Got a little help from the ladies…

[sourland]

Great thread ! I'll be watching.

 

[PoppasGrill]

This is the condition of the barn when I got home.

The Ladies are still proving the wall is too short, but we are moving those black boxes today. They were great nesting boxes when we needed them, but mice built a colony under them so we folded them up to repurpose another time.

We will be putting in another pole about mid way in the gate, previous owner cut out the pole that was there to use the barn for large equipment. Plan is still to enclose most of it to keep the rain out during storms, or try to keep it mostly dry.
Thinking about short 4’ swing doors and getting rid of the gates.
And planting short posts to build roosting bars in the middle, far enough away to not have a take off point to get over the wall.

 

[PoppasGrill]

Hate to admit it, but I did nothing this past weekend. It was hot, I was tired, and my Lovely Wife told me I could take the weekend off.
We did our regular chores of taking care of the Ladies and Donks and Dogs and Cats, but did not make any progress on the barn.
My Wife did send these pictures today..

Seems that the Ladies are looking forward to moving in, even if they have to live out of suitcases while the renovations are being done. 100 + are in the barn with another 50 in the other coops holding out until we finish.
Sorry to say we lost 2 girls today to a predator, though not sure what yet. They were inside the barn, and one was in the nest box.

This is Crowella, we lost her today.

 

[The Coop Crew]

Hate to admit it, but I did nothing this past weekend. It was hot, I was tired, and my Lovely Wife told me I could take the weekend off.
We did our regular chores of taking care of the Ladies and Donks and Dogs and Cats, but did not make any progress on the barn.
My Wife did send these pictures today..
View attachment 3886581
View attachment 3886582
Seems that the Ladies are looking forward to moving in, even if they have to live out of suitcases while the renovations are being done. 100 + are in the barn with another 50 in the other coops holding out until we finish.
Sorry to say we lost 2 girls today to a predator, though not sure what yet. They were inside the barn, and one was in the nest box.
View attachment 3886615
This is Crowella, we lost her today.

Im so sorry about your sweet hens

 

[PoppasGrill]

Worked a bit on the project this weekend…

Here is the compliance Roosters checking out the door supports. Didn’t realize how complicated it would be to build barn doors, so it took a long time to get the first one built and in place.

After that was hung we were able to measure and cut to get the second door placed.

They are almost level, must have measured using my google eye. The hinges were a major issue in how the doors swing. I came up with using peg style hinges like a gate uses that worked out for now at least.

The ladies are still waiting on us to finish their side so they can have afternoon shade. For now they hang out in the Donkeys area, since the Donks decided to rip the tarp down that was used for shade.

 

[2ndTink]

The compliance roosters look like they are taking things very seriously, they know their hen's safety is at stake here. The one in the back is checking your ground compaction and the one in the front is watching you to see your reaction, hoping to determine if you are a trustworthy builder, or need further digging into

 

[PoppasGrill]

The compliance roosters look like they are taking things very seriously, they know their hen's safety is at stake here. The one in the back is checking your ground compaction and the one in the front is watching you to see your reaction, hoping to determine if you are a trustworthy builder, or need further digging into

Yep, that’s our Alpha and the one Cemani that isn’t a jerk to the Ladies. Both good Roosters that look out for the ladies.
They both hung out the whole time with us during this phase of the building.
I think they were looking for flaws in the design so they can get into that part of the barn.

 

[PoppasGrill]

On the insistence of my better half (No, not the Ladies, the better better half) we were able to fix the barn doors. Although the donks still figured out how to get in there and eat the mower seat and any cardboard they could find, and leave droppings EVERYWHERE!!

We started on the ladies side of the barn. Had to install new poles to space out the boards.
Of course the girls had to do a geological survey of the ground conditions, it is for them after all.

Then Compliance Rooster had to inspect the proposed material for rot and structural integrity .

Donks had to get involved, since the access to the girls feed trough was open, and to see if there were any tools laying around for them to eat.

After getting the pole in and secured Compliance had to inspect again, along with his trainee, before we could backfill and tamp.
Will be working on the walls next weekend and mounting the fans inside.

 

[2ndTink]

On the insistence of my better half (No, not the Ladies, the better better half) we were able to fix the barn doors. Although the donks still figured out how to get in there and eat the mower seat and any cardboard they could find, and leave droppings EVERYWHERE!!
View attachment 3899140View attachment 3899142
We started on the ladies side of the barn. Had to install new poles to space out the boards.
Of course the girls had to do a geological survey of the ground conditions, it is for them after all.
View attachment 3899143
Then Compliance Rooster had to inspect the proposed material for rot and structural integrity .
View attachment 3899144
Donks had to get involved, since the access to the girls feed trough was open, and to see if there were any tools laying around for them to eat.

View attachment 3899147
After getting the pole in and secured Compliance had to inspect again, along with his trainee, before we could backfill and tamp.
Will be working on the walls next weekend and mounting the fans inside.

You have some thorough inspectors there. The girls are spot on to do compaction testing, not everyone thinks of that so well done to those ladies!

Training up the next generation, great job Compliance Rooster!

I didn't know Donks specialized in destructive testing, that is a fine artform in the QA world.

 

[PoppasGrill]

While digging the pole hole one of the girls thought she might have possibly notice what could have been a worm, so she jumped in, willing to give it her all to ensure there would be no issues when setting the pole. It was only 18” deep at the time, but she didn’t stay long enough for us to photograph her in there. Poles were set at 48” for stability.