Next Project Underway

We got the auger back from the mechanic. It was a warranty job so we had to wait on the parts from the manufacturer. During the weeks it was gone the weather got hot and the ground hardened. The good news was that the repair was free.

The auger would only cut into the clay a few inches. Then it would just rotate and polish the hard clay. To soften it up we filled the holes with water. There was little seepage so the water stayed in the holes for a long time.

We discovered a new way to catch voles. Voles can’t swim or climb very well. It took a few days for us to get the holes to the right depth. Each day we would get a little deeper and add more water. Each morning we would collect all of the dead voles. Lisa caught a frog one morning. It survived and since they eat bugs she rescued it and released it in the pond.

The hen house will be 8’x8’ and the yard will be about 16’x16’. They’ll love it. All the posts have concrete now. This weekend I’ll box in the roof and add lag bolts to fasten everything solidly.

We’re using pole shed style construction. The roof weight will bear on the poles instead of the walls. The roof will slope with the low side to the west which is the direction of the prevailing winds. We plan to use the metal roofing from Mansea Metals like we used on the tractor port. The roof will be brown with white trim like the barn and the walls will be the same “clay” color.

The entry into the yard will be between the near post on the left and the building on the right.