My New Barn

[The Sheriff]

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No that is not my house in the first shot, that is the neighbor behind us. My house is the other way... through the trees.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/25270_img_3632.jpg



And funny you should mention having a ride to run around the farm on... Here's ours

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/25270_img_3567.jpg



You have great taste!!!

Don't you just love that Polaris? I ride it right up next to the barn, shovel the shavings into the dump bed and drive it to the compost pile! Love it! This is my grandson. He is coming for his first visit with us in the new place in two weeks. Do you think he's going to want to take the Polaris for a spin? I'll be sure to load the dump bed with used shavings first!

 

[AK Michelle]

I have an 8 X 8 storage shed that has been my coop, and it works as long as I don't get carried away with the incubator... But, since I can't seem to keep fewer birds

we have opted for a bigger coop. And, after helping me take care of birds with crazy cold temperatures, heat lamp issues, hauling water and all the rest of the hassles that come with animal care in Alaska, my loving fiance decided some upgrades were in order. Hence the big new barn where I can contain all my chicken activities, tools and supplies so he can have the garage, the shed and the workshop back for the purposes they were intended

This year I got into Icelandics, which were nearly extinct and we are working to preserve, which means we are, by design, making more of them - wither by incubation or broody hens, we are hatching as many as we can. They are also beautiful birds with lots of personality so it's a labor of love. My old coop has been dubbed the temporary coop now that we know a bigger, better coop is coming soon. The temporary coop worked great when everyone was younger. Now that they are maturing (and much bigger) they take up too much room, feel too crowded, and have decided to make other arrangements for roosting for the night

I feel like I should be posting daily pics of "This is what they tried to get away with tonight". The past few nights it's been various Icelandics up in the trees behind the temporary coop, last night it was 2 turkeys on the roof of the coop and 3 Icelandics in the trees while about a dozen other chickens just flat refused to be herded, tossed or coerced into the coop. And, of course, we'd been up since 3am cause we went fishing, so we were in no mood for "53 chicken pick-up"

I am sooooo looking forward to the barn being complete so everyone has plenty of room, then maybe they will all go in and get ready for bed when they are supposed to.

 

[Southernbelle]

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Yes, very important.

 

[Southernbelle]

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The barn is looking great, Michelle!

 

[AK Michelle]

Well, the builder had to go to a job on the Aleutian Chain, so he'll be gone a few days. Oh well, it's been windy and rainy so it would have been miserable for him working here anyway.

in his absence, we have been busy building a new feeder. With 50 birds, we go through a lot of feed. Our goal is to be able to feed less often so we can have more time to watch and play with the birds.

The Warden made a feeder out of a sawhorse and SouthernBelle's DH made her a wall unit with a combination feeder and roll out nestboxes. From the pictures they posted we set to work.

We took an old saw horse and carefully disassembled it. We re-attached the legs, making the back vertical and the front leg we put at a sharper angle. We put 2 shorter pieces of 2 X 2 on the sides of the legs to act as a support but it doubles as a really convenient handles. Next we laid the saw horse frame on the plywood and traced out the side panels which we mounted on the inside to reduce the nooks and crannies the feed can get trapped in and also to keep the handles exposed. We used the same method to get the back panel. Tom laid a piece of 2X2 on the bottom against the back wall and propped the tray against it.

We still need to add the lid but it looks like it will hold at least a couple bags of feed.

 

[The Driver]

Love the pics of the scenery! Please omit the critter with gray and bulge!!!


Quote:
No that is not my house in the first shot, that is the neighbor behind us. My house is the other way... through the trees.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/25270_img_3632.jpg



And funny you should mention having a ride to run around the farm on... Here's ours

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/25270_img_3567.jpg



You have great taste!!!

Love the pics of the scenery! Please omit the critter with gray and bulge!!!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

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Love your feeder, I may have to steal your idea and do something like that for mine!

~ Aspen

 

[chicken_noob]

Looks awesome!

 

[Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil]

I can't wait to see more pictures! Do you think you will get it all done before the first snow flys?

 

[AK Michelle]

Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil :

I can't wait to see more pictures! Do you think you will get it all done before the first snow flys?

Absolutely! I am thinking that once the contractor gets back from the islands it will only take a couple weeks or so till it's finished. The first snow won't get here till mid October

We are painting the feeder today, want to seal the wood base against water penetration just in case...

Also we were researching pop doors. One of our issues around here is the mess of excess shavings being kicked out the door becoming wet slippery hazards or worse, frozen into stumbling blocks. My thought is to make a threshold by laying a 2X4 under the bottom of the pop door opening in hopes that small barrier will be enough to block some of the shavings from just tumbling out.

Tom wants to make the "removable doors" inside the interior pens so that they fold flat against the wall, where they can be latched in place until they are needed, rather than removing them and then having to make a place to store them. Sounds good to me.

The designing continues...​