new here but i thought i'd post some photos of what brought me here in the first place
we have a jungle back yard , no other way of describing it, our pole frame house is perched over a gully and we only have this tiny pocket hankerchief backyard that had gone to weeds.
we've had chickens before at another house and i've really missed them, i love watching them wander around intently digging for worms and i really loved the eggs, nothing beats fresh eggs
so i decided to make it a family project (well my son and i, my husband pretty much laughed himself sick when i told him i was going to clear the jungle) - btw this is the jungle, my 16yo son is standing where the arrow is pointing
so son and I got to removing the jungle - we ended up with a lot of rainy weekends so it took us longer than i expected, a couple of months, the long weird grassy thing in the middle was the worst, tough and hairy it gave me a rash on my arms from pulling it out and carrying it to the refuse pile, then there was the morning glory, i swear you could hold down an elephant with that stuff!
the chickens are going to be free ranged, over to the right is a huge empty lot that they will just love, stray dogs here are unusual and the actual yard will have a fence and if they're anything like the chickens we used to have they'll exit to the trees at the first sign of danger
so finally it was cleared, we still have to remove a few of the palms to let in some sun but at least we have a clear space to build the coop, after pouring over all the coops on BYC i finally settled on a design i thought would suit the Aussie climate and still look respectable in our neighbourhood (really only one neighbour will be able to see it but...)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/boisemarkers-chicken-coop
day one - didnt get too far, so many tree roots to deal with but got the foundation laid and one wall, i should have listened to the numerous people that said build the frame and then put it in place
i laid wire mesh underneath the the frame and then brought it up the sides and stapled it on, i dont think we'll have a problem with foxes, i've never seen one here (famous last words huh?) but native bush rats and snakes are a real probability
day two, oh yeah, what a good idea, build the wall frame on the ground and THEN put it up
that kid hit his thumb like 50 times
so thats where we're up to - i have to go get the flooring material cut this morning and hopefully they'll be delivering the roofing material today as well, hopefully we'll have it finished by the weekend so we can go get the chickens on Saturday
we have a jungle back yard , no other way of describing it, our pole frame house is perched over a gully and we only have this tiny pocket hankerchief backyard that had gone to weeds.
we've had chickens before at another house and i've really missed them, i love watching them wander around intently digging for worms and i really loved the eggs, nothing beats fresh eggs
so i decided to make it a family project (well my son and i, my husband pretty much laughed himself sick when i told him i was going to clear the jungle) - btw this is the jungle, my 16yo son is standing where the arrow is pointing
so son and I got to removing the jungle - we ended up with a lot of rainy weekends so it took us longer than i expected, a couple of months, the long weird grassy thing in the middle was the worst, tough and hairy it gave me a rash on my arms from pulling it out and carrying it to the refuse pile, then there was the morning glory, i swear you could hold down an elephant with that stuff!
the chickens are going to be free ranged, over to the right is a huge empty lot that they will just love, stray dogs here are unusual and the actual yard will have a fence and if they're anything like the chickens we used to have they'll exit to the trees at the first sign of danger
so finally it was cleared, we still have to remove a few of the palms to let in some sun but at least we have a clear space to build the coop, after pouring over all the coops on BYC i finally settled on a design i thought would suit the Aussie climate and still look respectable in our neighbourhood (really only one neighbour will be able to see it but...)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/boisemarkers-chicken-coop
day one - didnt get too far, so many tree roots to deal with but got the foundation laid and one wall, i should have listened to the numerous people that said build the frame and then put it in place
i laid wire mesh underneath the the frame and then brought it up the sides and stapled it on, i dont think we'll have a problem with foxes, i've never seen one here (famous last words huh?) but native bush rats and snakes are a real probability
day two, oh yeah, what a good idea, build the wall frame on the ground and THEN put it up
that kid hit his thumb like 50 times
so thats where we're up to - i have to go get the flooring material cut this morning and hopefully they'll be delivering the roofing material today as well, hopefully we'll have it finished by the weekend so we can go get the chickens on Saturday
