A crew came Thursday and Friday and removed our octopus. It's amazing how big the basement is without it and all its enormous metal arms stretching throughout the basement.
While that was going on we've been doing some demo. We had a suspicion that there might be some mold in the house, mostly because of a spot on the wall upstairs. That spot turned out to be nothing, but Moldex did find some little spots in the bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen, and also a bunch in the basement. We decided to save some money by taking care of as much of this as we could and letting them take care of the basement.
Our first stop was the kitchen. We probably cut out more than we needed to, but better safe than sorry, right?
Jeremy got me this cool bunny suit, we wore these awful ventilator masks, and we had a couple air scrubbers cleaning the air. We know the dangers of mold and we're going to kill it all dead.
So that's all washed and cleaned and dried and taken care of. That spot happened because of a bizarre flat roof detail right above there. But we'll be taking that away and putting on a better roof, so no more problems there!
We've moved our operation to the upstairs room now and are tearing out some stuff there.
The big job will be the basement. Part of our problem to start with is that it's incredibly humid down there and quite cold. I think even last week we could see our breath down there. Jeremy got a "humidistat" and it read less than 40 degrees and the humidity was off the charts (above 90%)!!
You can't run a dehumidifier in less than 60 degrees. It won't do anything. We tried. So our wonderful mold company brought in a stack of heaters and blowers and humidifiers this afternoon that they'll be running through the weekend to balance things out. Things have been getting better. Just as they were getting started I noted that the humidity was down to around 70% and the temperature had gone up to around 40. Already after a couple hours of running the equipment it looks like our humidity has dropped another 10%.
I'm praying that it will balance out and get to the proper amounts so the company can get in there and clean things out.
One thing I remember reading about chickens is that you had to teach them how to roost. When they are baby chicks they sort of sleep in a pile on the floor and that's fine. But you don't want to encourage that because they end up sleeping in piles of poop. When they're big enough to handle it, you put in a roost and train them to use that.
I think we had our birds in the brooder a bit too long (though it couldn't be helped) and they were awfully big to be using the little "training roost" Jeremy built them. It wasn't much different than sleeping on the floor in the end.
So - enter the new coop with nesting boxes and a roost up off the ground where they can all fit comfortably!
The first couple of nights we had to help the chickens get up into the hen house. I would pick them up and put them on the log under the house, then I'd reach through the hole inside and put them inside. I think this showed them how it was done. But then, they just couldn't figure out how to get up to the roost. They ended up sleeping in a pile on the floor.
After a couple nights of this I put some of them up on the roost but it didn't stick. It seemed like they needed an intermediary between the "training roost" and the real thing. Jeremy put in second roost below the first, but that didn't do it. So then I took the whole contraption out and put in a one by four that stretched from the window to the opposite wall. That night I put them on it and it seemed to work. Kind of.
They were trying to crowd so close to each other that chickens kept getting pushed off the roost! Perhaps they were a bit cold and trying to snuggle up a bit.
A couple nights ago one of the Americaunas was distressed. She was wandering around the run squawking. I got her up in the hen house and she kept carrying on. She was looking up like she wanted to be somewhere higher. Then suddenly she flew up and landed on my head! She seemed quite comfortable then.
I got her down and eventually deposited in a nest box, where two other adventurers had lodged for the night.
Last night Jeremy went out and saw all the birds squawking a bit and running around the run. He went out a couple minutes later and they had all made their way up to the hen house and into the nest boxes! I was so proud of our chickens for finally all making it into the hen house without help. Though - we need to work on where they sleep at night still.
They put themselves to bed tonight as well. One on the roost and the rest in the nest boxes. They still like to be crowed together though. There were three in one nest box and five in the other!!
Last week was very busy! Wednesday and Thursday we worked on finishing the coop - or at least getting it ready for chickens. Jeremy put the hardware cloth on all around the coop. It extends down 8-10 inches into the trench we dug. As Jeremy did this part, I followed behind him filling in the trench with gravel. So the bottom of the hardware cloth is buried and hopefully the coop is critter-proof.
Friday was the big day. We loaded up food and water containers and other chicken paraphernalia and then lastly the chickens. They went into two of our packing boxes. They were freaked out for a bit, but when we closed the lids they all settled down and got very quiet.
It was a quick drive over to the new house and we carried our boxes of chickens to the coop. We put the boxes down gently and opened the lids. The chickens would not get out.
After some time a brave one or two jumped up on the edges of the boxes - but mostly so they could see what was going on in the other boxes and perhaps join their sisters on the other side.
I finally got impatient and put a couple chickens out into the coop. They would not move a muscle.
I guess the whole move was a bit stressful and overwhelming for them. We finally got them out of the boxes and put them up in the hen house. We thought that might feel a bit more homey to them. Unfortunately, they've spent their lives so far in a solid-bottomed box. They aren't used to there being a hole in the middle of their home, so they'll be walking along and then just step straight into the hole and fall out! They're kind of dumb.
24 hours later the chickens were much more acclimated and really enjoying pecking and scratching around in the coop. And... most of them made it down to the run by falling through the hole!
Ever since we found out we'd be moving, we've been thinking about how to move the chicken coop. In fact, Jeremy designed and built the coop with the idea that we might have to move it someday. That's not to say that it's light and can be moved easily - more that it can be moved without necessarily falling to pieces.
The final days of preparation arrived last week. Jeremy rented some pallet jacks, stacked some pallets under the coop, and lifted the coop up into the air.
He hauled the concrete piers down to the new house, dug a trench, and placed the piers.
We were set and just needed volunteers to help us haul the thing out. Sunday dawned wet and cold - the first wet cold day in weeks! I suppose it made our work easier in the end though.
So about 2:00 Terry, Joseph, and Debra came by. Joseph took charge and got us moving. Pallet jacks can turn a pretty tight circle, but there was a coop sticking off the pallets in several feet each way. There was also a fence and pile of dirt to navigate around. As we started pushing on the coop there were some ominous cracking and creaking sounds which turned out to be the plywood we were rolling across. We had to lay down plywood over the ground because the pallet jack wheels would just sink into the dirt (which did happen a time or two).
As we rolled clear of the first piece of plywood (5/8 - 3/4" thick!) the wheels landed on a piece of particle board and punched straight through! We had to jack up the jack and push the coop back into place. We got some more plywood in place and were finally able to move the coop out of its birthplace, across the sidewalk, over the top of our garden, and into the yard!
I think about that time, one of our neighbors, John, came home and I invited him to come help. He came right over! We kept pushing the coop across the yard and every time we cleared some plywood someone ran the wood to the front of the queue. After much planning (and really only some measuring) we had decided to take apart the back fence and push the coop through there. It fit perfectly! With barely an inch to spare between the stacks of limestone pavers on the left and the fence and blackberry vines on the right. But we pushed it through and made it to alley where we could give up the plywood and roll on smooth asphalt. (That's when neighbor Greg joined us! His wife Mina came along for a bit, but the whole thing made her nervous so she went back home!)
(thanks to Adam for filming this one!)
As you can see, it was no problem moving down the road. We did have to push/pull and balance the coop as we went but this was probably the easiest part of the move. What Jeremy and I were dreading was incline up to our yard. It would have been ideal to take the chicken coop down the alley and in through the back, but we have this lovely 7 foot high fence that is relatively new and really secured in place. We didn't want to cut it down - so over the sidewalk, up the retaining wall, and through the front yard it had to be!
As soon as we neared the new house, our neighbor Peter came out and Greg's dad, Bruce (who lives down the street), came over. A number of other neighbors came out to watch as well. As we began to build our ramp up to the yard, a few people had doubts about the whole ramp business. We decided to try carrying the coop. We all got around the coop, got in position, counted to three, and lifted the coop - for about two seconds before easing it back down! It was way, way too heavy to carry. So - back to the ramp idea.
We had found a futon frame in the alley last fall (thanks Elise!) and that worked perfectly. We put the frame pieces into position and supported those with blocks from the retaining wall and bits of wood, then we put the plywood over the top of the whole thing. Then, we simply rolled the coop up the ramp! And it worked beautifully.
Once the coop was up in the yard we continued bringing pieces of plywood forward and kept pushing on. We had to flatten all of our tulips under the plywood - but they came back up nearly unscathed.
The next tricky part was getting the coop between the side of the house and the stand of birch trees. We had measured this (somewhat) and thought we had clearance, but, as you can see, there wasn't quite enough clearance. We were several inches short. When talk of cutting down that beautiful tree started, a couple of us started thinking hard. We had had to pull back several branches of the cherry tree when we were going past that - why not a whole tree? So Joseph tossed a rope up as high as he could get, tied it around himself, leaned back, and we had all the clearance we needed!
Sorry I don't have photos of that - but of course all hands were needed for these tricky parts.
We finally got the coop to the back yard and with a bit more maneuvering lowered it into place.
The coop survived the move remarkably well. We did lose some boards from the run part - but more because people lifted on those parts or they got caught by bushes and trees on the way. It's all put back together now and Jeremy will be putting the finishing touches on this week. Then the chickens move in on Friday!
Huge thank you's to Joseph, Debra, Terry, John, Greg, Peter, Bruce, Wendy, Adam, and to the various neighbors who dropped by to see the action, and even to the other Wendy who got here just in time to see the coop lowered to its final resting spot. We couldn't have done it without you all! And, as I think these folks will agree, we couldn't have done it without Someone Else who was surely watching out for this whole crazy adventure.
Plan A: As soon as we get the house, get rid of the octopus in the basement: the really old gravity furnace. Get a really efficient new furnace.
Wait! Wait!
Plan B: Get rid of the octopus (or not), but put in a new, better water heater and hook it up to a radiant heat system throughout the house, then later on we can get solar panels on the house to power the hot water heater and our heat will be provided by the sun!!
Wait. This plan is way too expensive and not very practical for us unfortunately. Back to plan A.
Wait! It turns out these old Octopuses (they don't make them like they used to) last forever and ours is probably fine.
Plan C: Get the octopus plugged into gas and we're good to go!
Hmm...
Plan C1: in addition to the octopus, lets get a pellet stove for the living room in the house. We can close off the heating to the living room and top floor and the pellet stove will heat those. That way we'll have redundant heating systems and at least one source of heat if the other fails. Perfect!
Slight problem with pilot light staying on in the octopus.
Plan C2: replace the octopus generator and if that doesn't work do a modification by replacing the machine bits that keep the pilot light going.
"Slight" problem there: This octopus is so old that it doesn't have some safety things so the gas company won't even work with the old beast (unless we had some special door made for it, for thousands of dollars). So, scratch that plan.
back to plan A.
Wait!
Plan D: Let's just get rid of the octopus and put in a pellet stove on the main floor anyway. One guy we talked to said that it should heat the house fine. Super!
Wait. It may give off heat, but the basement is currently at 40 degrees and like 90% humidity. If there is no heat source down there, no amount of heating upstairs will help. The floor will be cold and the cold will travel up. Hmmm.
Plan E: Let's put a big pellet stove in the basement!!
Okay, that's kind of silly and defeats the purpose of having a lovely stove. We don't want to visit it in the basement.
Plan A: Get rid of the octopus in the basement: the really old gravity furnace. Get a really efficient new furnace.
That's it. That's the plan. (We're pretty sure...)
Not really murder, but today Fluffycheeks met his end. We had to send him to rooster heaven before the move to the new house. The new neighbors are not keen on roosters - and Fluffycheeks was really keen on crowing at 3:00 in the morning.
We got some advice from old friend Carla Emery and Jeremy got everything ready. I went down to the basement and opened the brooder and Fluffy jumped right out - just like he does every time. I picked him up and carried him outside.
The end was pretty quick and he didn't squawk or crow or make any noise really. I think his last moments were relatively peaceful.
This was definitely an experiment for us since we've been planning on these being meat birds (as well as egg layers). There's an incredible sense that you've done something irrevocable. We both feel that Fluffycheeks had a good life, he was a sweet rooster, and he's going on to another purpose.
Saturday was our first moving day. We didn't get a lot of takers (actually, only one person showed up later in the afternoon) but we managed to move everything we wanted to. We got a great deal on a moving truck so we got to move all our garage stuff and our chest freezer (without even unloading the food!) and then we drove out to the burbs and picked up a used refrigerator (the only necessary appliance our house didn't come with) and we were able to move our compost bins on Sunday. That was an adventure.
Some of you may remember the compost bins we built last year. (I forgot how green and beautiful it was around here!) Anyway, since we're moving we decided to take our compost and our compost bins with us. We borrowed a friend's truck and shoveled out all the compost into her truck. We piled it as high as we could and tried to keep a separation between the mostly composted stuff and the not-at-all-composted stuff.
After nearly a year of composting and weather, the bins were a bit worn. Slats had fallen out and as we tried moving the bins more came out. We decided to detach the side bins and keep the middle intact.
Then Jeremy and I picked it up and heaved it over the fence, then sort of rolled it side over side to the moving truck and heaved it up inside. (Thaddeus showed up in the midst of this to lend a hand - yay!) With all the bits and pieces accounted for, we drove the truck to the new house, unloaded the parts, and tried to figure out how to put it back together again. We finally got it put back together and then began the fun part.
We backed up the truck to the gate and began shoveling. And shoveling, and shoveling and pitch-forking, and shoveling. A lot of the compost was actually still frozen solid in the center and there were ice crystals throughout. After we got out the not-so-composted stuff and got it put away, we began on the more-composted stuff. By now it had gotten late and dark outside - but we weren't giving up! Jeremy clipped a shop light to the garage so we could see some of the yard, but it didn't shine over the fence to the truck so it was pretty dark back there.
We split our tasks to try to make it go quicker. Jeremy moved full wheelbarrows of compost to the bins and tipped them in, while I kneeled in the back of the truck and brought piles of compost forward for him to shovel out. That compost was quite cold. And wet. Seeping through my pant legs. Sticking to my shoes. At least it didn't smell bad. =)
On Monday Debra helped me bag up all the brush and branches that had been piled in the yard. It turns out the City came through like a hurricane in September or so with weeders and mowers and choppers and hacked everything down. They were the ones who had left the big pile of brush. So that's gone now.
Good news of the week! We're getting bids for raising the roof on the south side of the house to make it a bit more livable. We'll have to insulate as well so we've been getting bids on blown-in insulation for the house. We did a little bit of demolition in the upstairs to see what some of the wall cavity looked like and found there was already blown-in insulation! Jeremy drilled a few test holes in different parts of the house and it looks like we have a completely insulated house! With a house this old (pre-1900) we were expecting little to no insulation.
The house certainly seems in bad condition now and seems a bit uncared for. But in the past someone put a lot of work into it: all new electrical, all new plumbing, blown-in insulation, new roof, and new windows! Of course the "new" roof must have been some time ago and now needs to be replaced again. Anyway, that piece of news will save us a chunk of money - to be spent somewhere else I'm sure!
This is the blog formerly known as “Northwest Meets Midwest,” where I shared about the absurdities and adventures of living in the Midwest (having moved here from the Northwest). But really, this blog has been more and more a story of how we’ve fallen into urban farming and homesteading. So read on and enjoy our adventures in canning, preserving, mushroom-growing, local/organic fanaticism, chicken raising, designing and constructing, sewing, and attempting a little self-sufficiency in our corner of Minneapolis.
