I'm not sure if this is worth it (sad rant)

[violetsky]

Quote:
Just a picture of tornado day in Alabama. I tried to change my avatar and could'nt get another picture
to load and didnt feel like fiddling with it too long.

 

[myfester]

Ok, here we go...

The first 3 pics will give you an idea of how big the pen is now. It's more than double the size of the first set of pics I posted.

This is over the new area that I put up this year.

This picture shows some of how I restrung over the original area. What I did was run the fishing line real tight between the 2x4's (I ran it like 4-5x's to make is strong) to create a "bar" so the "roof" would be higher than me. Instead of buying more wood to nail across the tops of the 2x4's, I tried this method below and it's working great.

This pic is the few feet behind the coop extending to the fence.

This here are the "eye hooks" I put in to the 2x4 (you can probably put a couple in the tree trunk I guess too). You'll see that there is a tiny opening at the top of the hook. When shopping at the hardware store, I made sure to grab the ones with the biggest openings. Some were almost closed and you cannot bend these babies. That made running the fishing line thru it very easy and the line cannot slip out of it for any reason. You can also tie off the line onto it w/o blocking access.

Finally, it's hard to see. I couldn't get my camera to focus onto the fishing line, but focus your eyes onto the green fencing and you'll see a blurred "v" shaped string. What I did to tighten the slacked lines after stringing everything, is pulled down the line (normally is running straight across, flush with the fence), use a few inches of string and tie the slack down, lower on the fence. You can then tie it as tight or loose as you need it to be. If more slack occurs over time, I can just cut that tie, and tie is again lower onto the fence. Hope I'm not confusing you too much.

If that last pic is too hard to see. I can try again to get a photo.

 

[mondotomhead]

Myfester:

First, let me say, that is absolutely AMAZING what you have done with the fishing line!!! I can see the difference in the size from the first pictures. This is just what I want, a run that is this big. Building a run that big with a wooden roof would be just to expensive for me. I love how you put those "posts" in with the hooks on. Very imaginative. I'm going to get my DH to look at what you have done. The two of us should be able to do this. What a great job.

Second, in 3 of your pictures I see a black chicken with a white head way in the back. Is it a polish? I have one just like it (one of the surviving original seven) and his name is Napoleon because of his white "hat"-hahahaha!

 

[myfester]

Quote:
Thank you so much for the compliment. I call myself Mrs. MacGyver (gosh, I hope you are old enough to know the TV show...LOL...I'm showing my age). I can do a lot with a minimum budget. Fishing line is incredibly cheap, esp thinking about how much space I needed to cover. The most physical part of it all was digging the holes for the wood posts. Thankfully a family member bought me a manual post hole digger tool for Christmas last year. But once the 2x4's were in the ground, I bungied a few of them to the metal posts used for the fences for extra stability. My first attempt (in the first set of pics) was a little messy but functional. This year, I wandered the local hardware store til I saw those eye hooks. When I saw them, I knew that's what I needed to make it better. They're only $1-2 each (depending on the size). I used the thicker fishing line (I think 20 and 30 size). You'll see what I mean when you go to buy some. There's different thicknesses. A nice sized roll runs maybe $5-$7 more or less. I think I used about 3 rolls. I did try to recycle some of what I took down in order to restring. However, a lot of it got tangled and I was spending wayyyy to much time trying to untangle.

And yep...that is Raggmopp, my polish boy in the background with the white head. I like the name Napoleon too. Cute! Polish crack me up. They run around all crazy because they can't see where they're going...hehehehe.

Good luck with your job. You'll have to message me when you complete it and show some pics.

 

[humpbacks1962]

Sounds like nyou should make them a nice pen with a chicken wire roof!