January 11, 2006

Bump in the night

After taking the day off from my job yesterday to deal with everything at home, it was back to work today! I got an early start and left in darkness, and didn't notice that I had passed our barn crew on my way. Gary didn't realize the crew had arrived so early as well, and startled them as he rounded the corner of the house in darkness as he did chores.
Even in the darkness of the morning, they got right to work. All that was left to do was put up the metal siding.
Gary called me at work at 10:00a.m. to report they were done and gone. He told me that he opened the barn so the turkeys could be outside as the crew packed up and loaded their trailer. As the crew sat warming up their truck, my youngest (and most annoying friendly) turkey flew to the roof of their job trailer and rode it all the way to the bottom of the driveway. She flew off when they reached the road. As Gary and I spoke on the phone, I could hear her coming up the drive, atlking the whole time about her trip. The crew must have gotten a kick out of that. They did end up leaving with a male muscovy and a rooster, but these were on purpose.
The site is a mudhole right now which makes the ducks pretty happy. Gary shovelled 2.5 tons of gravel into the biggest holes so we could start parking a tractor in there right away.
The door company will come in a week or so to mount the overhead doors. Gary can't wait since the doors will keep the turkeys out. The warm weather is making them act nuttier than usual. The chickens and ducks feel it too. I am collecting more and more eggs every day which is good since it's been a while since we have been able to keep up with customer demands. The ducks are almost acting like they will begin laying soon as well. But the pregnant goats in our old barn continue to hold on to their babies inside, and look ready to explode.

Posted by roosterh at 6:41 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2006

Barn Raising

After last week's installation of the posts, the walls and roof of the new barn went up today. It was framed by morning break. Unfortunately the crew got stuck coming up our long driveway, but Gary helped pull them out with the tractor. It was a nice sunny day, unusually warm for this time of the year. I had to keep the turkeys in the barn or they would be all over the men working and what they were working on.
The trusses were mounted by lunch. When the crew took their break, I brought out a big pot of coffee for them.
After lunch, I walked to the bottom of the driveway to check the mail. As it turned out my timing was perfect and our carrier was just sticking things in the mailbox, so I stood in the road and chatted with her a while. It's so warm out that there was a honeybee hitching a ride on the roof of her car. I said good-bye and started up the drive. I knew I heard my turkeys calling, but that was impossible since they were all locked up tight in the barn. They sure were loud though. Once I crested the hill and saw the trusses, sure enough - a couple hens were jumping around on the roof. Turns out the doors and windows were stored in our first barn and when one of the crew went in to retrieve them, he forgot to close the door. I rounded them up in short order and got them back in the barn. The crew had a good sense of humor and took it in stride.
Gary and I received a wonderful copper rooster weathervane for our first wedding anniversary from his mom. We've been holding on to it waiting for just the right spot to mount it. We decided that the new barn was as nice a spot as any, so Gary asked the foreman if it's possible to mount this weathervane on the roof. I can't wait until she sees it!
Hank was the perfect farmdog today and showed a little defensiveness towards strangers, but not too much. He's too friendly a dog to be mean. He showed off his chicken-herding skills and helped me put away all the birds at sundown. As far as the "Behind the scenes" look at our article, well I forgot to take Cindy's picture! I can't believe it. She did have some trouble with her camera though, so she may have to come back.

Posted by roosterh at 6:58 PM | Comments (0)

January 5, 2006

The Barn Has Begun

Well they got stuck coming up the driveway, had to fend off curious turkeys and roosters as they worked, but the poles have been dug and raised.
It was just 2 men who worked today and they got all this accomplished. I took pictures when I got home from work so the lighting isn't the best, but it shows the new and old barns, side by side.

Posted by roosterh at 8:49 PM | Comments (0)

January 4, 2006

Building starts Thursday!

They called last night to tell us they will be coming out Thursday, after their truck is repaired. I sure hope they make it out before this warm spell ends!

Posted by roosterh at 7:53 AM | Comments (0)

January 3, 2006

New barn update

Afer we received the call last week from the builders scheduling their first day for Monday, January 2, we were so excited! We would both be home and on hand to help and watch. Then we got a call over the weekend that they would instead be coming out Tuesday as they had not realized Monday was a holiday and could not pick up some supplies they needed. We got about 5" of snow last night, and Gary got out early to work on the driveway so they could drive up easily. Just as he was laying sand on the bottom of the hill, his cell phone rang and it was the crew. Turns out they had some truck problems en route and need to reschedule for tomorrow.
It's never easy, is it?

Only the driver from the lumber yard made it today, and Gary shovelled sand the whole way up the driveway. And unloaded all of those bags of concrete mix as one of my turkeys hopped all over the truck. "I never heard of Candor," the driver said. "And if I make it to the bottom of your driveway, I hope to never see it again."
Here's hoping the builders fare better tomorrow.

Posted by roosterh at 9:08 AM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2005

We Have a Date

They come to set the poles for the new barn Monday! Here's hoping we can get rid of the small flood that we have going on before they start.

Posted by roosterh at 9:25 PM | Comments (1)

October 26, 2005

Snow on the roof

The trusses for the barn were dropped off yesterday. And we got our first snow over night. Not the 7" predicted, only about 2" but with high winds as well.

Posted by roosterh at 6:23 AM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2005

Day 2

When you come home and find a big dozer at the bottom of the drive, you know you are in for something. Especially when it is a BIG dozer. Especially when they came early.
That is a big slope. They said at first they would come Monday, but then cancelled due to rain. They told us they would arrive Thursday.
Looking down. When we thought they were coming Monday, I penned all the birds. All of them, even the ducks and the turkeys, especially the nosy curious turkeys. When they didn't come, I let most of them out. The ducks had let themselves out during the day.
NE View. While the dozer pushed dirt around, the birds watched. The man told us they pretty much stayed away while he ran the rig, but came in to investigate when he got off to check grade.
SE View. But luckily the turkeys did not slow him down at all.
The ducks are happy with extra mud.

Posted by roosterh at 8:32 PM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2005

Preparing for a new barn Day 1

We have spent a couple days clearing a site to prepare for a new barn. The bull dozer comes today to level the site. We are not named Rooster HILL Farm for nothing! The pix are views from the SE, NE and SW respectively. For the first time all of my birds except for the geese are contained. It is very strange to not see them running around.
For reference here is an older pic of the same area early this spring, view from the SE.

Posted by roosterh at 8:34 AM | Comments (1)