditto with guttering - if you're putting a roof on, you'll need it! Also, not good for a retro fit!

 

5a. If fitting corrugated PVC roofing, make sure any panels have a generous overlap and are well sealed. Otherwise, the first sign of snow and the weight will crack any weak/flimsy joints. Then the mel"Ooops, word censored!"er will drench the run! And the wet flooring will freeze solid

 

5b. If fitting corrugated PVC roofing again, make sure you have a steady slope towards the guttering. Flat rooves are a disaster! Water will puddle and strain the weak joints (see 5a!).

 

6. Make sure your door can be opened from both inside and out. Or you will be locked in!!! (ours has now been converetd to a stable door ie sawn in half and a bolt added to bolt them together )

 

Any one got any more? Please tell me, I'm not the only one!

Edited January 17, 2010 by Guest

[kevtheplumber]

great tips, my roof doesnt overlap enough, might rip it all of soon as it draws back under the roof and gets inside the run

[Plum]

I am listening to every word I like the one about the door opening from inside and out

 

Hadn't thought about the guttering. I think I am going to have to have a good look through the picture thread

[Tutti Frutti]

Oooh! Another one!

 

7. if you install a roof, make sure you fit cross-members so it's supported front-to-back and side-to-side, otherwise it'll sag the first time it rains. And then crack/leak!

 

Plum, guess who was locked in the WIR on Boxing Day

 

This was me, for about 10 minutes but felt much longer (it was flippin' cold!) ---->

[Plum]

Someone else has done that but not in the cold I think. Was it Spacechick?

[sjp]

6. Make sure your door can be opened from both inside and out. Or you will be locked in!!! (ours has now been converetd to a stable door ie sawn in half and a bolt added to bolt them together )

 

thats why I used a yale rim lock

[Ain't Nobody Here]

7. if you install a roof, make sure you fit cross-members so it's supported front-to-back and side-to-side, otherwise it'll sag the first time it rains. And then crack/leak!

 

Or if you get 6 inches of snow . Our plastic roof was sagging so we had to pull all the snow off with a rake. I did have extra batons but could have done with at least one more .

[Lewis]

Oooh! Another one!

 

7. if you install a roof, make sure you fit cross-members so it's supported front-to-back and side-to-side, otherwise it'll sag the first time it rains. And then crack/leak!

Ta

We were planning to just do side to side as we're raising it at the front

Anyone have any photos from inside the WIR pointing at the roof please? :angel: Father can't say I'm wrong again then

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Be right back .

 

Back .

Where the biggest gap is, the roof was sagging badly under the weight of the snow. We also used the extra batons to put extra screws into the plastic to make sure it wouldn't rip off in gales.

 

 

[Lewis]

Thanks

 

Are they only side to side, and not front to back?

I was going to put them the same way as that but only have 4 batons, may use more, less spaced out now

 

We looked at the flat polycarbonate sheets so the rain would run straight off but they're more expensive and can crack if water gets inside the lines apparently?

[rabbitfluff]

Another one with a dodgy roof. Mine doesn't overlap enough as well so I get water through the gaps. Also I was a bit tight and instead of using 2 lengths of corrugated roof and having an overhang, I used 1 piece that just fit. Except it doesn't because my run is a little bit wonky, so in some places water runs down the roof and in to the run instead of the gutter.

 

I also have a worrying sag with the weight of the snow because I got a bit hacked off building it and didn't build it as strong as I intended. So another lesson would be don't cut corners! I'm hoping it lasts the winter so I can re-do it properly in summer as the breaky wrist is stopping me doing any repairs at the momnent.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Someone else has done that but not in the cold I think. Was it Spacechick?

 

Been there done that ...we have a gate catch with a long loop of wire attached to the inside so I can release myself easily

 

Another pointer......do not fit a "bowed roof" of wire & strap corrugated plastic sheets as the protective part.........essentially as soon as it rains it doesn't , the rain runs along the grooves and into the run causing any amount of sogginess

 

We are now going to redo the roof, especially as it's on the verge of crashing down due to the several inches of snow which is obviously far too heavy

 

Hindsight, such an exact science

 

Sha x

[Tutti Frutti]

And an important one:

 

8. If you're making your own panels, when you think you've finished stapling the mesh to the timber frame, bang in some more! You can NEVER, EVER use enough staples and be sure to have a good overlap of mesh on the timber! See Redwing's thread for proof that foxes will give anything a try http://club.omlet.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=57039

 

Thanks for the heads-up RW (hope you don't mind me mentioning this here?). When the weather improves, we're going to buy some 10 x 50mm planks (like skirting) and screw them as cladding onto the existing wooden framework to cover the staples/edge of the wire mesh.

 

Ooh and:

 

9. If slabbing, you can leave gaps between the slabs for drainage BUT make sure the gaps are TINY - mice can get into the SMALLEST gaps as it depends on the size of their skull (so young mice can get almost anywhere saw this on "The Rat Pack" a while ago http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lyfb5 currently being repeated on BBC1!).

[Redwing]

Hubby got stuck in one of our runs as the 'gate latch' shut behind him, he dismantled the door to get out

 

I did the exact same thing the day before and calmly took the wire handle off the water dispenser and used that to neatly flick the latch open

 

It wasnt much fun re-making that door

[Plum]

Did you tell him.

 

Thanks for all the tips I shall try to learn from them and am sure I will have my own to add.

 

About the gaps in slabs, wouldn't you want to seal them to stop the ground water rising. That is one reason why I am contemplating a concrete base. At present damp comes up from below

[Redwing]

Did you tell him.

 

 

I didnt think to It didnt occur to me that he would do the same thing

 

I didnt seal my slabs and yes they do get damp but I have so much woodchip on top of them it doesnt really matter, if I was using Aubiose I might think differently

[Tutti Frutti]

About the gaps in slabs, wouldn't you want to seal them to stop the ground water rising. That is one reason why I am contemplating a concrete base. At present damp comes up from below

 

I think it depends on your soil and where you are. Ours is really solid (like cement already!) and bone dry as we're surrounded by trees. We've put membrane under the slabs but only to stop weeds and dirt rising to contaminate the bedding! Even when it was hideously muddy in November, it's only an inch or two on the surface - when we dug down, it was still bone dry

[majorbloodnock]

Hubby got stuck in one of our runs as the 'gate latch' shut behind him, he dismantled the door to get out

 

I did the exact same thing the day before and calmly took the wire handle off the water dispenser and used that to neatly flick the latch open

 

It wasnt much fun re-making that door

 

Do you mean one of these?

 

That's what I've got on my WIR door, but I just drilled a fairly wide (10mm or so) hole through the post just above where the catch is and another hole through the thumb piece of the latch. I then cut a 2ft piece of nylon rope, knotted one end, threaded it through the latch thumb piece, then through the post, then made a loop on the other end of the rope. That means I can shut the door behind me so the chooks don't get out, open the door again to get out and didn't spend silly money on a fancy yale lock.

 

I did, of course, test that it worked before putting the mesh on, though.....

[Redwing]

Good idea, I did think along those lines but assumed it would be too hard to drill through the latch, obviously I was wrong, thanks will give it a go

[Lewis]

Just having another read - really helpful thread