Thanks Dennis, I am very fortunate this year to have had some extra warm weather. This week I will try to get out there and stabilize it more. This is just temporary, to get me through the spring, when I have more time warmth to work on something more permanent. I have lots of wooden plywood / board that I will paint and mount next year. I am scavenging materials anywhere I can find them, but I just ran out of time to do the extensive project I wanted to do.You did a lot of work on that, i can tell because I know about how long that would have taken me to do. I do have one comment, the flexible plastic pipes should be rigidly tied together at the top (and maybe half way down each side). When you get a load on the top, the weakest place is for the pipes to move closer or farther from each other, allowing the load to settle into the valley between them, The wider that valley is, the more snow it collects and the greater the tendency to splay the pipes even further apart, widening that valley., That will continue until the weight causes the pipes to invert or that tarp to come loose, then it will all fall into the run. I hate to be the bearer or bad news, but actually seeing this happen to your run is pretty discouraging. I've given up on tarp roofs, I either use welded wire and let the precip fall through, or metal roofing (a big, expensive project with structural considerations of it's own). For this winter, you might see if you can remove the tarp and store it inside before major snow or ice events. I know that is not what you were hoping to do with this, but a squashed or trapped bird can be avoided if you do.Today I continued my work from yesterday on improving the coop and run. Here are some pics below of the current setup. I adjusted the pvc pipes so that they are now arched and hopefully be better to keep the rain and snow from piling up. The tarped roof is temporary for this winter. I finally made a door, and it barely fit! Oh well, it was my first time. Also, the last pic is of a sign my MIL found for me.
Thanks! I will do something to reinforce my run this week, weather permitting.
They look awesome Ralph! Excellent work! I am hoping to start raising meaties this spring. If I am succcessful, I definitely want to start have a self reliant meat flock.I just moved the Spot and his 7 friends from the hatcher to the brooder about 15 minutes ago. It is so fun to watch them when they get in the brooder and find out they have so much room, they run jump and try to fly. Chase each other.Thank you [@=/u/297297/duluthralphie]@duluthralphie[/@]! You already know that I want to raise some up for a sustainable meat flock[@=/u/286078/emorems0]@emorems0[/@], see Ralph's post for all the info on the toads
Thank you!Of course I would offer them to you.Dibs!
They are gorgeous, I would like a couple one day. But I am soon becoming maxed out with my spring chick order.
Looks good! Good pallets are a bit harder to find, and hard to dismantle. I'm just so blessed now to have room to store materials for future projects. I have 5 pallets behind my shed waiting for spring...Looks good! I had a large tractor I constructed with pvc conduit (3 years ago) get destroyed by a wind storm a few months ago. Tractors take more abuse, with their frequent moving, so I should not complain about a 3 year life. Still, I am going all cattle panel construction for tractors now. 3 panels cost about $70 and make a 10 x 12 tractor that work great. I will be making a few refinements in my next one, but I'm happy with it. I have a local source for really nice pallets. They are make with 4x4's and 1x6's. I wish they were easier to disassemble, it seems they don't make them to be torn apart later.Wanted to share some pictures of my tarp roof... turns out I did cut the ridge pole but It would definitely be better not to. As I recall I was conserving pipe and used some cut scraps rather than purchase another pole. And looking at my tractor, it's is also better to secure the ribs to the ridge pole with the holes and zip ties/wire rather than cutting them and using the pvc connectors. The connectors don't stand up to the pressure of the curve and I have popped a few joints over the years. The tractor ribs aren't as curved at the top bc of this pressure at the connectors so they don't hold up to snow as well as the turkey shed roof has. Figured you could learn from my mistakes rather than making your own. And I have found that the black, heavy duty zip ties hold up really well through the elements. My tractor is 2 years old now and no sign of wear or weakening. They won't last forever of course, but it wouldn't be difficult to replace once every several years... neither pvc or tarps will hold up forever either but it's cheap enough and simple enough to replace every couple of years.
And just for fun here is the pallet coop I'm working in for my breeding pen. I have about six 2x4s, and handful of 2x2s, and three corrogated panels into it, the rest is all pallet wood. I left the base as a full pallet so that it is hopefully easier to move when we eventually get relocated.
Yes, I would use a sawzall, but it's still difficult to get the blade between boards that have been nailed with such force that the nailheads are recessed 1/4 inch into the face of the board. I plan to try one when I get around to it: [COLOR=111111]http://a.co/d2TNjLg [/COLOR]
I wasn't aware Toms could get real nasty too! I wouldn't want to have a big turkey trying to attack me! What does that look like? Do they come at you feet first? Biting? Kicking?
Here's hoping for maybe one huge snowfall, like last year...
