duck shed progress

i'm getting close to calling the new duck shed done.  it's been challenging in a lot of ways.  the biggest challenge has been working through my own insecurities.  staal is a very good builder and i get a bit intimidated by that at times.  he works mainly with standard construction methods and although i've had a fair amount of experience with standard methods helping on other people's projects, when it comes to my own projects they tend to be anything but standard.  i tend to scavenge materials and work out a way to fit them together into something that will do what i need it to do.  it's more of an artistic process---something like functional sculpture.  i think a good name for it is windfall construction since many of the materials seem to come to me a bit serendipitously.  

in the last duck shed post i did i was just finishing up the framing.  i've done a lot of work on it since then.  after i got the framing done i got the roof on.  a neighbor gifted us some corrugated metal sheeting.  it was used but in good condition.  i gave the old screw holes a squirt of caulk and although we've only gotten a couple of light rains since i put it up it seems not to leak.

staal and i came across a substantial amount of 1/2" hardware cloth when we were out yardsaling a couple weeks ago.  this amount of wire would easily have cost well over $100 new.  the woman having the yard sale let us have it for $10.  she had used it for a vegetable garden she'd grown and some of it was damaged but most of it was in very good condition and i was able to use it to seal up all the walls and eaves of the duck shed.

it took a little work to get the folds out of the wire but once that was done it went up pretty quickly using our pneumatic stapler.

once the wire was up i cut pieces of the corrugated metal sheeting that i used for the roof and nailed it to the walls to add more protection from the weather and predators.

i decided to completely seal up the north wall...

and i left the south wall mostly open.

i want the duck shed to look just as spiffy as the feed barn so i've started painting it and putting up a little trim at the top edge of the metal sheeting.
i'm using the same colors as we used on the feed barn...

and the trim is made from pieces of the old stake sides staal made for his '34 ford flatbed many years ago.

at some point i'll get the trim painted.  i'm also going to paint the doors caleb gave me.  i love the way they look now.  i like the color and the way the paint is worn in places but now that they're being used as exterior doors i think painting them would be a good measure to keep them a bit better protected from the weather.  after i get the doors painted i'll put on some heavy exterior latches to keep them securely closed.

i'll start work on an adjoining fence and yard soon.  the yard is going to include a gravel bed for the ducks' bathing pool.  i made a smaller version of it inside the duck shed for their drinking water.  

hopefully it will help keep things from getting muddy and keep the bedding from becoming a soggy mess.

it's going to be a little sad not having the ducks in the garden anymore.  as noisy as they are i still like having them close.  the move will be a good thing for them though.  they'll have more space and a more secure place to sleep.

the nerds