Camp Cockerel

[3KillerBs]

I'm going to pick up an interrupted and very badly over-due project from before I got sick.

I have a couple picnic pavillion frames that lost their covers to age and hailstorms and am going to convert one of them to a lower-security facility for my spare cockerels while they're waiting to either be sold or sent to freezer camp.

I'm going to cover the walls of the frame with chicken wire -- because we have it -- then add a reinforcing layer of 2' tall 2x4 wire around the bottom -- again, because we have it. They'll get a tarp over the top and on one wall and I'll add a freestanding perch.

Minimal and basic, but good enough for the boys to rough it while they wait their turn for the broomstick.

It's going to be on top of part of my garden so they'll improve the soil for fall or for next year. The whole structure will be light enough that I can pull up the tent stakes and move it to a different area when I need to as long as I've got 4 people to each take a leg. So not *exactly* a tractor but with some of the benefits of a tractor.

If they were valuable birds I'd want to put an electric wire around them, but I figure I can take the risk for the cull cockerels. In any case, I have GOT to get them out of Neuchickenstein before they drive Ludwig, Rameses, and the girls crazy.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Sounds like an excellent plan. "Because I had it" explains how my grow out pen came together.

 

[3KillerBs]

So, tonight I stripped off the 2x4 wire that had been very causally fastened to it last winter and prepared my mental plans for starting the work tomorrow.

Since it's going to be blistering hot -- 97-101F depending on which forecast you look at -- with intense "feels like" numbers -- it's absolutely the worst week to do this. But I have GOT to get those boys out of the main coop.

So, early tomorrow morning my 16yo and I are going to tackle getting the chicken wire on and the door set. After which the outside 2x4 wire is something I can do myself.

I'll probably need the 22yo to help getting the tarp up over the tarp.

Here's what I've got so far -- the frame cleared and the perch put in place (because I happened to have the concrete blocks handy nearby). I also moved some of the supplies close by to be handy.

 

[3KillerBs]

Having a 15-minute break for Gatorade. Terribly slow internet means that the photos probably won't be uploaded by the time I have to go back out but I'll get my other son to hit the "post" button for me once they're ready.

 

[3KillerBs]

We worked almost an hour longer than I meant to work because we picked up a breeze that made a tremendous difference.

This is it for the day:

 

[Isadora]

I love it when a fresh breeze comes in and saves the day! Nice work.

 

[aart]

This is it for the day:

What will go on top?
I would think that would be easier to do without the side walls done.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

That will definitely work! That's what my husband calls redneck ingenuity, I love it!

 

[3KillerBs]

What will go on top?
I would think that would be easier to do without the side walls done

Just a tarp. This is a low-security build specifically to get the cull cockerels out of my coop and out of the breeder boys' hair.

That will definitely work! That's what my husband calls redneck ingenuity, I love it!

Very redneck. The tarp is camo.

The shelter side will also be tarp. Or, possibly, leftover off-brand tyvek that we found in one of the outbuildings here when we moved in.

 

[3KillerBs]

I took advantage of having tall people around to help me get the tarp over the top of the frame, but I'm not finishing the walls until the sun goes behind the trees.

We spent the morning on one of DH's DIYs so I can get a little help from him later if I need it.