Or is it? Is wainscoting in again? Or did I just date my coop?

Not that it matters. I didn’t install it for looks (and there are no trim boards, so there’s a big finish no-no); I installed it for safety and cleaning. For safety: it keeps the chickens from pecking the asphalt paper and either damaging themselves (it is STICKY when it gets warm), or picking holes in the vapor barrier. For cleaning: the boards are made of solid PVC (polyvinyl chloride) which is a kind of plastic. Easy to clean and water-proof. It was not cheap (but cheaper than wood boards), but I am hoping it will work long term and be worth the investment. The whole coop isn’t cheap, for that matter, but we aren’t raising chickens to produce eggs for big-box company A, we are raising chickens for our personal educational, health, and entertainment purposes. We do have a budget, money set aside for the project, and are tracking costs. Not that I’m sensitive about installing wainscoting in my coop.

There was some debate on whether to paint the floor of the coop or not. Painted floors are more water resistant and easier to clean. But because most people keep some kind of litter on the coop floor at all times to make the clean up of the droppings easier, bare floor does just fine as well. It came down to: if the floor was to be painted, it needed to be now or never. This week is forecast to be beautiful and a can of latex floor paint is $23. So my husband and I cleaned out the coop last weekend, and this week I painted the floor a nice brown. I like it better than gray for floors. And it didn’t cost any more than the gray, except for about 5 minutes to get it mixed (I went to the store early on a weekday). Totally worth it.

The paint needs 72 hours to fully cure, so I should be able to move things back in this weekend.

My husband put up the metal roofing last weekend! Hurray! Another tick on the check list. It is pretty and shiny right now, and reflecting the spring green from the budding trees.

I did paint the doors, but still need to get the trim painted. It was not in the cards today.

My folks are in town visiting and while the kids have been at school, my Dad and I have been working on the chicken coop. We now have doors! The weather will have to stay nice longer to get the doors and trim painted, but I’m so very exited that we are dried in!