Building New Coop/Barn...Phase 5 Great Barn Build, OCCUPIED! 3/6/16

[aart]

Get your umbrella and head light ready to go out and watch the water flow!
I have a drain swale that I have been dinking with for years, attached(but lower than house) garage flooded regularly until I got it figured out.
Now the chicken run is where it flows so further dinking has commenced.....
...I am out there whenever it pours rain to make sure it's going where I want it to go....the chickens don't help.

 

[speckledhen]

Get your umbrella and head light ready to go out and watch the water flow!
I have a drain swale that I have been dinking with for years, attached(but lower than house) garage flooded regularly until I got it figured out.
Now the chicken run is where it flows so further dinking has commenced.....
...I am out there whenever it pours rain to make sure it's going where I want it to go....the chickens don't help.

Oh, my chickens always help, yours don't??

They think they do, little earth movers they are. Yes, the plan is to go watch how the water flows when the rain comes and pray that it works the way it should and the un-concreted side doesn't seep under. I want that interior to dry out completely, finally. I think even when the walls are covered, I'll have to spray coating on the steel framing members up high to be sure they are not exposed to cold air and cause condensation. All this special tweaking that goes with metal buildings just to get the extra space-I think it will all be worth it in the end to have an affordable big barn, or at least, more affordable than a wood building of similar size would have been.

 

[1muttsfan]

ETA: I wanted to thank you for all your help and moral support, you especially, Anne, but all the other folks who check in on the thread to lend a hand. It's very much appreciated. Hey, I just passed 70K posts. I ought to shut the heck up, eh?

Never.

When I lined the walls in my pens I just used Luan plywood, with some of the bubble-wrap aluminum sheet insulation behind it. Not really sturdy enough for most walls, but works just fine in the pens, and much less expensive. I did paint it with an exterior primer on all 6 sides. And had to block off the gaps at the top after a young pullet fell in and I had a heck of a time fishing her out.

 

[speckledhen]

Never.

When I lined the walls in my pens I just used Luan plywood, with some of the bubble-wrap aluminum sheet insulation behind it. Not really sturdy enough for most walls, but works just fine in the pens, and much less expensive. I did paint it with an exterior primer on all 6 sides. And had to block off the gaps at the top after a young pullet fell in and I had a heck of a time fishing her out.

Actually, that's what we were considering, the very thin plywood. We found a very thin, smooth pine board at Lowe's for about $13/sheet and think we may use that for the inside, painted, of course. Naturally, any gaps will be blocked off, but we plan to put a loft over the pens so unless someone flies up into the loft while messing around in the aisle or storage area in back, they won't have any gaps to get caught in. I can imagine you trying to fish a chicken out of the wall!

 

[1muttsfan]

It was a real riot - lassos, etc. I would have had to disassemble the nest boxes to get to the wall and remove the boards if I had not in the end been able to get hold of her.

 

[speckledhen]

It was a real riot - lassos, etc. I would have had to disassemble the nest boxes to get to the wall and remove the boards if I had not in the end been able to get hold of her.

They do try to do themselves in at every turn. Ladyhawk has been trying to catch an escaped D'Anver hen for several days now. She's in the barn somewhere, but she is a spazz of the first order anyway and the only thing saving her scrawny behind are the animal hides they're tanning out there-the smell is probably keeping some animals away from the barn (open ended type). The mille fleur color is great camouflage in fall foliage as well. She was going to a new home that day and zoomed out the door, still on the lam. We call her Crazy Circe. She was hatched here and never was right in the head, LOL.

 

[1muttsfan]

Truly a little witch

 

[speckledhen]

Truly a little witch

Yes, she is! She was named Circe because her witchy tendencies were coming out even as a pullet. We should have put one of these Tile Trackers on her before she left here.




Was taking photos of our pasture lot and I stopped a few feet inside the fence line, turned back toward the house/barn and snapped this pic. I like the way the barn trim ties in with that on the house. And the seeder spread seed up the hill way up from the fence line, yea! You can see it creeping up toward the barn in the lower frame of the photo.

 

[aart]

Looks nice!
Is that a new pasture or just rejuvenated?
Chicken pasture or other animals?
Do you have any seeds wash down and clump with the deluges?
Do I ask to many questions? hahaha!

 

[speckledhen]

Looks nice!
Is that a new pasture or just rejuvenated?
Chicken pasture or other animals?
Do you have any seeds wash down and clump with the deluges?
Do I ask to many questions? hahaha!

You are cracking me up, stop it! LOL! It is brand new pasture. It was 100% woods when we moved here. In fact, we could barely find the house, LOL. We cut trails all the way down the hill, but walked less and less after the dogs passed away. I loved the woods, but we decided to thin out the trees so we'd have a more year round view of the GA mountains. The mountain on the NC side is barely visible now since we don't own the land whose trees are blocking that all summer and they've grown even taller in the last 13 years.

We may get a cow one day, maybe just look at the pasture for its beauty. May decide to plant some more orchard trees out there since now, they'll receive full sun. The seeds did wash in spots-I only know because I walked down after the big rains while it was still just blue-green cellulose mix, no visible grass yet, but it seems like they still have fairly good coverage. We only expected about a 50% germination, considering the time of year we had to do it, but looks pretty good to me. I'm pleased with it, anyway.