Finally doing well enough to work on some of the projects I meant to complete over the summer. The days are already getting noticeably shorter — and up here, that means it’s going get cold long before I’m ready for it.

Spent time today dismantling the small interior coop I’d put together in a rush late last year, and using the last of the scrap wood to fill in sides. That’s not completed, but I got as much done as I could.

The primary wind-ward (south) side of the coop is still not going to be entirely closed in, to allow for good ventilation. That side is one pallet tall, and the top half of that is now covered with wood on the interior side of the coop. But in the current battle to further-raccoon proof it, I will drag up the fencing wire tomorrow (hopefully) and cover over the bottom half, as well as the front edge of the pallets along the chainlink. That is to keep idiot chicks from wedging themselves into a narrow gap and freezing to death in negative-windchill temperatures, like this past winter. I also reinforced part of the arch on the eastern (primary sun-side) side with wood. The tyvek feed sacks have not survived significant sun exposure, but the other stuff has done okay. It just needed to be anchored, so that’s now done. I’ll probably add some more anchoring later. When you’re working with scrap wood, you have to be creative in how you use it … and sparing.

I still have more to do on the north side.

I have not yet entirely decided if I’m going to build an “outside” interior run off the side of the inner coop. I had a “pen” there for the teenage chicks when I built that mini coop inside the coop. It might be workable to give it some kind of top for a semi-protected space for winter.

I discovered that the screws that have SUCKED to use … are actually combination square-and-Phillips #2 drive. They work much better with a square drive bit than a Phillips. The Phillips was just stripping out. Swapping for the square drive made a huge difference in speed and frustration. I think I still prefer the star drive, but not having the screws I have on hand be completely useless is a good thing.

Once it was too dark to work, I came back into the house and showered. Dry chicken poop gets very dusty, and I was very dusty. Have made dinner (I faked beef tips in mushroom gravy), still need to get the dehydrator trays scrubbed and clean — and out of the utility sink, so I can run a load of clothes. At least the clothes washer can run while I’m asleep. 😛 The freeze dryer shouldn’t be done with the current load until some time tomorrow. So that’s not an immediate “must do”, either.