The building of Pea Palace(Pic Heavy)

[frenchblackcopper]

Between this pen I used a piece of osb and no wire.Made this a solid door because next summer I can use the last uncompleted pen for very young peas when they first get moved out of the brooder box inside the house.The last pen which is yet to be finished I plan to make a regular small entry-access door as well as a cover so it's basically a solid box to prevent any drafts whatsover.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Next is a view of this pen which will actually be 2 pens when completed.To the left of this pen is where I moved peas about two weeks ago.The division is behind the ladder step.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

New Pea install.I think there is 10 of my youngest peas in this bunch.Three are solid whites all from my BSSP quad.Two are of my last hatched Opal b/s,,a hen and a young male.Then I have 5 BSSP,four hens and one very nice male.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

This made my day.I worked all day yesterday to complete this pen for my quad of BSSP. This morning all of them was still sitting on the perch like they didn't know what else to do. I went and brought in their feed and water bowl,filled both and put on the floor.Naturally Roadtrip was the first to fly down but all three hens stayedon the perch almost all morning,until I went into the pen,and let them sit on my hand as I lowered my arm for them to get on the ground to eat and drink.While I was building all afternoon they stayed on the ground but finally when it was almost dark,one by one they made their way back to the perch without any help.I feel they now consider this pen their home and have made the adjustment well.What do you think? The wall pen behind them has my first moved oldest pea group hatched this spring

 

[Mmmatt13]

 

[elsfieldchickens]

nice pea house!

 

[frenchblackcopper]

If anyone has watched the weather the past few days you know what is hitting our state tonight. And if not,we're in a high wind warning until 3pm Friday,winds expected to reach gusts of 60 plus mph.Tonight blowing snow accumilating to between 2-3" which means we can get some very deep drifts quickly.Every night this week I have been working inside trying to get everything closed up before this hit.I got my last 18' of splash boards put on the last 3 wall posts.I did this Tuesday night in the dark and rain because once the ground freezes,there won't be any digging here until maybe March.I next put the last 2 remaining metal sheets on the east wall. These had been purposely left off to accomidate bringing in plywood and other building materials.
If you look in post 272 above on the far right you will see the existing corn crib wall.It is made with 1"x6" boards with about a 1 1/2" gap between them to allow ariflow to let ear corn dry naturally and not spoil.I had been thinking each night the best way to close this up quickly,knowing tonight would be my deadline.I had about 1/2 of the necessary plywood to completely board this side up,but I still need to make one more pen to move last years hatched peas that number about 6 and 4 ornamental pheasants into.In pic 272 you can see where either this last pen will be built,or possibly 2 pens,each being 6' wide and 12' long. Not getting home from work until after dark and the wind already howling out here my decision came down to using a new 10'x20' tarp that I bought this summer to try and make a bit of shade with in the IB pen.The wall is almost 10' high at the peak and since my wall pens are 4' out from the wall,amd I need an entry door,the tarp worked very well.The actual wall was 24' long.
When I first started working tonight inside the wind was blowing thru there like I was outside.Then as work progressed it started to snow.The farther I got the tarp attached to the wall,the warmer it seemed to get inside and less,and less snow was blowing in.This north wall is now completely covered with a tarp and hopefuly it will last all winter since it's tacked all along it's length at 3 diffrent levels and all across the top,and bottom.Tomorrow night it's supposed to get down to 10 degrees with a wind chill of about 0. All I have to finish is making the entry door. This will take 1 sheet of osb plywood,2 hinges and some circular saw cutting and I should finally have this closed up for winter,none too soon.This weekend I will make the last pen and move the last peas inside and get them out of their other pen.
I can now do feeding and watering inside here with 5 adult pens and 2 wall pens,and my other peafowl pen up front with about 20 peas inside it in about 20 minutes.Much more easier and faster than doing this same chore when 8 seperate breeding pens took almost an hout of time. I will get pics this weekend of the wall and last pen,,and I'll be done constructing for a few months.

 

[Trefoil]

I am enjoying reading about your construction, I use it to get ambitious. I hope you will continue to post about any changes/additions you decide and of course when you resume construction in the spring. Tarps are wonderful to have around for immediate needs.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Trefoil,,today I HOPE to get the inside completed and move my last 14 2012 hatched young peas moved here,the 6 2011 hatched peas I kept inside a pen here,and move at least 4 ornamental pheasants inside with the 2011 group of older peas.My first order of business will be closing up the space left between the rafters and top wall sill plate, I have 5 of these openings yet to close off. Past few days I've came in to do chores there has been a lot of starlings and sparrows inside.They have found a food source with the peafeed and I'm not going to support them all winter.i then need to make an extry door on the existing crib wall that now has a tarp nailed to it.If I get time,I plan to make one last pen that will be 12x12.I stopped yesterday at the lumber yard to get 2 more pieces of plywood but they were closed already but I think I have enough.More pics and updates coming

 

[frenchblackcopper]

As always not as much was done today as hoped for.It was way past time to clean house.because as each new pen has been constructed all my tools and wood scraps have been moved to the next area and with the last pen on the west side that needed to be completed meant all my junk had to be moved.Scraps of wire,wood and other necessities was once again moved to my last bit of space on the east side.I got the junk sheet metal and welded wire pieces picked up and built a fire for the wood scraps that will have no use now.My main feat this week was to get this tarp up on the crib side before we had the 50mph winds this past week.To the far righthand side not able to be seen in this picture is where my entry door will be.I could easily notice as more of this tarp was put up on how much less the winds was coming into thie building,as well as keeping the blowing snow out.