- Sep 16, 2012
- 57
- 25
- 114
The following story takes place about 40 miles Northeast of Atlanta, GA with an unemployed/semi-retired computer tech and his father the retired Millwright.
Ok last year I moved to Georgia from PA and decided to have chickens, about 3 weeks before Christmas the coop I asked to be built was delivered and with the help of my father we set it up in the backyard across from the house as shown in the picture below
Once my father and I got it mounted on a level base and made it secured against night animals we went out and bought 5 hens and a roster that we named Joe, you can see Joe and three of the girls in the picture below enjoying free ranging near their new home.
But one morning as my father and I stood in the yard drinking coffee right after releasing Joe and the girls to do some bug hunting, we decided that the environment needed to be improve...one little project at a time....that was 9 months ago, today the area now stands as the picture below shows.
As you can see a lot has been added to the area, I wanted to do a garden area to try my hand at growing some vegetables and some grape vines so my father and I built the fence around it to prevent animals from making it a buffet, as for Joe and the Girls it has become a bug buffet restaurant..
We also added a shed, a bigger run area, a boardwalk, fruit trees and some really hearty grass that the flock love to graze on.
As we finished one project we started to think about another one to do, since wood was not an issue
When I bought the property there was a lot of wood abounded, it seem buildings where torn down near my lake and the wood left there so I spent 2 months prior to moving into the house collecting it all and moving it into the horse barn that was also on the property so it could dry up and inventory. Once my father and I figured out what we had in wood the ideas began to exploded in our minds.
Some of the ideas of improvements came out of necessity, the reason we expanded the run is because I lost two of the girls to a hawk and a raccoon so I wanted a safe place to keep them in when hawks are nesting in the trees again next spring.
We added the shed because I wanted to keep the food and coop supplies near the coop so its easier to do things when needed, also with the shed next to the garden I can keep all my garden tools in there also, the shed really makes life easier.
We added the boardwalk because my mother loves boardwalks, and where my parents live (Naples, Florida) they have boardwalks all over the beaches. So when they visit she can use the boardwalk to get to the coop.
We added fruit trees to front area of the coop for two reason, one is so we can have fresh fruit to eat and two so Joe and the girls can have fresh fruit also. To me it looks like a park across the street in front of what is known as the Chicken Condo.
In January I did a burn of old wood that was cleaned up from the pasture which exposed a large quantity dirt that was under the rubbish, so I used my tractor to transport a lot of it for the garden and the area in front of the coop, the dirt seem to have exploded with life after we dropped it down, I read that dirt that was under a big burn has a tendency to make things grow very fast and very green, it's very true.
98% of the wood you see in the pictures is the wood I collected from the area on my farm, so I really only paid for the screws, metal mess and tools for the jobs. My dad said with the price of wood right now I saved at least $1000.00 in lumber.
The pictures below show more of the area and the improvements we did, I am not a photographer so if you want me to take anymore pictures let me know and I will and post them. We are planning other projects to improve the environment and make everything a little bit better, it seems once you get the wood bug on your back you can't shack it off
Also I want to take this moment to thank my mother for feeding me and my father through this adventure in building, she help us have the calories we needed with her great cooking.
Picture below shows one of my girls and her chick that was born about 7 days ago, the mother loves the run area and the chick is safe, even with the door open to free range she prefers to hang out in the run with her little chick.
The picture below shows Joe and one of the other girls and her 2 week of chick as a happy family exploring the area around the Chicken condo.
Ok last year I moved to Georgia from PA and decided to have chickens, about 3 weeks before Christmas the coop I asked to be built was delivered and with the help of my father we set it up in the backyard across from the house as shown in the picture below
Once my father and I got it mounted on a level base and made it secured against night animals we went out and bought 5 hens and a roster that we named Joe, you can see Joe and three of the girls in the picture below enjoying free ranging near their new home.
But one morning as my father and I stood in the yard drinking coffee right after releasing Joe and the girls to do some bug hunting, we decided that the environment needed to be improve...one little project at a time....that was 9 months ago, today the area now stands as the picture below shows.
As you can see a lot has been added to the area, I wanted to do a garden area to try my hand at growing some vegetables and some grape vines so my father and I built the fence around it to prevent animals from making it a buffet, as for Joe and the Girls it has become a bug buffet restaurant..
We also added a shed, a bigger run area, a boardwalk, fruit trees and some really hearty grass that the flock love to graze on.
As we finished one project we started to think about another one to do, since wood was not an issue
When I bought the property there was a lot of wood abounded, it seem buildings where torn down near my lake and the wood left there so I spent 2 months prior to moving into the house collecting it all and moving it into the horse barn that was also on the property so it could dry up and inventory. Once my father and I figured out what we had in wood the ideas began to exploded in our minds.
Some of the ideas of improvements came out of necessity, the reason we expanded the run is because I lost two of the girls to a hawk and a raccoon so I wanted a safe place to keep them in when hawks are nesting in the trees again next spring.
We added the shed because I wanted to keep the food and coop supplies near the coop so its easier to do things when needed, also with the shed next to the garden I can keep all my garden tools in there also, the shed really makes life easier.
We added the boardwalk because my mother loves boardwalks, and where my parents live (Naples, Florida) they have boardwalks all over the beaches. So when they visit she can use the boardwalk to get to the coop.
We added fruit trees to front area of the coop for two reason, one is so we can have fresh fruit to eat and two so Joe and the girls can have fresh fruit also. To me it looks like a park across the street in front of what is known as the Chicken Condo.
In January I did a burn of old wood that was cleaned up from the pasture which exposed a large quantity dirt that was under the rubbish, so I used my tractor to transport a lot of it for the garden and the area in front of the coop, the dirt seem to have exploded with life after we dropped it down, I read that dirt that was under a big burn has a tendency to make things grow very fast and very green, it's very true.
98% of the wood you see in the pictures is the wood I collected from the area on my farm, so I really only paid for the screws, metal mess and tools for the jobs. My dad said with the price of wood right now I saved at least $1000.00 in lumber.
The pictures below show more of the area and the improvements we did, I am not a photographer so if you want me to take anymore pictures let me know and I will and post them. We are planning other projects to improve the environment and make everything a little bit better, it seems once you get the wood bug on your back you can't shack it off
Also I want to take this moment to thank my mother for feeding me and my father through this adventure in building, she help us have the calories we needed with her great cooking.
Picture below shows one of my girls and her chick that was born about 7 days ago, the mother loves the run area and the chick is safe, even with the door open to free range she prefers to hang out in the run with her little chick.
The picture below shows Joe and one of the other girls and her 2 week of chick as a happy family exploring the area around the Chicken condo.
