Moving forward...

[Mini Meat]

Ah... now I see what you mean. The gap at the bottom will get covered by plywood. So not completed. I forget that not everyone can see the whole project like I can, Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Mini Meat]

I am so, so, so, pleased to say... the pop hole wall is complete... down to the very last screw.
It feels like it took forever, but each unit had 23 pieces to be measured, cut, assembled and secured to turn them into fairly complicated contraptions... all that X5.

I am happy to say, they are strong. I won't say predator proof (don't want to tempt fate and be made a liar) but they are very, very predator resistant. Any thing that manages to get in through that wall is going to have to sacrifice a tooth and a couple of nails and come away bloodied to do so. It will probably be badly in need of a chicken dinner by the time it is done. Thought the poor creature will probably be too sore to eat.

Very happy!

The divider walls are all ready to install but I want to do a general clean up and reorganization before I, or if I'm lucky, we get started.
Then comes the coop fronts. 5 more complicated units that will include People gates and nest boxes that can be accessed from the Isle.
These will take a while.

I also wanted to share about my turkeys. I have three hens that were all laying in a community nest. Temperance, the smallest, decided it was time to set the nest. so the other two started to lay right next to her. Then about 5 eggs into the new nest, some how, temperance got evicted from the big nest and Julep, the largest, took it over so.... Temperance began sitting on the second smaller nest. The last hen started a new nest in another corner.

Now, I don't now how all this went down, but Temperance is still one the second nest but she has some how managed to acquire all the eggs from the first nest and Julep has move to the third nest in the corner. I don't know if hen three has any plans to go broody but she better set her nest away from the other two thieves.

Silly birds!

Thanks for checkin' in

 

[aart]

WooHoo!! Congrats!
What, no pics!?

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Fabulous! That was a lot of work.

 

[Mini Meat]

WooHoo!! Congrats!
What, no pics!?

Thank you.
Below are some pics

Fabulous! That was a lot of work.

Boy was it a lot of work. Thanks.

So this is the pop door exterior before:



And after:



Pop door interior before:



And after:



The wall mounted shelves from the interior have been cut in half to make the base of my work in progress 8' x 8' outdoor brooder. Which I will be needing early next week.



I am working on 4' tall hardware cloth walls and a tarp covered hardware cloth roof.

The floor mounted shelves went into my truck box storage unit.



Now i just need to keep plinking away at it the best I can. My elbow gets very sore after a few hours of pulling the trigger on the impact driver. so i have to stop and ice it... but it will all get done.

 

[aart]

SAWeeeeT!!!
Man, that looks awesome!

Learn to go lefty (or righty) with the driver....will help the soreness and come in handy in some spots.
I've learned to do this with many tools over the years, first was mouse on full time cadd job.
It's hard at first but it can really balance out the wear on your body.
Course if you already have tennis/golf elbow, you're in for a couple months of pain....been thru a few bouts of that, one of the worst.

 

[Mini Meat]

SAWeeeeT!!!
Man, that looks awesome!

Learn to go lefty (or righty) with the driver....will help the soreness and come in handy in some spots.
I've learned to do this with many tools over the years, first was mouse on full time cadd job.
It's hard at first but it can really balance out the wear on your body.
Course if you already have tennis/golf elbow, you're in for a couple months of pain....been thru a few bouts of that, one of the worst.

Thanks,
I will try switching hands. Good tip.
It is amazing how such a tiny localized little pain can make you so miserable.

This is the progress on the brooder today



My daughter remembered that we have some 5' x 18" tin (pictured leaning against brooder) from a shed we tore down, so I will make a flat roof from those and cover with a trap. I am more concerned with predators than weather. I will skirt the whole thing with hardware cloth on the ground around the bottom. The opening on the right will get a sturdy door.
The brooder is down near the house and about 20 feet from my goat/Anatolian Shepard's yard. He is a very calm dog that only barks if there is a threat. I take his bark seriously and it is so loud it will wake everyone. I can be out to the brooder long before anything has a chance to get in. I might arrive naked

, but that will surly help to scare things away.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Mini meat, have you tried putting on one of those arm bands? They go below your elbow on the wide part of your lower arm. That might help. Don't ignore the elbow thing, it will affect you for life if you don't take care of it. Your brooder is awesome, how tall is it? Where does the door go?

 

[aart]

Quote: Tennis/golf elbow(google it - 2 different tendons in elbow area) is the worst pain and longest healing of all the many tendon issues I've had.
Using the other arm/hand can keep it from going full blown if you catch it early enough....and will help it heal if you don't.

Quote:
The ones with the little air pillows in them? Those really do work well if placed correctly, which can be hard to do, huge relief!

 

[Mini Meat]

Mini meat, have you tried putting on one of those arm bands? They go below your elbow on the wide part of your lower arm. That might help. Don't ignore the elbow thing, it will affect you for life if you don't take care of it. Your brooder is awesome, how tall is it? Where does the door go?

I went and got one of the braces you suggested. Boy does it help. You can really feel how it isolates that tendon and keeps it from moving. The one I got has a little dial so you can easily cinch down as needed. Thanks for the tip. I am going to listen when the elbow "talks" to me.
Brooder info below.

Tennis/golf elbow(google it - 2 different tendons in elbow area) is the worst pain and longest healing of all the many tendon issues I've had.
Using the other arm/hand can keep it from going full blown if you catch it early enough....and will help it heal if you don't.

Quote:
I googled it as you suggested. Glad I did. I thought it was just a conditioning issue that would sort out as I got used to the work. Now I understand that it is an actual injury. I will be much more careful with it.

So, I got the roof on the brooder and the door built and installed. The drill battery ran out as I was putting on the hasps. I want one hasp low to keep coons out and one high to keep kids out.
I still have a few gaps to close up and the skirting to put in. Nothing about it is square, level or plumb but being made with recycled parts and reject lumber... It will serve.

It is 8' x8' and 6' tall. You have to step over the draft guard/bottom panel to get through the door (on the right). I find stepping over easier than trying to hold back 50 or more chicks.