One of the first orders of business after relocating to the farm was to design and begin construction on The Aviary; a fancy name for the chicken house which will also play home to pigeons and pheasants that are already residents. The weather hasn’t played nice all that often but the basic structure of support posts and lean-to roof is in place so far. Here are a couple of progress photos:
The roofing material is reclaimed industrial metal roofing that will easily keep the birds dry while simultaneously serving as a great surface to feed into the rain barrel that will be the source water of the new automatic watering system that I hope to have in place in the next few weeks.
The Aviary will consist of four apartments. The first will be situated along the back of the barn and will be home to the pigeon loft. The remaining three apartments will run perpendicular to the building and will open to the rear shared yard. Of course I will share more photos as the project is completed.
In the rafters of the barn / garage was found an interesting hand made farm implement that I can’t figure out. It is beautiful in its simplicity but the weight and shape of the thing make it seemingly impractical by my standards.
Does anyone have a clue as to what this thing is? It seems to have had only one blade along the left side.
Mystery solved thanks to a keen-eyed friend. This is a scythe, also called a grain cradle. Read more about this device here. Another photo here.
Here’s a closer look at the handle:
Tags: antiques, chickens, construction
