A hen house for £30.

The scaffolding is gone, the drainpipe has been reattached, the TV signal is back (blocked by the scaffolding), and the roofers asked if I wanted any more pallets, and could I use the broken ridge tiles?
Oh Yeah!
The broken ridge tiles are a curved, half cylinder piece - not intact but still plenty of room and curve on the large bits I kept. I'm keeping them for a pond project, they'll be fab for wildlife hidey holes near the edge of the pond. Might put some in the hen run for fun too.
Why are you laughing? Hens like fun too! I've had hens before and they do enjoy different height things to scratch round and peck at, and it helps them establish a strong flock pecking order. Different levels of things in the run also helps them keep their feet out of the mud when it rains.
Today is the first day of the summer holidays, the kids are at home - or out with friends, or being anti-social in their bedrooms.... and the sun is shining. Time to get out the power tools and get cracking with the hen house. I'd already placed the roof tiles and batons but not fixed them into place.

Three supporting batons running from the tall side by the fence to the lower side over the nest box, with 2 pieces of overlapping reclaimed roof membrane for extra waterproofing and insulation over those, and then 4 batons running across the supports to hold the tiles in place.
A recent trip out produced a length of guttering and a drainpipe that I can cut to size and fit to stop the tiles dripping onto the nest box. The drainpipe will take rainwater from the roof down into a container for the hens to drink.

It's not the size I was looking at getting but it was free! I'll need to find, or buy, the clips to fix the guttering and pipe in place, and a connector bit to fit the pipe to the gutter. But that'll happen at some point before the run is attached, after the wood preserving stain goes on. In the meantime I'm working on the roof, and then the back of the house - which is still open and needs a door - and the ramp.

The featherboard cladding is going on round the edges of the roof, with mesh cut from a reclaimed trampoline net being used to fill the gaps for ventilation - hens need plenty of ventilation.
The roof is really working, and I've been irrationally pleased with it. Having put the tiles in place to protect the membrane and batons, the inside of the house is staying nice and dry, apart from the back, which is open. But, it works, it really works, and I made it! I'm loving the lack of expenditure too.
Costs so far:
Screws and other fittings = about a tenner I think, might be £15. I've sourced everything as cheaply as possible and haven't kept definite track of the cost of each piece so far.
The wood preserving stain was £5.99 and was bought for the pallet planter project, but with other jobs in mind.
So, about £20ish so far, and I don't think I'll need anything other than the gutter fittings to finish the hen house. Those should be about another £10 if I get them new.
£30 for a spacious, solid, posh-looking, hen house? That'll do nicely.

Fifteen pallets and some chipped roof tiles.

The roof is done, the scaffolding is still here, and the less said about corporate incompetence and lack of communication the better. The gas is back on. Don't ask.
So, on a positive note, the roof is finished and I hope the scaffolding will be gone next week. Stacked up in the back garden I have fifteen pallets, and a pile of slightly chipped roof tiles.
I'm thinking about the chicken coop. Did I ever tell you about that? No?

A whole pallet for the house floor, supported on sections of pallets cut to size, with reclaimed fence posts to add corners and structure for the upper section of the house. The idea is that the hens will have some shelter under the house for their food and water, with paving slabs for a drier area, to shelter from the weather. We have rather a lot of weather in Wales...

The sides are reclaimed board from a broken fence panel given to me by my next door neighbours at the back. And this is where it stalled last year when the weather got the better of me, I ran out of supplies, and one of the cats became rather expensively unwell with long term implications to boot!

This is where it is today. It's all got overgrown, but the supplies are there to get on with the next stage. I'll be putting the roof on next, seeing if I can fix the hatch panel for the back - for cleaning and access for checking the hens. It also needs wood stain and preservative painting on - I have plenty left from the pallet planter project. Then I can think about the run.
It's all reclaimed and reused wood - the base is a whole pallet, the sides are fence posts and pieces of fence panel, and the roof will be roof tiles. The run, which will be attached - I can't have free ranging hens here - will be more pallets. In the end I will have to have bought the hardware - screws, nails, hinges, handles etc - and some wire mesh to cover the run sides and top.
I'm thinking about how I might add a strip of guttering to the hen house roof, and if that could run into a drinking trough for them? Fresh rainwater every time it rains, could be fab! But what to do if it overflows? Obviously, if it doesn't rain I can just take a watering can and fill it up... But if it goes all monsoon on me, as it does through the year at irregular intervals, will it flood the chicken run? Could I just angle the drinking part so it overflows outside the run? This will require more thought and planning!
I think I should be able to get a length of guttering and the fittings to do the hen house, and the shed - to go into a water butt - for not a lot of expense.
I think it'll be far too late to add hens this year by the time I'm done, but next Spring!

'Shroom update, and other growing news.

I have little, tiny, baby, barely visible but there... Mushrooms!

I know, you can barely see them, but those little white dots are actual tiny mushrooms, and more are appearing every day. I've never managed to grow mushrooms before, I'm quite excited. I'll keep you posted as they grow, and I'm considering getting a box of the chestnut ones next time I'm in Poundland, which may be slightly mental as I'm the only person here who eats them. But it's fun.
In other gardening news, we have pumpkins growing nicely after a slow start.

We've been using toilet roll inners as bottomless pots for carrot, beetroot, and parsnip. We've done that before and had good results. The seedlings in the pic below are, from the back, Carrot (purple haze), Beetroot (Perfect 3), and Parsnip (Tender & true). They're not ready to go up to the allotment yet, but are outside now, growing well.

We're off to the allotment this afternoon, with this lot to plant out, and armed with fork and hoe for weeding, and more spuds and onions to go in. We're putting half the courgettes up there today, and a few tomatoes, to see how they do. The broad beans need to move as their roots are now trying to escape the pots at the bottom. We also need to put some netting, or something, over the plants up at the allotment so they might survive long enough to produce something we can eat! We're repurposing an old trampoline enclosure. The mesh is tight enough to keep pests out, but should let rain and sun in. We're going to give it a go anyway.

The first French bean is just emerging, and we're hoping for more over the next few days. No peppers are up yet, but I seem to remember they take ages to germinate. And, we got given some cucumber plants. I've never had any success with cucumbers, but they're fun and it's always worth trying again. The cucumbers need to stay indoors, on a windowsill, in full sun for most of the day. They're doing well at the moment, looking strong, and we'll see how they do.
I'll take the camera with me this afternoon and update with allotment pics tomorrow, probably...
Enjoy the sun!