The building of Pea Palace(Pic Heavy)

[frenchblackcopper]

Here is a view of the top of the pens to be covered.I'm planning on running the 50' length of tarp from the right side of the picture(South) to the left side (North) as your looking at this picture.The 40" width of the tarp will be East to West,,leaving about 8" of uncovered space very close to the new addition where it gets shady about 2 pm anyway.The south end of the tarp(Right side of pic) will be held solid so it does not pull when the tarp is being pulled over the pens.Still accumulating diffrent ideas to do this at the time tho.I thought of running a 2x4" board the entire 40 length,,but that seems like a waste.I'm considering just running the heavy fence wire thru the grommet holes,then using heavy staples to attach the wire to the posts near the top to hold it in place.It's hard to see but at each post on the right side in the picture I have about 50" of rope all wound up and tied to the fence.Look at this picture then I'll explain the extra rope

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Imagine in the picture above with the tarp over the pens.The first row of blue plates you see closest to me when I took this picture will be one edge of the tarp once it's in place.If you look very close across the posts running left to right you will see the yellow rope already stretched over the top.Once the tarp is in place,another rope will be on top of the tarp,right above the rope now in place,to keep the tarp from flapping in a small breeze.There will be 5 of these "flap lines" each 10' apart,just above the rope already in place.I plan to tie a large loop at the end of the rope on the north side,then use a strong bungee cord on each one to keep tension on it at all times.When I get ready to roll the tarp back,I can just unhook the bungee to free up some space to make rolling it back easier.And pictured here is the now empty,yet valuless piece of real estate known as Pea Palace West edition,,guaranteed to empty the wallet for next sping 2013!

 

[frenchblackcopper]

And did I mention refreshments? Any1 here know what Eisweine is?DON'T GOOGLE it to find out either.I have an Imported bottle chilling in the fridge now for later tonight after the dirty work is over.It pays to have friends from the "Hinterland" for access to this grape candy.Now to unbox the tarp and learn which way is the 40 and 50 lengths!!

 

[connerhills]

Yes .. that is a late season wine. made maybe after a light frost has condesed the sugars .. I have had some very good Eiswein in Choctaw ,Ok.. the owner of the German rest. goes to Germany and selects his wine and has it sent back... I had some in Germany that was not very good, and one in Holland that good have been better. I can get a late season wine here in Missouri that is a very good Eiswein. It is not always availabe because weather does not happen the same each year. You have to like a full body wine that is sweet to appreciate it.. which I do and once it is open it is gone . Keep it cold .. enjoy ,,,, connerhhills

 

[frenchblackcopper]

George,,this Nachtgold is EXCELLENT,,yellow in color and very,very sweet! And yes,there won't be a drop left later tonight once the cork is popped.Okay,,all day here there hasn't been so much as a sparrow's fart for wind,so after I unrolled the tarp,figured out which way was the 40' length, I then re-rolled it back up in a way once I had it on top of the netting,it would unroll correctly going north.I got the bundle up on top,unrolled it one way,attached a few zip ties,then started working to the north.I pulled one side almost halfway,then went on the roof of the new building and tied a rope to the corner and pulled the west side of the tarp north. I had to get inside the pens a few times and use a piece of PCV pipe to push the bundle over a post-plate in the middle,but only 2-3 times,and I had it all the way to the north end,with about a foot hanging over. I had 1 of my ropes that I planed on using on top of the tarp just about tied down,,when out of nowhere we had a gust of wind about 20mph come thru.I wish I had the camera then,because the whole tarp looked like a huge sail on a boat.It lifted up on the north end and took off to the south.The only thing that saved it was I had zip tied it all along the south end and once it flipped over the trees on the end of the property,it stopped and so did the wind!! I don't know if there is anyway possible to anchor this down enough so even a small wind won't take it away.Granted I didn't have anything on top yet to keep it from blowing but still a little wind under something so large and it's up and blowing.Peas probably won't lay for 2 days after this event!! When it was covering all the pens I bet it was 15 degrees cooler under the tarp.The wind here on the prairie sucks at times,,and today was a fine example.

 

[angsaidso]

This certainly is becoming more and more impressive everyday. I don't say much but am following your progress. As for ducks, I too love the smaller pretty "eye candy" ducks. Mandarin and woods being my favorite. I hope to own some of each some day when I have all of my pens built. I just received a nice package in the mail. My netting for overheard. I have been looking at how you are doing your netting and thinking ... why can I not do that over the top of my entire backyard??? The problem is I have no one to help me sink the posts and digging in my yard is like trying to dig through the road. I'm just a little thing (five two and old now) so an auger is out of the question ... But netting across my entire backyard would allow me to turn the birds loose daily to forage even moreso than they do now. I also want to add blueberry bushes to their enclosures.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Top netting is turning out to be the least expense of this project,and next year on Pea Palace West Edition I will not run wire across the top of the posts to hold the netting up,rather nylon rope as I've just put up now to lay the tarp on over the posts..You could skip digging the posts inground if you were to make 2"x4" framework and just let is sit on the ground.You could drill holes and install bolts to keep this framework from tipping over as each section is added.Of you use sheet metal as a sight barrier 3' up then you just attach welded wire above the metal to the height you want,,48" or 60" is the width of mist welded wire,60" is best because with the metal width of 36" this makes fast use of 8' long 2x4's,,and these 2x4's are a lot cheeper than 4x4 posts,,just make sure the ones sitting on the ground are CCA treated at least.
My issue with the cable and wire across the top of the posts now is tightening them up,,I tighten all wires coming thru one post and by doing so,this pulls the tops of the posts inward and by doing that,it sometimes makes other wires or cables loosen on other posts.Where nylon rope can be pulled and stretched a lot,,sure it still pulls the tops of the posts inward but it will stay tight.I would maybe use 6x6 posts on the corners next time also,,and sink them in 3' deep since these gets pulled from 2 diffrent directions.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I've figured out a solution to my shade issue here,,and that is with the Pop Up Gazebos they sell. I can get a 10x10 for $49.99,,,,with free shipping,,a 10x20 for $69.99,,,,it may look like a Carnival under the top netting with a bunch of tents set up,,but I can easily ties off the legs to the welded wire walls or directly into the wood posts.I wouldn't really need the legs either.

 

[judyc]

frenchblackcopper,

What a wonderful place! I loved all of the birds, and those sure were some pretty pups, too!

The IB eggs are on their way home to sisters right now.

You know, a good salesman would have sold me that Midnight egg. Beautiful birds!

 

[frenchblackcopper]

I would have offered to sell it to you,but I need it for Mmmaddie13's shipment,,,only gathered 2 eggs from 33 hens last night,,,I think the girls are forming a Union against me,,,less work,higher pay and more banannas,bread and popcorn!! After this week,, I should have all colors of eggs again.