barn – OneFlewOver Farm

The Henhouse Gets a Facelift

The henhouse had nesting boxes on two walls and a small fully-fenced “run,” but the fencing was rusted through in several spots and the overhead “roof” fencing had years and years worth of leaf and debris accumulation, not to mention a tree growing right through it. First step was to clear away all the overgrowth and fallen tree limbs, and then that creepy mold-encrusted vinyl siding…

Framing up for run… this is the “safe” yard where the hens are protected from predators and where they can hang out in the mornings until we drag ourselves out of bed to open the gates…

New siding, painted… yard “run” framed in and ready for wire fencing sides.

Freddie assessing west side of barn

The “big barn out back,” nearly the size of our “little house up front,” was in such a state of neglect that a couple of our friends actually suggested we just tear it down. Freddie included. (More on our BFFreddie later.) NO WAY was I going to witness the sacrifice of this character and NO WAY could we afford building a replacement from the ground up. This was going to be our garage and the Harley workshop/hangout; divided in purpose with the back half where the built-in tack room and feed storage bins were to remain “on task” for farm-related things and animal housing when needed. Sliding stall doors from the front half (which was partially gutted to accommodate our tractors and implements) are going to be roughly restored and definitely repurposed in the house… eventually.

As luck would have it, a friend of Debi’s (more on my beloved sister-in-law later) had recently been laid off and was looking for a temp position that involved long days of laboring, heavy lifting, underbrush clearing, dismantling, rebuilding, painting and occasional authentic Costa Rican meal preparation for ten bucks an hour and a place to shower up and catch some winks afterwards. Enter our open arms, Lenier, and let’s make ourselves a barn.

“The West Side (of the barn) Story”

After clearing away a few year’s worth of leaves, brush and the “dumped debris” beneath, the foundation was shored up and the hopelessly rotted facade removed. We rented one of those huge demolition dumpsters as there was also tons of trash and scrap left behind and/or dumped both inside and outside the barn by a prior owner who was in the roofing and siding business. The west side of the barn (as seen in the first photo above) was in the poorest condition, so that was tackled first.

The process may have been as painful as a root canal at times, but here you can begin to see the fruits of their labor after a couple of the window sockets were filled with double dutch doors.