Dixie Chicks

[Sally Sunshine]

Sally, nah not windy at all. And it's actually pretty nice out there, sun has been shining mostly, as long as you're moving the cold is no problem. But Karin asked me out to give her a hand with cleaning the bunny hutch, and I didn't realize I'd be spending the next hour out there, hence the chilled toes.

Atlantic low pressure systems should be moving in soon though, by tomorrow we'll be at -5C and next week was going to bounce around 0C. Perfect time to try and start the compost. I just added a couple gallons of bunny poop, a gallon of chicken poop, and a gallon of frozen rabbit pee in there. Once I get it heated up a bit, it should make quite a steam (and stink).

ahhhhhh another day another skidmark
sounds like a poopoo day filled with lots stink and good stuffs!

at least its gonna be warm!

 

[bamadude]

Yes Vehve...we are under a frost advisory

 

[vehve]

Seriously, frost advisory?

 

[bamadude]

Yep

 

[vehve]

Haha, funny.

But if it does freeze, don't go driving, Bama. Worst thing I've ever tried was one year when I was late changing my tires and it was about -20C (a bit below 0F), and we had like 8 inches of snow. I had to move the car 200 yards from the parking lot to our storage door, it was a FWD Peugeot with old summer tires on it. During that drive, I never drove above 5mph, and I managed to lose control of the car three times, spinning into snow banks.

 

[bamadude]

I should be fine. I have 38 inch super swampers

 

[bamadude]

And 4 wheel drive.
I could drive over a prius

 

[CanuckBock]

Tara,
this is awesome!! I was just looking at similar barns like that online, but yours is the prettiest Can I share those pictures with my husband?

This barn would work so well, especially on the coast, I wouldn't have to worry about ventilation, or rats, owls and raccoons.

If I am going for "animal welfare approval" I think we'll need a "real" floor, but that's an easy fix.

Ah, yer nice to say it's purdiest!

Yeh, share with Hubby and give him Rick's regards. Rick don't let the wives go on tour here no more's...something about "make work projects" fer the fellas and he's no traitor to his own gender?

​

Wanted to take some clicks for yer Hub of some of the more technical aspects...joins and things--differences in construction...

It was overcast and then sun shone just as I was heading for the pm run...oh well. These be what I got.

Show you the Duck Barn (16 x 32 which is like now over 15 years young) and the Doggone Heel Low Dog Kennel - 20 ft 3" x 51 ft (House 20' 3"x 16' & Run is 20'3" by 35' which is like nine years young I believe)...

Dog Kennel in winter of 2007​

Yer husband will probably want to make up some metal angle iron brackets. Helps secure your post and beam barns rather nicely. We get tornadoes here and well, having the barn fall over in a pile of sticks when the wolf huffs and puffs...we don't have the fortitude to go back and rebuild if'n if do fall down...go boom.

Rick has followed building to human code...may as well as a building can end up with another duty to do and if that is your bottom line, you don't have to scramble around bringing it up to code, eh. Build with the highest end use in mind and you don't have to go back to it one hopes!

Metal bracket, angle iron, cut and drilled-then painted, bolts sunk in
Dog Kennel​

Duck Barn...
I housed a bevy of Mandarin Ducks temporary til the Taj got built...they are a bantam tree duck with great flying abilities...
Wilder sort and I would find one hen perched on the roof beams so the Duck Barn had to be breach proof...no escaping!
Every nook and cranny had to be tight or the Mandarins woulda flew the coop, so to speak.
Another reflection, build to contain the hardest kinds and never worry about what building you put them blighters in ​

Duck barn is made of beams; cross and posts down...2x6's cross ways and bolted to the beams. Hardware cloth and tenplast are good materials for the outside. We have some chicken wire and stucco on one section with the intent of replacing that...taller doors too...the doors are completed, just never gone back yet to finish it. Oh well... Another reason to do it up right at the beginning because you just never seem to stop, step back and fix it if it's working out fairly decently.

Roof trusses...yeh, you can make yer own but why bother unless it's not a standard size you can order up. Truss companies do up engineered trusses, very economical, they often deliver them to your patch of dirt...so we tend to order them up from them and let them do the engineering and cost efficiencies for us. Deep overhang just means you are not shovelling as much snow and we put down gravel and then top with lime rock in many places ... looks tidy, unlike concrete would heave and crack and the sharp limerock deters vermin from digging too seriously. Limerock warms up and melts the snow off quick too like. Some rooves have gutters, some don't, gutters tend to fill up with melted snow and ice up...but nice to have water buckets at the down spouts should one ever need a quick supply of water when the power pops off, eh. We got a gen set now, not so much a worry to fire it up and get the well pump a chugging up water for the livestock.

Upgrades...the beams on the duck barn just rest on some concrete blocks Rick and I made like stepping stones at our first house that we hauled here with us.

Duck Barn beam on concrete pad​

Improvement...these concrete blocks we did are ones that are far bigger AND have those metal brackets sunk into the concrete for the beams to rest on...better we figure.

Dog kennel concrete pad with meta tab for beam - beam trimmed to fit
Heavy suckers, hate to have to move one today if I had too...blah! ​

Never posted pics, so back side of Duck Barn...

​

Red metal on back wall and half the sides, entire perimeter of limerock round the whole Duck Barn. Put a new layer of rock down ever four years er so pending how pounded it gets.

​

Dug down to our clay base, (dirt removed) and toped with 3/4 minus gravel then crushed limerock. Rakes up nice, mice do dig in it but you can go around and kick the holes in...you CAN put down a wire like stucco and top with limerock but we found the mice made nests under the wire...ack...so I pulled the wire out some years ago and just limerock now.

For the Dog Kennel, Rick built like he has for many of the buildings...on pipe skids.
This one has no limerock but is down to clay and built up with pit run then 3/4 minus gravel -
Disinfect with vinegar and water​

The Hay & Straw barn (40 x 16 - note most dimensions are workable with sheet material dimensions...four feet by eight or twelves...so you cut less materials making them up eh! Less waste and less time cutting them to pieces--size her to suit the materials on hand) can be divided into half and dimensions make it portable so we could well it and have it hauled away for extra $ if we wanted.

At one time your property tax basis was on permanent structures...now the county has moved to where portable is often taxed on your property assessment. I would investigate yer zoning (must be allowed animals or why bother buying the land, eh! Don't need five acres to mow up like one big park...) and see if there are any loop holes to making your hobby less $$ taxing to your pocket book. Worth a look, eh.



Yeh, Bama's gonna get a blast...two feet of snow I hear for some blokes out East...get the fur lined Speedos on and put another log on that fire Mun!

Fur a change...we got balmy snow and ice melting weather this morn...nah nah...

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

And 4 wheel drive.
I could drive over a prius

​

I'm still telling Rick to be on stand by to rescue yah...

 

[vehve]

Yeah, I prefer the Nissan in winter too... 4WD comes in handy. But I'll take FWD over RWD for handling though, as long as you are driving safely. RWD has gone forward a bit, but like 10 years ago you used to see Beemer owners buy big sacks of sand to keep in their trunks, to get some weight on the rear tires.