Hottentot and Ringed Teal Ducks

[HottentotTeal]

Ok, thanks. I figured that would be the best one to use.


Here are a few more pics of the last 2 weeks of activity on my project:




Here are the 4 piles of gravel and pebbles that I bought. The 2 large green piles are Jade Pebbles. The 2 darker and smaller rock piles are moon pebbles.

Here is a close up with some coins for scale:

Here is the painted wood:

 

[Natermotor]

Looks like you're really getting along!

Good job!

Nate~

 

[1lpoock]

You're on your way to a nice little aviary!

 

[HottentotTeal]

I forgot to mention that big black rock is some kind of volcanic rock. I bought it as a perching rock for them, although I am hoping they will just like to play in the pond.

The rock place had a bunch of nice looking pink granite rocks, but I couldn't find one that was smooth on the top and bottom for it to stand well. That black one was in the container with them, so i just picked it up since it had 2 fairly flat opposite sides.

A majority of the other rocks/boulders were limestone and i think i saw mention that limestone is to be avoided.

I dumped all 4 bags of the pebbles out this afternoon because they were still wet from last weekend (or maybe it was 2 weeks back) when i bought them. It had rained when i picked them up and they never dried, sitting in the garage.

So I figured it might be a good idea to dump them out and spray them off with the water hose and let them properly dry.


My uncle is supposed to be picking up a truck of the screened topsoil tomorrow, so with any luck, I will be performing some back-breaking work shovelling it all in the excavated area tomorrow around noon.


One thing I haven't narrowed down fully is the door. I am thinking of making a small door above the sight barrier on the entrance side. It will be one I have to step over the barrier to enter. I was thinking of making it with some decent sied boards. Nothing as thin as regular fence boards, though. I saw a pic of someone with a chicken coop with a typical fence gate door. I want something a little stronger. I just haven't decided if i should mesh the top portion or just make the door all wood. I am leaning to making it just all wood, although that will make it a lot heavier.

 

[HottentotTeal]

We shoveled the dirt in and all my pebbles are dry!

I'll take a picture later. I stomped on the dirt and evened it a bit, but i need to work on that a bit more first.

 

[HottentotTeal]

The dirt dried up today and i just raked it and evened it out or as much as i could at any rate.

Then I dug all of the post holes. It was pretty easy except on 4 of the of the 11 holes where I hit 2 tree roots and 2 metal pipes which were gas and/or electric.

 

[Natermotor]

Are you gonna cement around the posts?

 

[HottentotTeal]

Yes, we are going to buy the cement tomorrow. I didn't want to buy the bags just yet, because with the past weather and my luck, the bags would get too hard by the time i was ready to use them.

I'm also planning to get the metal brackets you put between the wood boards and posts at intersections and the fencing nails/staples. (The u-shaped ones that are hammered in)

There is no chance for rain until Saturday, so maybe i can get all of the posts in by then.


I dug the holes 2 feet deep. The 4x4 posts we bought are 10 feet, so we will end up cutting about 1 foot, so that they will be 7 feet from the ground level to the top.

 

[HottentotTeal]

So far so good. We put in 3 posts!

We bought 6 4"x4"x10' posts for the corners and 2 in the middle on each of the 2 long sides.

Well, we got on a roll when we put in the first 2 we accidentally put in a 4x4 where we originally planned to put in a 2"x"4.

Fortunately, we put the board on the outside which will be seen, so technically it will look better having more 4x4" on the visable side.


For some reason I thought mixing the concrete would be harder, but today was quite easy, except for the leveling of the boards.

I had to redig one of the holes just a bit, but other than that, it went by pretty quick.

I'll try to take a pic tomorrow of the progress so far. I never took one of the newly placed dirt anyway.


Also, I joined the 2 magazine subscriptions as suggested in another thread. I got one of the gazette magazines yesterday.


edit: sorry fixed some spelling errors.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

you'll like the Gazette and A.P.W.S. you;ll learn a lot from the articles in them
Congrats on the progress, keep the ball rolling!