Aviary Netting-Pen enclosure ideas?

[frenchblackcopper]

Okay,over the past several days here we have managed to get all the sheet metal on all 3 sides of the "Peafowl Palace". We have about 1/3 of the roof sheeted but today the winds howled at 40 plus mph,,so it was a good day to go out and observe the metal that has been attached.I'm sinking 5 -2 1/2" sheet metal screws every 2' of metal siding,,,so on the roof being 14' long metal sheets,,with rafters every 2' apart,this adds up to 35 screws per sheet.One of the downfalls of living in the flat prairieland here is the strong winds that lasts for several days at times.And once a piece of sheetmetal gets loose it won't be long and it will be ripped away.
But while inside the new palace today,I had thought a 10'x10' interior room would be big enough,,now I think it's oversized.For one male and possibly 3-4 breeding hens how much inside space is sufficent? The interior space is 24x30,,I planned on a 4' wide walkway thru the middle then 3 equal sized pens being 10'x10' each.This looks way bigger than necessary to me,,and if the size can be made smaller it would allow me to have more breeeding pens and runs outside.I just want to utilze the space effeciently.If 6'x10' inside pens will work okay for maybe 4-5 birds,this could allow me 5 pens on each side,10 total instead of the 6 I had previously planned.My 2 year olds now stay outside 80% of the time except when it's windy like today.Even when it gets down to 20 degrees at night,as long as theres no wind they stay outside. Imput please?

 

[bandbaustin]

Randy I bought my netting at pacific netting products. They are real good and have great customer service. You need a hand getting the netting up, I am off on Friday's and saturdays.

 

[bdfive]

I've read there is lightweight netting but very strong. Is this true? I think I wrote about having a fence built as a courtyard for the peas to get out into from their 10' by 30' pens during the day. Thinking 6 feet, 2" by 4" non-climb wire then net the top. I'm concerned about the weight and work of getting that netting put in place. Anyone?

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Band,,had to help my bro-in-law today replace their entire roof that blew off a building in town from the high winds we had here on Thursday,,he wanted to pay me,I said no,how about exchange labor,,he agreed,,then I told him what I needed help with,,digging 60 post holes for the outside pens,,,my plan is to have all the sheeting on before the weekend is over.Then I'm going to mark off the outside pens with stakes and string,mark where the postsholes needs to go,,then try to rent a trencher. I want to bury bricks all along the outside perimieter of the outside pens,and the new Pea Palace,,about 210 feet total for this stage.Next weekend will be pen building time,,hopefully have the posts set next Saturday with Saktere and be able to string 2"x4" welded wire,and sheet metal along the bottom of each pen.If your that ambitous,,,plan on it.But it will cost you to look at Kingsford,,lol!
Bdfive,,I've been staring at this website for netting,http://www.jacissel.net/gambirnet.html they give breaking strengths of all the nets they sell.I'm planning on using 2" diagonal with a 125lb breaking strength because of heavy snows we get.Getting the net up and over the pens once the walls have been made will be a 4 man job and everyone will need stepladders working 8' off the ground for sure! I'm still thinking of making a PCV pipe framework,attach the netting to this,then use the posts for the actual pen fence to winch this framework up,then put the inside pen posts where they need to be and sakrete them in.I don't want to put the netting in a pile in the middle of the pens,then try to find the corners,then start pulling it,and have it snag something and get ripped before it's even used.I will do this the easy way,,,the longer I think on it,the more "improvements" I'm coming up with.

 

[flgardengirl]

How high up are you guys placing your roosts? I want to make sure mine are high enough that the males trains won't drag when they get them lol.

Chickenzoo: I am rethinking the just burying posts in the ground thing. Today we got a crazy microburst or some kind of wind today out in NW Jax area that lifted one of my carport greenhouses and flipped it upside down about 50 ft away from where it was originally. None of the plants were damaged oddly! This greenhouse has stood up to 60mph winds in the past so it must of been some crazy small tornado or something that did that. So if I use one of these carports for peafowl I am going to have to cement in the posts for sure.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I had planned on outside perches about 4 1/2' off the ground,possibly 5' leaving 3' above,yes I too had considered the train still dragging the ground.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Anyone here plan on a serious building project this year? I went to Menards today and got lumber and posts for just one side of the new Pea Palace,,I'm constructing a 50'x50' pen that will be divided into 6 outside pens,The 35 posts and 75 2x4's cost me a small fortune,,just short of $600,,and I still have the netting ($100) and 2x4 welded wire to buy($210)

I still have the otherside of the Palace to pen off,,,maybe I'm overdoing things,,?? I don't want this to fall apart in a year,,but the hobby of raising peas is really getting deeep into my pockets.