Chickens and Walls

After working to improve security on the chicken run yesterday, this morning I was up early to buy chickens. 4 grey hens and a chestnut rooster. No eggs yet.

As the weather was glorious I decided to work at home (next week it will rain so I'll press on with the inside works at Pont). I sign for the ruin on Tuesday, but decided to make a start on the back wall. It has a bit of a bow where the pressure of soil has pushed the wall inwards so it needed knocking down for a few feet and rebuilding. Also I needed to make holes the new floor joists. The knocking down went quickly...but so did the rebuilding by 4.30 I'd finished. Like most old stone buildings here, the walls are effectively dry stone walls with a little bit of clay soil in the middle of it. The roof and careful pointing should keep it waterproof.

Starting the knocking down - many stones had to be abandoned as they're too heavy to lift

All rebuilt

Ready for a concrete topping

Holes for the beams

Of course it needs small stones wedging in the wall face, a concrete topping and some pointing, but the skills I gained building the barn a few years all came flooding back.