Meeting Our Goals Halfway
For any number of reasons, largely to do with a small snafu in the irrigation controller that has been driving Noel crazy for two days, we didn't get the fence finished today. We did, however, get the doors for the chicken yard made and hung, which is a relief.
I did some measuring and a bit of quick math and it didn't take too terribly long to make the first door. It's got L brackets at the upper and lower corners, and some totally overkill metal connectors at the ends of the middle bar (where I figure the door will be gripped a lot). Then it's squared with a sheet of chicken wire and a wire cross-brace tightened with a turnbuckle.
Have I mentioned how much I hate doors that sag?
We went through the next three pretty quickly, then took them out back to hang them. Apart from a sort of not-very-funny circus in which we repeatedly dropped small screws into the grass, the hanging went very smoothly.
Goldie settled down to observe inside the chicken yard, and shortly found herself a prisoner.
It took longer than we really planned, but less time than it could have given my perfectionist tendencies, but soon there was a chicken yard, with dogs on the outside. (The dog up front is our neighbor Beanie, who is not well-schooled in posing with projects.) Also, check out the right corner there. Rosie was chasing a squirrel and pulled the chicken wire right off the staples, the little turd. Noel re-stapled it and will secure it against future dog infiltration tomorrow.
And even though it was pretty windy and cold by the time we finished, we brought the girls out to check out their new digs. They approved.
Tomorrow: attach some fence panels.
Technorati Tags: carpentry, chickens, construction, dogs, fence, urban farming
posted by ayse on 04/20/08
Comments
Apparently they make a magnetic screwdriver bit for the drill, but to be honest I strip one of those bits out about every six months, so I'm not into spending big money on one (perhaps this is why I can strip them out so easily).
As for the bandana, Noel says, "Well, turn it up!"
Posted by: Ayse ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.casadecrepit.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 20, 2008 08:40 PM
Superb chicken crib! They girls are adorable! MaryO
Posted by: MaryO at April 21, 2008 09:44 AM
If you don't like sagging gates, you should put crossbracing in. Just make sure it's the right direction, I put mine in the wrong way the first time. The bottom of the brace goes on the hinge side.
Posted by: Derek at April 21, 2008 11:24 AM
Hooray! Looks great!
Sorry we didn't stop by yesterday. We were wiped out after the game and still had dinner plans, so we used the time for a nap. (Plus, DANG! it was so friggin' cold and windy, I was ready not to be outside anymore, even though it was a good game.)
Posted by: Kitt at April 21, 2008 11:04 PM
Derek, we do have cross-bracing in there: it's a wire cross-brace. And the bottom goes away from the hinge side to prevent sagging with a tensioned cross-brace.
Kitt, we figured as much. Something about the wind and the cold was just a bad combo this weekend.
Posted by: Ayse at April 22, 2008 06:41 AM
You really need a cordless screwdrivers. The new ones even have little magnets built into the handle to keep those pesky extra screws from falling. I'm looking forward to the return of warm weather, and Noel's "Is that Freedom Rock?" bandanna.
Posted by: Jim at April 20, 2008 07:44 PM