I will start out with drawings I did to show what my intentions are. My notes to myself are included as I cannot figure out how to get rid of them without reloading from the start.
This is what my current barn roof is like:
This is what the interior wall construction is like:
I have begun deconstructing the flat(ish) roof on my "barn" and intend to put on a pitched roof with a ridge vent.
I want to be able to close the roof vent off in the winter, dependent upon the temperature. My birds seem to be able to handle temperatures in the teens but once it gets into the single digits, they get frostbite. I raise a large combed breed that I was raising before I moved here and I have no intention of getting rid of them. I will do what I need to do to keep them comfortable and healthy.
These roof vent closures will have the option of being mostly closed or fully closed. Not sure yet how I'm going to do that.
The opening itself will be about 12-18". Unless that is too much? What is not shown in the above drawing is the foam board insulation I have that will be installed on either the bottom side of the rafters, or cut to fit up between them directly beneath the OSB board on top. Which position would be better? Also, I plan to put corrugated metal over the OSB, no tar paper but I'll use self-tapping screws with rubber washers to seal the holes.
For lower openings, I have two windows on both the left and right sides (west and east respectively) that are each about 24"x36" and one window in the back wall (north) that is the same size with a change in orientation. I plan to put another window, the same size, in that back wall. The wall that does not appear in the above drawing is the south side of the building. There are two large human doors and two pop doors down just above floor level. The east wall has 6 pop doors about 12" off the floor. The west wall has 5 pop doors.
There has been an addition added to the northwest corner of the barn. I added a room that is roughly 6'x8' and has a pop door on the north wall, a human door that is only covered in 1/2" aviary wire right now. It will receive OSB to cover. If the wind were to come from the south, it would blow directly on the perches. There is also a 2'x2' window in the south wall. This allows wind from the south to blow on the perches as well so before winter, I will provide coverings for this as well. Perhaps I will put clear vinyl on both as the low winter sun would be able to shine through and warm the interior. On the west wall of the addition, the top 3' is open window with hardware cloth. I need to cover these with vinyl as well as our winter winds change directions often and it can come from any direction, plus it receives some late afternoon sun too. The roof pitch of the addition is pretty low. I think it is about 10" at the top from the outside. Right now, this is wide open with no coverings at all. I'm thinking perhaps I can put fence boards over the top openings, leaving spaces between. Will that be good?
This drawing shows the basic layout of the barn. In the upper left corner is the addition that was added. I will try to get photos of this posted soon.
Oh, I may not close the roof vents because I plan to build sleeping boxes for my birds. They will be suspended from the rafters. This will leave the floors completely open. If I have one male in with a half a dozen females and they all pile into a sleeping box for the night, it should keep the roosters' combs/wattles warm enough. I know the sleeping box will need ventilation too and I will put plans for those on here in future days.
I do have a seemingly unrelated question for anyone who might know...
If a mouse is standing on the floor, how high STRAIGHT UP can they jump? Also, if they have some fencing of any sort to climb on, how far HORIZONTALLY can they jump?
We have quite a mouse problem here and I'm working on ways to outsmart them. They are currently able to climb up onto the perches where my birds sleep and chew on their feathers (protein) plus they get in the feeders and it drives me nuts! I don't like feeding mice and even worse, I just don't like them getting into the feeders. They have no bladder and they pee everywhere they go. Plus the defecation is everywhere too.
The sleeping boxes (winter) will be suspended from the rafters and suspended from that will be a platform that has their feed set up. I'm hoping to have it high enough that mice cannot jump up to it and also far enough away from dividing fences and whatnot that they cannot jump over to it. In the summer, I will remove the walls from the sleeping box so that they have a regular perch.
The drawings of my makeshift barn are actually a lot nicer looking than reality but I will show what has been accomplished so far...
"Centermost" pallet removed and supporting post added.
Inside, most cages and obstructions have been removed so roof could be taken off.
This is what my current barn roof is like:
This is what the interior wall construction is like:
I have begun deconstructing the flat(ish) roof on my "barn" and intend to put on a pitched roof with a ridge vent.
I want to be able to close the roof vent off in the winter, dependent upon the temperature. My birds seem to be able to handle temperatures in the teens but once it gets into the single digits, they get frostbite. I raise a large combed breed that I was raising before I moved here and I have no intention of getting rid of them. I will do what I need to do to keep them comfortable and healthy.
These roof vent closures will have the option of being mostly closed or fully closed. Not sure yet how I'm going to do that.
The opening itself will be about 12-18". Unless that is too much? What is not shown in the above drawing is the foam board insulation I have that will be installed on either the bottom side of the rafters, or cut to fit up between them directly beneath the OSB board on top. Which position would be better? Also, I plan to put corrugated metal over the OSB, no tar paper but I'll use self-tapping screws with rubber washers to seal the holes.
For lower openings, I have two windows on both the left and right sides (west and east respectively) that are each about 24"x36" and one window in the back wall (north) that is the same size with a change in orientation. I plan to put another window, the same size, in that back wall. The wall that does not appear in the above drawing is the south side of the building. There are two large human doors and two pop doors down just above floor level. The east wall has 6 pop doors about 12" off the floor. The west wall has 5 pop doors.
There has been an addition added to the northwest corner of the barn. I added a room that is roughly 6'x8' and has a pop door on the north wall, a human door that is only covered in 1/2" aviary wire right now. It will receive OSB to cover. If the wind were to come from the south, it would blow directly on the perches. There is also a 2'x2' window in the south wall. This allows wind from the south to blow on the perches as well so before winter, I will provide coverings for this as well. Perhaps I will put clear vinyl on both as the low winter sun would be able to shine through and warm the interior. On the west wall of the addition, the top 3' is open window with hardware cloth. I need to cover these with vinyl as well as our winter winds change directions often and it can come from any direction, plus it receives some late afternoon sun too. The roof pitch of the addition is pretty low. I think it is about 10" at the top from the outside. Right now, this is wide open with no coverings at all. I'm thinking perhaps I can put fence boards over the top openings, leaving spaces between. Will that be good?
This drawing shows the basic layout of the barn. In the upper left corner is the addition that was added. I will try to get photos of this posted soon.
Oh, I may not close the roof vents because I plan to build sleeping boxes for my birds. They will be suspended from the rafters. This will leave the floors completely open. If I have one male in with a half a dozen females and they all pile into a sleeping box for the night, it should keep the roosters' combs/wattles warm enough. I know the sleeping box will need ventilation too and I will put plans for those on here in future days.
I do have a seemingly unrelated question for anyone who might know...
If a mouse is standing on the floor, how high STRAIGHT UP can they jump? Also, if they have some fencing of any sort to climb on, how far HORIZONTALLY can they jump?
We have quite a mouse problem here and I'm working on ways to outsmart them. They are currently able to climb up onto the perches where my birds sleep and chew on their feathers (protein) plus they get in the feeders and it drives me nuts! I don't like feeding mice and even worse, I just don't like them getting into the feeders. They have no bladder and they pee everywhere they go. Plus the defecation is everywhere too.
The sleeping boxes (winter) will be suspended from the rafters and suspended from that will be a platform that has their feed set up. I'm hoping to have it high enough that mice cannot jump up to it and also far enough away from dividing fences and whatnot that they cannot jump over to it. In the summer, I will remove the walls from the sleeping box so that they have a regular perch.
The drawings of my makeshift barn are actually a lot nicer looking than reality but I will show what has been accomplished so far...
"Centermost" pallet removed and supporting post added.
Inside, most cages and obstructions have been removed so roof could be taken off.
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