[Closed] A quick shed build from the (hen) Hoose of Moont

I still haven't built my shed 🙁

Are you getting rescue chicks? My Auntie got a load of X-battery chicks.
They really were the saddest collection of birds,all pecked and scrawny.The change in them since has been miraculous,and they produce great eggs with real taste.

[url= http://www.bhwt.org.uk/rehome-some-hens/ ]Rescue chicks[/url]

This is as close to a shed as I get. The kids love it but it's a bit too small for me!

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cabin guru Lloyd Kahn

lucky, lucky bastard!

Nice job as ever. Have you done any moisture testing on the holzhausen logs yet?

Frikkin awesome.
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Fasthaggis, there is a small holding down the road which has some regular chickens for sale, but in the spirit of recycling and rehabilitation I had thought about some rescue chickens too. Thanks for the link, I'll get on to it.

Have you done any moisture testing on the holzhausen logs yet?

I've burned one already. After a very wet spell I dismantled it. On the outside edge they were wet, off the scale wet on the meter, but on the inner end of the outer logs they were drier. The interior was near bone dry, ~018%. The rain had been relentless for months. I dismantled the holzhausen and put the logs under cover in a windy spot, the wettest ones to the windward side. They all dried out within a fortnight.

It was my first holzhausen, it had a pear shape which wasn't ideal for water run off. I've made a better job of building them since then

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This is a ordinary replenished store.

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First attempt

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Don't get carried away with the rescue hens.

A mate* did, ended up with enough eggs to form his own, very local, Egg mountain.

*Technically it was his wife and kids who got carried away, they wanted to rescue ALL THE CHICKENS....... so they ended up with 10 or 12, all who were "not laying very well".

Turns out that was only temporary.

I do love a mcmoonter thread, however hopelessly inadequate it makes me feel 😀

Impressed! But I really shouldn't read these posts!
Every time McM builds anything I am left with a deep feeling of;

Disappointment in my own DIY ability,
SEVERE log envy,
Wistful thoughts of every having enough space to attempt anything similar...

<sobs into mug of tea>
<goes back to work>

EDIT

I do love a mcmoonter thread, however hopelessly inadequate it makes me feel

just to satisfy my geekiness, when you next get a chance, split an outside log and then measure the moisture reading taken from from the log heart from outer end to inner every 1cm 😀

got down to the coppice yesterday to get the last bit of felling in. Bit later than usual, but I've been tied up with work and holidays.

about 5 tonnes or so down now. Will go back with the trailer and chainsaw and log them over the next month or so, and then bring them back to the store at home.

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I used to take rescue chickens but more profitable/less hassle to get POL.

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Just a quickie on the holzhausen... aren't you supposed to put a tarp over the top during wet spells?

I do love a mcmoonter thread, however hopelessly inadequate it makes me feel

Not just me then.

Before reading this I was feeling quite pleased with myself that I finally changed that tricky lightbulb above the stairs.

Amazing work mcmoonter.

That looks like the idea I have in my head for a sheltered 'porch' part-way down our garden.

Are you getting rescue chicks? My Auntie got a load of X-battery chicks.
They really were the saddest collection of birds,all pecked and scrawny.The change in them since has been miraculous,and they produce great eggs with real taste.

We've had rescue battery and retired free range. The worse free range hens weren't in much better condition than the battery hens.

Our most recent arrival is [url=

View this post on Instagram

the cockerel[/url], who is a refugee from some allotments where new-build home owners neighbouring the site were complaining about the noise of animals* that have been kept there for a century.

*not the same animals

Just a quickie on the holzhausen... aren't you supposed to put a tarp over the top during wet spells?

I've never tarped mine. From what I've read, an air current is drawn up from the bottom through the middle like a chimney. Putting a tarp on top can restrict the airflow and promote rot.

Stoner, I'll do some measurements later and get back to you.

..and then Stoner comes along to hammer in the final nail of inadequacy to the rest of us.

I've never tarped mine. From what I've read, an air current is drawn up from the bottom through the middle like a chimney. Putting a tarp on top can restrict the airflow and promote rot.

OK, ta.

I've always wanted a shed, nothing fancy, just a shed. never really had room for one and never likely too. My lifelong yearning goes on. THIS DOESN'T HELP ONE LITTLE BIT.I too feel woefully inadequate.(I do have a garage but it's just not the same)

Stoner, the results are in

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These pics are from newly felled in the autumn Cedar and Pine. Stacked since just before Christmas 2015

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legend.

I went out to check on mine. All poplar.

Log St1 = felled 2yrs, split 18months ago.
Log St2 = felled 1yr, not yet split (split for testing). These will be split next month and used this coming winter.

[img] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZsbzflXx8g6PgoT1G4G5fmgfSlpbNcPQ97V2Ff8fVxg/pubchart?oid=450514603&format=image [/img]

Generally speaking as long as the middle heart is 20% or less I'm happy. It's tricky to get it much drier than that given ambient air moisture without solar kiln drying etc.

It's also unlikely our moisture meters are that accurate.

A frickn' graph........................

do you two want t come south and help me build a climbing frame/ enchanred wood type thing in the wood at the bottom of my garden?

kayak23 - Member
Frikkin awesome.

+1

already v south Sui 😉

You'll have plenty of fun doing it yourself!

Did this for the boys a few years ago. We dont have a decent "tree"* in the field at home so I built the "treehouse" on an 8', 12"x12" gate post from the local farmer's merchants.

The treehouse was 2' higher up, but it was a bit domineering, so I cut a hole in the floor and slid the house down over the post. You can see it inside - now it's the base of a table.

* Oh the irony

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How wet is your log?

The Bee Gees were extremely disappointed that their follow up record wasn't quite as successful as they had hoped. 😀

Having felled, processed, stored, stacked and chopped to size approx 50 trees (oak, beech, hazel, holly, chestnut, yew & others) over the last 6months my enthusiasm and excitement has waned, it's a ballache

Lucky hens....

Woohoo. A shed thread I can finally in as I've finally started after three years of thinking about mine...

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Woohoo. A shed thread I can finally in as I've finally started after three years of thinking about mine...

Yours looks like an interesting start. Can we rewind a little please?.....with more pictures

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Started with a set of oak patio doors from the salvage yard and a pallet of reclaimed ekki planks that will be cladding it.

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Then a base, an awkward sloping site so I experimented with making concrete piles with packing tubes. Mostly successful but dropped a bollock on one edge and managed to lose about 20mm all along that edge. 15/20 to within 2-3mm of each other is too bad for a first attempt.

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Everyone needs an assistant...

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And warm feet.

Jambo, you should really start a new thread with this. I'm already hooked.

In time, took me three years from clearing the site to starting to build 😉

Excellent

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McMoonter, all that fire wood, you look to have many years worth stored, even for a number of fires/stoves in a big house. Is it that you have felled a small woodland and just ended up with loads at this time? or maybe I don't appreciate how much wood you can go thru if it's your primary heating source. Do you sell it as well, just curious about the sheer volume?. [from someone who hasn't got a clue].

No idea just how warm McM likes to keep Casa McScorchio, but for us, logs are our primary heating source.

We burn around 4 tons of logs (c.15,000 kWh) and a ton of wood pellets (5,000 kWh) a year. Allowing for 20kWh a day for domestic Hot water from Sept-Apr (Solar thermal does the DHW for Apr-Sept) which is c. 3,000kWh, that leaves about 17,000kwH to heat a 3,000sqft modern insulated barn conversion = c.60kWh/sqm/pa

Passivhaus need to hit 25kWh/sqm/pa which is quite impressive. Normal houses will be in 100-200kWh/sqm/pa

more comfortingly, all ours is dead-dinosaur free.

McMoonter, all that fire wood, you look to have many years worth stored, even for a number of fires/stoves in a big house. Is it that you have felled a small woodland and just ended up with loads at this time? or maybe I don't appreciate how much wood you can go thru if it's your primary heating source. Do you sell it as well, just curious about the sheer volume?. [from someone who hasn't got a clue].

While some of the wood has been harvested from our own land the majority comes from elsewhere.

I have a friend who is a tree surgeon, who if a job needs clearing, calls me. I have another friend who is a country park ranger. The ongoing management of their woodland is a different proposition. We have to manually transport wood from less accessible plantations. I say we, my brother has a stove too. Although both sources would appear infinite, they could 'dry up', at any time, so it's worth harvesting what we can. I'm fortunate to have the space to store and process it all. It's not a commercial enterprise at all, it's purely recreational. We do get through it at an alarming rate.

I clearly enjoy the therapeutic process, but figure if I'm going to season wood over several years, the stacks might as well be something pretty if I'm going to see them every day. I can't see me burning much that is under cover first. That won't come to much harm long term. We are burning our way through the holzhausens though.

I am a pathetic urban weed.