My Crib

Of the scattered outbuildings that came with this old house and ten acres that we love, I claimed the one farthest from the house for myself and my animal collection.  We think this building was used as a corn crib - a place to dry and store corn after it was harvested.  It's a tall building with a concrete floor and wide gaps between the wall boards. At some point a big chunk of the wall was cut away, and half of the door was lost.  In the years since we've been here, my crib has sprouted additions to shelter chickens, donkeys, and goats. Just last week, Brandon built a wall to cover the hole, and built a door.  A real one, that closes and everything!  

Guess how many chickens sleep in my crib and poop on my table now that I have a door?  That's right, none!  Take that chickens!

The door is made from plywood, and needs to be painted, but it has a pretty door knob.  

The photo above is from inside the crib, looking at the plywood over the wall hole on the right, and the new plywood door on the left.  Now my cans of chicken layer pellets, sunflower seeds, sweet feed, goat pellets, wild bird food, dog food, alfalfa pellets, and compressed grass cubes are safely locked inside where any escaped goats should not be at risk of foundering.  

On the opposite wall from the door, under the giant oil painting I made in a collage art class of my pet fish, Gully, are small goat viewing holes cut in the wall that lead to the goat stalls. 

When I slide the boards that cover these holes to the side, I can add hay to the goat baskets and check on the sleeping goats.  

If I look straight down through the hole on the right, I can see the baby goats, snuggled in the hay.  This is their favorite spot to sleep.  

Can you see those two small doors near the ceiling above the hoses hanging on the wall?  I try to keep these little doors closed to block the rain, but now that I don't get the light from the open wall hole and missing door, I'm dreaming about turning these little doors (made for dumping in corn?) into windows.  They would be high, like skylights.  

Here you can see the small doors from the outside, just above the chicken coop roof.  Wouldn't my crib look pretty with a nice paint job and some windows up there?    I think the chickens would agree!