As always, things here at the ranch have been super busy. A little over a week ago, I had some friends come out to help me move the fencing for the old chicken pen. Where it is situated right now is literally, right outside my bedroom windows! This was NOT our original plan, but when my husband started building the original chicken house, he thought he'd be able to move it when it was completed to another area. NOT!!! So, for the last 4 years, we've woken to the sound of not 1, not 2, but 3 boisterous roosters, singing the song of their people at 4 am, EVERY MORNING!
With the help of dear friends, all of the chicken wire was moved to the new site of the chicken pen. Unfortunately, chicken wire is not sturdy enough on it's own to provide adequate protection, and I was going to need to move the Railroad ties from the old fencing, to secure the bottom of the fence. That would have to wait a couple of days. Until then, the chickens would have to stay in the old house.
This is the original Chicken house. Not the prettiest house, but it has served it's purpose for the past 4 years.
Here's another picture:
Anyway, for the past week or so, the chickens have had no fencing to protect them at night from predators. One of the first nights, the large door wasn't secured properly, and a strange dog (or 2?) raided the house and killed at least 6 of my hens. This was heartbreaking! Every night since then, I make sure the everything is completely secure, to the point of using 4 x 4's wedged against the doors.
On Wednesday, my friend Michelle came back out to help me move the railroad ties. We got quite a bit done, but weren't able to finish the whole fence. Let me just point out that the new chicken pen encloses 5000 sq ft! That's a LOT of railroad ties! On Saturday, Mike and I decided to add livestock fencing to the chicken wire. We've had several rolls laying around, so thankfully, we were able to beef up the fencing at no additional cost. The stiffness of the livestock fencing provided the stability we needed, so we didn't have to move anymore railroad ties, THANK GOODNESS!!! All that's left to do is run chicken wire along the picket fence that is the front of the pen. Otherwise, the chickens will be able to just walk right under the picket fence, and I'm wanting to keep them in their area more then we used to. They've had free run of the property for the past 4 years, which makes collecting eggs a bit of a challenge. But with the much larger pen (at least 3 times larger then the old pen), I think they will be happy.
Here's a couple pictures of the new Chicken House. The rocking chairs and little table have been moved to another location, but otherwise, this is their new home:
And yes, my chickens have lace curtains, lol!
Now for my latest sign design!
I wanted to create something that would be appropriate for many occasions. Recently, our nephew, Dylan graduated High School and I wanted to make a special sign for him. Once it was completed, I thought it would also be great for a wedding gift, or the arrival of a new baby, or a new job... really, I think it would be nice for any life event.
I hope Dylan likes it!
I'd love to hear what you think
There's still a LOT to be done around the ranch, so hopefully I'll be able to do a little "creating" and have some new things to share soon.
