The building of Pea Palace(Pic Heavy) - Page 19

I had the chance several years ago to buy sheet metal from an almost new tool shed that was almost 100% completely built when we had a storm come thru here with high winds which blew the shed over,,insurance paid the farmer for new,,I bought about 30 pieces of  this metal siding from him for $200,,,it's 36" wide,,perfect for peas,,as with your idea of using plywood or OSB,,,it comes in 4x8" sheets,,a little tall at 4' and a little too short if you cut the sheet down the middle at 2',,rain would warp and ruin wood without constantly painting-treating it.

 With more rain predicted to fall here in the next 72 hours than we've had here the past 3 months from hurricane Isaac it has been long past due for more progress on the Palace.I added several shelters in outside pens today.Mainly  scraps  of left over metal siding nailed to the board across the top of the pens sight blocking metal sides so they can get under something if we do get the 7" of rain predicted.

 My main focus after completing the shelters for the BSSP,IB,Purples,MBS was then to start building pens inside the new building we finished.It is a 24x30 all metal homemade pole type structure built on one side of the existing old corncrib.There are early pics of this in the thread when we still had to add the sheet metal to the roof,,it's now about 95% completed. I am working on making 2 inside pens for the outside runs adjacent to this side of the building.My Bronze and Opal B/S pens will be first and after completed I'm going to add my 1 yr old Opal and Opal pied hens with my 3 existing Opals b/s birds.

  I have two poles set about 9' apart directly in the center of the building attached to and helping support the peak of the roof.Naturally it  would be easier to just split the building down the center but after a lot of looking,doing other things and thinking about this,I've decided to make all the inside pens on the inside east half of the building 8x8 pens.I will have 3 pens on this side when done leaving me a 6' entry door to haul in feed,ect. The pens constructed on the west side of the inside of this building will be 1) 1 pen will be 16x8 and the remaining 3 west inside pens will each be 8x12 feet,,leaving me a walkway about 3 1/2' wide off to one side in the middle.Thie will give me 7 inside pens and leave me one space open that will be 6x8 to store feed,ect.

   I got two interior walls done this afternoon but will need to tack 2x4" welded wire fence up to the roof. I'm using 3/8" OSB 4X8' sheets as the pen walls,coming off the top of them with the wire to the inside roo.I will have to make entry doors into each pen as well which really eats up time.I hope by tomorrow afternoon I have at least the Opal B/S  and Bronze inside pens completed.

  When we set the roof rafters up  they are toenailed to a 2x4 and  2x6" boards that spans across the tops of the 4x4 posts used as the wall.The ratfers are 2x6 so there was a 6" air gap that needed to be filled.This cutting and measuring took a long time on just the two  pens I'm working on but things will move along tomorrow.Since this is a Pic Heavy thread the camera will be snapping away to prove the progress made.And when the Bronze and Opals are allowed to  come inside for the first time,that will be a Kodak moment as well.

Switch on variable speed 3/8" drill took a permanent day off,,,I use drywall screws ro attach almost everything.It's much faster and wood friendly compared to pounding nails and upsetting the peas outside,,good thing my bro-in law is also a do-it-your-selfer,,,off to town to get another drill so I can still get something done today!

It was my trusted Makita that I've had for about 10 years now.But it let me down in a pinch so now its torn apart.I think the switch is bad,,another $2 part to make they charge $40 for,or a new drill for $100 when they only have $10 in making it,,oh well,,I did get something done in the few hours before the sky blackened here.This is what I've been working on and that is to close up the opening under the rafters to the top sill.Roof rafters was 2x6"s and thats plenty of room for a varmit to squeeze thru.Heres a pic of before to show this opening.

 And here is a picture after I have closed some of these up.

 Next I started to make the inside pen walls with 3/8" OSB 4X8 sheets. The farthest pen in the corner will be for the Bronze birds who is in the pen just on the outside of this inside pen.The next pen will be for the Opal B/S peas,whos pen is just on  the other side of the wall.

Doing things by yourself sometimes is challenging.You devise ways to achieve and overcome.Here is how I know what length to cut the 2x4" boards that will be used for the walls.I used the tape measure which also works great as a plum-bob for  hanging straight down. This is very helpful when sighting for straightness as well.