Since we are all friends here, I feel comfortable announcing that I am an idiot. I have a wonderful husband, but he is a bit of a procrastinator. I asked for help with building a run and coop before we got any chicks, but... nothing was done. Finally, I bought a 10' x 5' dog pen. I covered it with chicken wire. My daughter had 6 broilers for her ag project, and when they were old enough to go out into the pen, I bought four pullets. The broilers did great in the pen, with a smaller dog kennel covered with a piece of plywood, where I locked them in at night. About four days before they were to go to the fair, something dug under the gate and half the chickens disappeared, the other half had to be butchered. So, I knew something different had to be done. I then took heavy-gauge 1/2" wire mesh, attached it to the sides of the pen, folded and going out to the side along the ground, all the way around. I put dirt on top of it, and planted flowers, etc, to pretty it up and have the roots lock it down. Then, I raised the roof from 4' to 8', using pvc to frame it. Looked great, and worked wonderfully! The weather had been great, so, other than a tarp slung over part of it to increase shade, I didn't worry about it too much. My pullets LOVED their new home! I had a conference in Atlanta, and in preparation, I checked the weather. It was going to rain... A LOT... while I was gone. So, being the great chicken mommy I am, I tarped it well, giving them complete coverage over the top, plus a very secure, dry corner to hang out in when it poured. Still haven't gotten hubby to help with the coop. The second day I was gone, hubby called. The chickens were doing great, but... the pen? Not so much. My idiocy had given them a nice, flat roof. The tons of rain we had received puddled on the roof, collapsing it. Now my poor chickens have broken pvc pipes going in every direction in their coop. They don't seem to mind, too much, anyway, and the pen is still predator proof, but HOLY COW it is horrible looking. And it still hasn't stopped raining. I don't really need any advice, here, except maybe how to motivate my husband, but I figured I would share with you to make you smile, or groan... whichever seems appropriate.
I feel your pain about the procrastinating husband,mine has yet to put up the wiring on the mini coop in the windows so I have this cute refurbished plastic kids play house now coop but I can not put the 3 bantams in there because of the wire not being on the windows or door,I would put it up myself but he takes all his tools to work with him and I am left without wire cutters drills saws, so I have 3 bantams chilling in the bathroom,walking around the house wearing sock diapers,and I do NOT want house chickens! At least you gave it an effort so high five!! Sorry about your daughter's AG project.
I have gotten upset so many times at my other half. He never wants to do anything, he doesn't want to try and he keeps finding 'better' things to do. Oh and he tries to dissuade me from doing things too, by saying "it'll never work", "that won't work", "you may as well pay someone to do it", "you don't have time", "it's too complicated"... I proved him wrong when I built my own treadle feeder out of wood. It's the best feeder EVER. I caved about building the pond, because I'd need a second person and he obviously wasn't going to help. Then my birthday came up last week... He asked me what I wanted. I said, what I want more than ANYTHING is to build something with him. I said it'd be a fun project, I'd love the company and who cares if it goes wrong, for goodness' sake?! He mulled it over and finally agreed. We haven't started on our new rabbit hutch yet, but I'm really looking forward to it and I hope it'll change his mind about trying things in the future when he sees that it's not THAT difficult and how good it looks when it's done. That's the plan, anyway...
Well, if my hubby is being slow on a project I want to get done, I find someone else to do the job. I ask one of the hubby's friends to help out. Then all of a sudden the hubby is like, 'why didn't you ask me?' Don't be afraid to take advantage of the ol' boy network, or ol' gal network to help get your chicken area completed. Your kids can help, too. I find that many times if a man is avoiding a building project it is because they might not have very good carpentry skills. Same thing with a woman. I simply don't have the knowledge of carpentry, and I can see myself trying to build something like you did-and it probably would have collapsed too. With all the rain our area has been getting a lot of roofs are collapsing so don't feel bad. Having chickens might make a carpenter out of you.
Yeah, I'm big fan of everyone learning to do it themselves. Sucks relying on anyone and there's only one way to get it done exactly to your tastes. I personally love to make cages and pet houses. I build them out of scrap trampoline frames, bunk and bed frames, fences, gates, and random trash, all wired together, and people come from far and wide to obtain them if I say I don't want them anymore... They're extremely strong and being wired means they don't snap or rattle loose (since most are mobile and get dragged around the whole paddock, lol)... Not a fan of nails, bolts, screws, or welds. Everything held together with those falls apart comparatively quickly, whereas there are fences, cages, buildings, etc older than I am still standing because they were wired together. Heck, I've even wired vehicles together, lol! (Didn't take them on the road though, of course, it's illegal). "His'n'Hers" tools, I say! Everyone should have their own set. About the collapsed run --- I thought you'd have fatalities! Good for you that you din't.
Couldn't agree more. My DH is physically not able to do many things, so it's mainly up to me. So I educated myself. Got a few do-it-yourself books at the library and second hand bookstores, bought good tools (these are my tools, and no-one is allowed to take off with them) and educated myself on their use. Then I hired a carpenter to help me with my first big project and apprenticed myself to him -- asking questions on why he did things the way he did and what would happen if we would do it another way. He was very patient with me and I learned tons. I started this process when I was 50. I figured you're never too old to learn new skills. Now I have built my new 10x14 chicken duplex from scratch (I had help with the framing because I don't have the tools, and now have the knowlegde to realize when I can't do something myself). by myself, exactly the way I want it. It may have small aesthetic defects but it is strong and sturdy, plumb and level and above all it is practical. I will post some pictures when I have them.
Being a procrastinating husband, I can relate... J/K... I know that we sometimes procrastinate or don't do it at all, but I would bet that if you sat him down and explained how important it is to you and offer to be his helper (if you don't have the necessary skills to do it yourself), he will help. If he won't, then ask a friend or a friend's husband to help and that will surely "motivate" your husband to help out as well - nothing like a good ol' fashioned shaming to get his behind in gear... LOL.
I always like hearing from those who're still living facing the future, not moving through life backwards, watching the past. I used to worry that it was inevitable to reach the stage/age of stopping learning and trying new things, but over the last decade I've very much had that negative idea thrown by the wayside because of other's examples. I know a good few folks who, at the ripe 'old' (middle!) age of 50, decided they could learn no more, your brain can't do that, etc... And they literally just stagnated on the spot, became immobilized, and deeply unhappy, practically overnight. But they were doing what they thought was the only thing to be done. Quote: That would be great to see. Quote: Sometimes it's genuine procrastination, true. Sometimes it's also not understanding how important it is to someone, like you said. But sometimes its also a temporary disconnect from the current situation which leads to poorly evaluated priorities, which is a natural and probably cyclical state of people in general, I think. My observation is that people tend to periodically go off on 'wanderbouts' where they're mulling something over about themselves, others, life, whatever, --- chewing on an old (or new) bone that needs digesting; we aren't always 'all there at all times'. That's when most failures to make the most of a task at hand occur, in my opinion. There's far more to life that we have to wrangle with than what's right in front of our eyes. In my experience if someone is too consistently distracted to apply sufficient dedication or concentration to a task at hand, it's often better to do it yourself. Otherwise you risk bad results, arising more from distraction than any actual unwillingness to help out. We can't always be everywhere, everything, perfectly. No shame in that. When a group project involving reluctant others yielded sub-par results, I used to chalk it up to someone being so uninterested that they couldn't produce a decent effort, but now I think it's just a seasonal state of humanity.
