Goat House Pix

It's not done but here are pictures of the goat house being constructed on Tuesday of this week:

Picture 1: the fence was put up on Monday... now it's Tuesday and it's time to sort the wood. I'm looking down from my garden room (an upstairs bedroom) and hoping they can understand my drawing. Notice the extra 2x6 wood? That was what I planned to use for my raised-bed gardening. Oh well.


Picture 2: The west "wall" and the first board on the north wall are up. All being propped up with the pipes that will be used to install the gate for the fence. Took the pic when they were on a smoke-break. Don't get me started.




Picture 3: A little bit more of the north wall is done. Actually, I think this pic shows that length is done. Well, except for it being sturdy! Yes, they were gone ... on lunch break this time.

It was midday by now, and the threatened storm was getting closer. Plus they were dealing with buffeting winds. Come on.. hurry!



Picture 4: Here they've put on the 4-foot east wall and turned the corner with one section of the south wall.

I know what I drew doesn't make sense but maybe by the time it's completely (I mean... COMPLETELY) done and I can take pictures from down there and inside, it will make sense. Still bracing the walls with gate-piping.


Picture 5: Another section of the south wall. Notice the pile of wood is gone. By the time they were done for the day, they had used every stick of my planned raised bed gardening wood that I had saved from the last house. AND by the time this pic was taken, the storm was less than 2 hours away.



Picture 6: Finally getting the "ceiling" on the enclosed part of the goat house. It measures 4 x 16 and doesn't look great but we still have to insulate and tarp it. My plan was to make it small and deep so that the goats (young and old alike) would have a nice warm hay-filled area to ride out rain, snow, hail and wind. Since our goats are dwarf nigerians, it should work well. Goats like to cuddle anyway (which I didn't know until recently)! Should be warm enough for goat babies too. That's the plan, anyway.

I walked into the covered part of the goat house (it's 6-foot tall) and it really did cut the wind down. Was almost warm! I can just imagine our two young goaties in there next week or the week after... cuddling up for yet another freak snowstorm. The goat house has a few drafty areas which will mostly be taken care of with the styrofoam insulation and tarps, but it can't be airtight because that will cause the goats to be susceptible to respiratory infections.

Picture 7: They got the ceiling attached and started working on the gate. Wish they had covered the goat house because it was made of INDOOR plywood ... I had plenty of tarps! Can you see them in the left of the pic? Come on, guys... the storm is almost here! The gate can wait!



Picture 8: Took this after they left for the day ... at 3:30. They collected some of our tools, but none of the wood (still need to build the chicken coops). I hurried out after they left and tried to gather what I could to place under the deck's overhang. Then, in the gusting wind with hail and snow 30 minutes away, the Kid and I covered as much as we could of the far part of the goat house. The wind kept ripping the tarp from our hands, and I couldn't find the bailing wire so I used some of my yarn. I know. Brilliant. Not.

Picture 9: This is what I woke up to yesterday morning. Actually, THIS morning too! You might barely be able to see the tarp along the back part of the goat house but the snow covered... almost everything. Can't believe that it's May 13 and not only did we get a couple of inches yesterday, and another inch last night, but more snow is forecast! Argh!

When I went out to check on the critters in the workshop yesterday morning, I found some of our tools. In a big frozen puddle. I was furious!

Anyway, I guess you can kinda get an idea of what I planned for the goats. The uncovered area towards the front will eventually get a little "ceiling", and is going to be used for the feeding and milking area. The gate is very close to the door from our walk-out basement so during bad weather, none of us have to be very uncomfortable for long.

So that's our goat house to date.

Saturday I'll be a farmers market and will hopefully make enough money to get some more tarps. (Did I mention we're out of money for this?!?!)

Then Sunday is supposed to be in the 70's so Hubby and I and the Kid (hopefully) will get out there and see what we can do. Hoping the heat will help dry out the wood so we can finish covering it. No mold, please.

Monday is predicted to be in the 70's too. Maybe what we don't finish on Sunday, the guys can get done on Monday. Yeah. Here's hoping I make enough money on Saturday to pay them.

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The chicken we got from our new friend has settled in well in our little coop in the workshop/barn. Hubby gave her the temp name of Henny Penny (coz he always liked that story), and the name has now stuck. We got her on Sunday, and she laid an egg each day after! Mon, Tue and Wed = 3 eggs! All very light green. Very cool. Her production prompted me to create a spreadsheet so I can start tracking eggs (chicken and quail), milk, and other things we'll harvest on our little 2-acre homestead.

Our little baby chicks aren't so little any more. Tried to take a pic last night but didn't come out well. Even tho they are all 2 weeks old today and started out the same size 2 weeks ago when we got them, some are a lot larger than others. Tail feathers have come in on about half, and some were almost flying out of the box we had them in. Hubby and I rigged up bigger boxes last night and transferred everyone. And because the boxes were bigger, they wouldn't fit in the kitchen anymore. We moved them to the fireplace room (den) and hooked up the heat lamp on the fireplace mantle. We also raised the dowel rod location ... previously was only about 3 inches off the floor of the box. Now it's about 8 inches up, and the chicks best at "flying" have already started using it. Wow.

And our little pair of quail ... well, the wind and other noises in the workshop/barn had them completely flustered. Pecka stopped laying, and had started to lose most of her feathers. We moved them back into the garage on Saturday, and we finally started getting eggs again... TWO yesterday!

I've ordered some fertilized quail eggs and a cheap little incubator because we need more quail. We have orders for quail eggs for eating, and poor little Pecka can't give out enough to sell.

It's late... almost 10 a.m. That's REALLY late for me to do a blog entry. I'm so tired... changing out the chicken boxes took us to about 10 p.m. We still had other things to do before we get to bed, and we get up at 4:30 a.m. to start the day. Yawn.

Time to go make soap for Saturday's farmers market!

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Please plant a nut or fruit tree today.