My projects list is a MILE long right now, but I have a couple clear priorities: dog kennel and living quarters for our growing "herd" of winged buddies. Our grown ducks have roughed it outside all winter inside the garden enclosure. They go in the freezer within the next couple weeks. Our adult chickens ended up with a makeshift coop in the barn. I enclosed one of the cattle stalls and made due for the winter...
But, we need more permanent digs. I've spent several hours since moving in thinking through layouts for the mini-farm and what made the most sense from a "flow" standpoint. There's a cobbled together network of fencing and gates here that grew with the farm and none of it was planned, so it's become a clusterfuck. About 2 weeks ago, I had the "ah-ha" moment I was after and everything from a layout standpoint feel in line. This is the east side of the barn. I have electric and water in there, so despite my desire to have the chickens/ducks close to the house for viewing, practicality won out. Plus, this area isn't much use, so it'll make good space for them.
I'll be building an 8x8 coop for the chickens with electricity for heat lamp and water heater in the winter. It will be elevated to create space for the ducks underneath. I'm going to build a platform to hold a rain barrel that I can drain into a pool for the ducks. I'll be tearing out all the random fence and moving all the stuff to make space for a 100'x150' enclosure with 6' fencing. The trees should give them all enough cover to hide from aerial predators and it'll be coyote proof. I handle coons and griners with marshmallows and dog proofs, so that hasn't been an issue. I bought the first round of materials yesterday and plan to start this afternoon. Looking forward to this one!
But, we need more permanent digs. I've spent several hours since moving in thinking through layouts for the mini-farm and what made the most sense from a "flow" standpoint. There's a cobbled together network of fencing and gates here that grew with the farm and none of it was planned, so it's become a clusterfuck. About 2 weeks ago, I had the "ah-ha" moment I was after and everything from a layout standpoint feel in line. This is the east side of the barn. I have electric and water in there, so despite my desire to have the chickens/ducks close to the house for viewing, practicality won out. Plus, this area isn't much use, so it'll make good space for them.
I'll be building an 8x8 coop for the chickens with electricity for heat lamp and water heater in the winter. It will be elevated to create space for the ducks underneath. I'm going to build a platform to hold a rain barrel that I can drain into a pool for the ducks. I'll be tearing out all the random fence and moving all the stuff to make space for a 100'x150' enclosure with 6' fencing. The trees should give them all enough cover to hide from aerial predators and it'll be coyote proof. I handle coons and griners with marshmallows and dog proofs, so that hasn't been an issue. I bought the first round of materials yesterday and plan to start this afternoon. Looking forward to this one!
