Inspiration to others - couple hours work

[U_Stormcrow]

Yep. At this point, its usable, just putting on finishing touches like the nest boxes and roosting bars, throwing leaf litter inside. Could move in goats already, if I had any - though I won't feel like its "done" till I have that last hardie panel cut, painted, and installed to give a little more shelter to the inside. I get wind and rain from every direction - when I'm not dealing with high heat and humidity - so its always a challenge balancing wind/water blocking with ventilation.

 

[Sally PB]

What is hardieboard? I've never heard of it.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

James Hardie HZ10 Fiber Cement Panel think plywood, but made from cement and something like fiberglass. Near indestructible, termite-proof, never rots, etc.

Crazy heavy and hard on tools though

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Well, the last piece of hardieboard was recycled from the prior project, cut, painted both sides, installed. Wasn't able to hang the gutters for rainwater collection, the local big box had gutters, corners, drops and all the rest in stock - but no way to hang them!!!! Could have used 6" metal gutters like I used on the barn, but that's overkill for such a tiny roof area - so I delayed my purchase.

Moved one on the water totes in, replumbed it to supply some chicken watering cups and an automatic dog water bowl for the goats I still don't have. Have moved the ducks in already, they have water bowls on the ground for now, still thinking about how to solution that.

Built the second gate as well to finish securing the run. No picture. Out of sunlight.

 

[3KillerBs]

No picture. Out of sunlight.

Darn these Covid shortages! Not just lumber and gutter hardware but even sunlight!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Never did put up final pictures. Not very good of me, I apologize. Here goes.

Side of the barn, you can just see the existing first Hen House attached to the back of it. Behind that is the pistol target in the next run and the new goat shed, hen or duck house whatever.

Side view of the original Hen House nesting boxes, with the new building in the background

Opposite sides identical, still haven't finished the interior layout.

Interior view how's the roof Rafters and purlins. What you can't see, is the tips of the screws coming through the purlins. They only had one inch screws in stock, and I've only got one partial thread of penetration. First tornado or hurricane that gets close May well peel this roof. On the other hand, you can see all the big beautiful ventilation.

And last picture for this common. You can see the 275 gallon water tote in place with the plumbing I've hooked up for the goat waterer and the chicken cups. Lowe's didn't have the gutter hangers in stock, so I've not been able to mount it yet but I will add gutters to both sides. Those will feed the tote. 1 inch of rainfall should equate to about 90 gallons of water for feeding the animals. Little labor now so I can be lazy later.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

And I'm already thinking about the next expansion on this, with a 2 X6 I already had on hand. It's just leaned in place temporarily, and I've not relocated the joist hangers yet, just considering layout. Unfortunately I've only got six foot of clearance at the bottom of that board, so I'll probably trim it to eight foot in length so I can place it a bit higher up.

Strongly recommend pencil and paper, or a good drafting program. But if those aren't available to you, there is no substitute for mocking it up life-sized and trying to walk through

We'll add some additional comments later when I'm back on my computer about things I would do differently next time. Always learning

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I never did put that expansion up. Now that Lumber prices are coming down, I'm starting to think about it again.