~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~

[gryeyes]

I just got a bug up my .... No, that sounds bad. And itchy. Let's just say I have been inspired to section off the interior of the coop, but have to think how to do it. I want a grow-out area for babies, and the ginormous metal trough brooder is already in there, but has just been used for storage (and tween-ager roosting on top of it at night) thus far.

I will, of course, need someone to build the frame for it.

And a door into it. Won't need a "roof" over the top because it's inside the coop, but the walls will have to be tall enough to discourage the majority of the chickens from getting up there and then jumping down into the Kinder Garten area. Chicken wire will suffice for the barrier walls; baby chicks will reside in the ginormous brooder until they are too big to dash through chicken wire openings.

I want chicken wire walls because I do not want any mayhem occurring behind a solid wall, out of my sight when I look in through the coop's people door.

I'm just going to have to discuss this with my contractor.

*******
This evening after work, I called John to see if he would be able to come by tomorrow (Wednesday) to listen to my plan for the interior of the coop. Yup, he can. I told him I even had a sketch of what I wanted, and he chuckled and said, "Oh no, you have PLANS?" Yup. "No materials on site, though, right?" Nope. "Yes, I can come over - what time?" Any time after 10 a.m. "Gonna take the opportunity to sleep in?" "Maybe, maybe not, but when I'm home I hang about in my night shirt and don't comb my hair or brush my teeth until around 10 - and that's not pleasant for ANYbody," I admitted.

He laughed. We talked for a couple more minutes, about the Iowa Caucus (which he was watching but I was not), about the new season of The Biggest Loser about to start, which I usually watch while eating candy. For some reason, this made him laugh again. Humph.

So, tomorrow, hopefully, the propane heater repair guy CAN repair the heater (instead of my having to buy a whole new one!!!) and John will "get" what I want to do with the Kinder Garten in the coop.

 

[dsqard]

Quote:

I can picture myself doing this just out of spite

 

[ChicknThief]

Quote:

 

[gryeyes]

It was a good news/bad news day. The bad news: the thermocoupler for the propane heater/fireplace in the living room COULD be repaired, but the worker found several other problems which would have made him "red line" the unit as unsafe to use. The end of that story - for those who have no patience reading everything I write - is I am going to have the thing replaced with a new one. After he outlined all the problems with the stove, I had him do a "pre-install assessment" to turn over to the company and for me to review when I confirm which cast iron stove I want to have installed. Luckily, it's a whole new year and I can get to some more of the beneficiary IRA, which will jack up my "annual income," as all distributions are considered. (However, John later reminded me about the one-year home buyer's warranty insurance, which I did indeed purchase.)

He also said it would be best for the company to do the installation (instead of him doing it, probably more cheaply) because then the COMPANY would sign off on it, with their own warranty for their work.

Now, the good news... well, the better news, if we want to count the home warranty insurance reminder: Not only did John come over to check out my plans for the chick segregation/integration pen inside the coop, but we built it today!

I am beat. Just whipped. I hammered in most of the U staples securing the chicken wire to the frame. LOTS and lots of those staples. Before accomplishing that task, I held things level for John, stretched and held chicken wire taut for the first staples, and learned interesting "construction" things during the process.

So, backing up a bit.... The propane fireplace/heater is a 1995 Majestic and has been "used really hard." There is evidence of it having been operated too hot for too long a period of time, quite a bit of the interior caulking is GONE, it's very corroded, and the scariest situation is the vent pipe through the ceiling right against the wood. The pipe connects to an old wood-stove chimney in the space between the ceiling and the roof, and the flashing on the top of the roof is damaged. For those who know about such things, it's a "B" style stove. I learned this essentially means it utilizes the air inside the house for combustion. (John said, "Well, yeah, nothing wrong with that - you don't have an air-tight house It's not wrapped in plastic.") A fail-safe mechanism shuts off the burner if there is any blockage in the chimney pipe or roof vent. Apparently THAT may have worked, which could be why the thing wouldn't stay lit when the pilot trigger was released. Otherwise, carbon monoxide could have built up inside the house.

John, when told of the situation, commented "Not a great choice: die in your sleep or lose everything when your house catches fire."

Here's the photo of it from when I first looked at the house:

I'm kind of lusting for a new Vermont Castings type of stove, similar to this (but not necessarily this model):
http://vermontcastings.com/family/Stoves/Direct-Vent/Stardance/

Couple of weeks ago, HHandbasket and I wandered the showroom when I confirmed the repair appointment at the store in Placerville. We both drooled at the enamel-over-cast iron colors and different styles. So I'm not horrifically dismayed at having to replace the thing. Sumpin' real purdy and certainly more energy efficient isn't that bad a concept to grasp.

Now, about the Chick Kindergarten area....

After making his own drawing with dimensions, John headed off to get the necessary materials. He returned just as the stove repair guy was leaving. So we discussed that for a while before he brought his work van up the driveway and unloaded it. Then he measured and cut the two-by-fours.

.

Everything was constructed with screws "in case ever want to take it down." We had company - after all, we were building something inside THEIR coop. I had to banish George from the coop, repeatedly. He has the loudest and most shrill crow of all the roosters. It was really disconcerting to experience it inside the confines of the coop. At one point, he flogged one of John's ankles. I was mortified, but John merely laughed and held up his leg for George to attack the bottom of his work boot. Sebrights are such fierce little roosters!

Another time, one of the other bantam cockerels attempted to rape a pullet inside the coop, where she had run for safety. I snatched him right off her back and tucked him under my arm to carry around for a while, holding his beak down for a minute or two. John watched, curiously. I explained the purpose of "humiliating" the cockerel in that manner.

Anyway, the pen walls are six feet tall, eight feet wide to just clear the size of the ginormous brooder against the coop wall, and seven feet deep into the coop. There's still plenty of floor space in the coop for the flock. John had been concerned about that but after we finished and admired the pen for a while, he conceded the dimensions I'd wanted worked out quite well. A touch HE added was a latch on each side of the door into the pen (which I wanted swinging in, to assist in preventing chicks from escaping as I opened it). I hadn't considered how important it would be to lock it closed whilst inside the pen.

I am REALLY pleased with it.

Here are a few photos:

In the third and fourth pictures, you can see part of the ginormous brooder in the back.

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Isn't that so cool?!!?!

When he first arrived, John was surprised to see the coop wall had been painted. "That's not the original color....." I mentioned I was thinking of painting the grey section over the wall he'd built; he remarked, "You already have." Hey! That slop-over was... oh, never mind. He said he'd take down the Chez Poulet sign on his next visit, so I could "finish" painting up there. Smart aleck. I showed him where I had placed the first of four security cameras and he wondered why it was pointed askew, then answered his own question. "Linda, you're supposed to tack down the cable first, before pulling it back to the source."

Well, it would help if I had a LADDER. (My ladder is still at the rental, to be used tomorrow when Farmer Lewis dismantles the resin shed I built there.) John will assist me in putting up the rest of the cameras this weekend, when he comes to measure the roof for THAT later project.

 

[gryeyes]

I called in sick today. I knew last night I was not going to be able to go to work - all that hammering did me in. Fibromyalgia sucks. And hurts, tremendously. So many people think it's an imaginary syndrome but I can assure you it is not. I'm a breast cancer survivor and not prone to making up symptoms for anything. Believe me, if I just had to live with the peripheral neuropathy caused by Chemotherapy, I'd probably not be so gung ho on retiring in 8 months.

I'd made arrangements for HHandbasket and Farmer Lewis to dismantle the original resin shed I built at the rental and pick up whatever else they could (in a U-Haul truck) today. They're there now, and progress is continuing, despite an early snag at the U-Haul office. <*grumble*>

But I was awakened this morning around 6:30 by CHEEPING! Cheeping? WOW! Today is the scheduled Hatch Day for the eggs in the incubator, but I thought I'd mismanaged the humidity and drowned all the chicks. Because hope always hides behind acceptance, it was so wonderful to see a hatched chick and a pipped egg in one of the 3 incubators. There are now two fully hatched chicks and 3 pipped eggs.

I am going to have occupants for the new Chick Kindergarten! They won't go into that big brooder just yet, as I have to clean it out and set a Rubbermaid brooder inside it (the metal trough brooder is much too large for a small number of chicks in their first few days) with an EcoGlow for 'em.

I've always felt ONE chick is a miracle and a Good Hatch, any additional chicks are simply wonderful!

 

[ChicknThief]

I am so sorry you are having a fibro day

My mother is a breast/throid cancer survivor as well as suffering from fibro. It is no more imaginary than wind is imaginary.

Congrats on your Chickergarten!!! It is very cute and beautifully constructed. And you will even have some peepers to put in it!

You do realize of course that since you have informed us of your newly hatched that you are obligated to post pics right?

 

[theoldchick]

Chicken Kindergarten! I love it!

 

[rrrmamma]

but not too hard! I have fibro too and have struggled to make friends and family understand that it is real and painful. If I overdo I pay for it the next few days. I have been following your thread for awhile (stayed up one night til 2am catching up.!) Sounds like you have found your little bit of paradise. DH and I found ours in central Ohio 4 years ago. I am a transplant from So. CA so the winters took some getting used to. Congrats on the babies. I really enjoy your stories.

 

[Kansaseq]

Chick Kindergarten looks great, and congratulations on the babies!!!!
Hope you feel better

 

[wolftracks]

Linda what do they have near you that's extremely cheap with at least an acre? I really need to move.