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

[aart]

The only part of it I like is at night, seeing it by the moon. It brightens up the night. .....

It does that, even when the moon is dark.
We just got about 8-9" over a couple days....hasn't been much cold or snow this season yet, not like the last 2 seasons.

 

[speckledhen]

Still, it's nothing like a full moon on snow, love that, but I HATE the aftermath. Expecting a larger storm than previously expected. They're saying at our elevation 5-10" and 50 mph wind gusts. Off to get batting for a quilt I'm working on so I can keep going. I hope I don't run into the "milk panic" crowds at Walmart.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

Hi Cyn,checking in. Is it still snowing?

 

[speckledhen]

Hi Cyn,checking in. Is it still snowing?

Yup. Thought it was just going to be a dusting with lots of big winds but then, after 8 a.m., it began coming down faster. Still isn't more than an inch, but blowing sideways. One of my old hens isn't doing well. My splash Ameraucana, Snow, has shown signs of extreme weakness. She's had some arthritis for awhile now, but she balances on her wings a lot since the cold weather began, lots of trouble walking. I'm not sure she'll make it through this winter. She's just now turning 8 years old and has been recently laying, even.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

Yup. Thought it was just going to be a dusting with lots of big winds but then, after 8 a.m., it began coming down faster. Still isn't more than an inch, but blowing sideways. One of my old hens isn't doing well. My splash Ameraucana, Snow, has shown signs of extreme weakness. She's had some arthritis for awhile now, but she balances on her wings a lot since the cold weather began, lots of trouble walking. I'm not sure she'll make it through this winter. She's just now turning 8 years old and has been recently laying, even.

I am so sorry to hear about Snow. She sounds like she has a mighty spirit since she is still laying at 8. It is a shame your new barn isn't finished so all of your flock could be snuggled up in there. The howling north wind we have had for the past few days has been hard on our young flock so I cannot imagine the effects of bitter cold like what you all are experiencing on older girl.

 

[speckledhen]

I am so sorry to hear about Snow. She sounds like she has a mighty spirit since she is still laying at 8. It is a shame your new barn isn't finished so all of your flock could be snuggled up in there. The howling north wind we have had for the past few days has been hard on our young flock so I cannot imagine the effects of bitter cold like what you all are experiencing on older girl.

It will really hurt to lose both our last Ameraucana girls. Gypsy turned 8 years old in November so she's even older than Snow, but only shows signs of minor arthritis so far, just limping a bit when she's been sitting awhile. She lays, too, on occasion. Snow, though, is Tom's girl. She will brave lions, tigers and bears to get to him if she hears his voice, even though she can barely waddle around now. Such an angel, that one. Some of the hens pick on her, especially Gypsy, but sometimes, Amanda will let Snow eat from her special double-sided bowl.

I do wish they could all be in the new barn because I think that all the body heat and any supplemental heat in one location would be a huge help and it's the only building that air cannot blow underneath at all, too. When this bad spell of weather is over, I think we'll just order our building supplies and get to work on the barn. The company will get to the roof repair when the weather allows but we'll start working on the opposite side from where the leak is.

We have slightly more than an inch of snow now but the flurries have slowed down a lot. There's a good bit of ice under it and the temps are going down into the mid-teens tonight. BUT, we're expecting temps back up into the 60's in a week, crazy.

 

[speckledhen]

Phase III: Ordered Lumber and Wire. Will be delivered on Friday. We start the interior this weekend, providing both of our backs are okay for it. Thankfully, DH's military discount paid for a big chunk of the delivery charge. Until I can get my Lumina replaced with a small truck, we are truck-less. But, even with a truck, getting all those studs and sheets of plywood and the 100' roll of fencing into the truck to haul it home and unloading it would be a back pain in the making and we'd have no juice left to start using them! So, they'll bring it and at least we'll only have to carry it a relatively short distance to the barn. That's enough strain to start with.

ETA: Folks always talk about the big stuff they'd buy if they won the lottery. I'd just be thrilled to have someone come build the inside of the barn and put up the fencing for me. I have no interest in fancy vehicles or huge houses or jewelry, just want peace of mind and someone ELSE to build something for a change! Even hiring a couple guys to bring the plywood and lumber from the dump-off site to the barn would be heavenly.


It's about 75* today, craziest weather in winter we've had since we got here.

 

[1muttsfan]

I know just what you mean.

 

[aart]

They ever fix the leaky roof?
Sorry, maybe I missed that post?

I use a hand truck to move big rolls of fencing, and a lot of other things....
.....rarely actually lift anything, slide it out of van onto hand truck and roll it to where I need it.
You can 'walk' plywood sheets instead of lifting or dragging it.

 

[speckledhen]

They ever fix the leaky roof?
Sorry, maybe I missed that post?

I use a hand truck to move big rolls of fencing, and a lot of other things....
.....rarely actually lift anything, slide it out of van onto hand truck and roll it to where I need it.
You can 'walk' plywood sheets instead of lifting or dragging it.

No, they haven't been in the area yet. That's what we have to wait for.


We have built several buildings and moved many sheets of plywood, from the driveway, past the house to the coop locations. This is more plywood than we've ever had at one time, 32 sheets of it. Not an easy task. Remember, it's like building 6 coops at once so more supplies than normal to move. We can't negotiate the narrow, winding path between the garden fencing and other coops or around the other side and the satellite dish array, an even longer path to the garage side of the building with all this stuff. No sidewalks, no gravel, just dirt and roots sticking up to get stuck on or trip over while carrying unwieldy sheets of plywood. It's about 200 ft from house to barn site through a maze of "stuff", maybe I misjudged that, have not actually measured.

This barn location is even harder than the rest. Hand trucks are great....in the land of sidewalks. A hand truck is completely useless here. There is no concrete, no walkway, nothing but forest ground to walk it over. The easiest/shortest point-A-to-point-B place for us to get it to the barn and where we want them to dump the lumber is on the power line easement road where the guys offloaded the building itself but we have to get it from there across woods floor to the barn. We had to cut the perimeter fence for the barn guys to bring it across a short distance through the trees to the site. It's still just held by some loose wire, not permanently fixed yet so we can just undo it.

What we plan to do is use the lawn tractor cart, put sheets of plywood across it, he'll drive slowly, I'll try to keep it balanced and on the cart as we go from the road across to the barn, hopefully, no actual carrying required other than lift it into the barn to stack it. The lumber itself is easier, just get 2-3 at a time (or stack a row on top of a sheet of plywood) and go across in stages.

This is where we have to get the supplies from, taken standing from the bank above the rock wall when the truck got here:

From the garage door straight to the right to where that truck is, that's the route. Hand trucks are pretty much useless on uneven, rocky, leaf-mold piled ground, if I even had one.