Some Small Explanations

I talk a lot about things here at Calamity Acres, and forget there are some people who do not understand the things to which I refer.

 

I thought today I would take a little time to show some things to which I refer repeatedly, so you understand what I mean when I name a building or a location.

 

First, the chicken yards. 

This somewhat grainy photo shows you the two chicken yards.  Well, the first two.  The one on the right was the very first thing Keith built here at our place.  We had   no... I HAD bought two pairs of chickens before we ever moved in, and they were boarded with a friend.  Keith intends to re-build these pens at some point, because they are all leaning now and the gates don't work very well anymore. 

 

On the right is the "Big Henhouse", the one that has been invaded so many times by the starlings in the winter.  It was a small building with a closet and air conditioning that was used to watch children of the people who came to the strawberry farm to pick.  We find debris all the time, coming up to the top of the ground, so we think the back of it was used as a dump at one time.

 

It has been a very serviceable henhouse.

 

The one on the left, we refer to as the "Little Henhouse", and you will see it's up on stilts.  It provides shelter for the birds in the summer... and from snow and rain in bad weather.  We used to make a wall of straw bales around it we called "Fort Apache" to protect our ducks and geese in the winter.

 

I backed off into the pasture to take this picture this morning.

 

Looking north, to the right, you can see some other buildings.

 

 

Now you can look past the fenceline and see the pasture pen, a dog pen that I have used for some birds the past two summers... and the little horsebarn behind it, with it's corral, that I call the "horseyard" or the "llamayard", when we had our llamas.  This was a serviceable three sided shed for winter cover.  The little red barn is for hay, it sits outside the pasture fence.

 

The framework to the front of the picture was for another shed Keith was going to build, that never really got started.  The poles are still so straight and true that the pond man did not want to tear them down, as he uprooted the three you see in cement.  This weekend, we are moving the little flock from the pasture pen, over to the new henhouse.  Also... you can see a fence brace to the right... that was a pad that Keith made for a proper barn.  Because of making that pad, we had a tiny little pond that I loved, and our ducks and geese loved... but when we tried to make a big, regular pond... we hit limestone and could not do so.  Our little pond was filled in, and that created the weedy area in the middle that you can just see.

 

I am going to take the pasture pen down, and we will move it into the yard to use as a pen for the dogs on days we have company and need to pen them up for a bit.

 

 

This is the "new" henhouse, or the henspa... built in the yard.  That's the garden area in front of it, and the firepit. 

 

 

Yes, there's still construction debris around it...

but it's just about ready.  The framework you see in the picture will hold the shadecloth which will cover the run.  The poor chickens who are now used to running at will in the pasture will be kept in this smaller run so that the layers can lay where I can find the eggs.  They will have access to underneath the house too, hence the steps you see at the east end and the south end.  We'll be cleaning up this weekend, and hope to move the chickens on Saturday and Sunday and Monday.  We are expecting temps to drop from the 70's today to the low 40's by Sunday.

 

Looking north from here...

 

 

We look into the garden bed area, and the area where this year's hoop house stood, but where we will set up a small greenhouse next spring.  We are thinking of putting a small gazebo near the chicken yard, where we can sit and watch the hens.  The porch you see will also have a railing around it, and a deck bench on it, so we can sit there.  Keith has also bought flower boxes to put under the windows on the north side. 

 

(And I'm praying I won't have to crawl under the henhouse to find eggs!)