I know all you expert builders out there will think this silly, but when I consider the fact that I don't build anything outside of the kitchen (salad, cake, cookies, pasta, etc), I'm pretty proud of this little charmer.
My broody and her lone, 5 week old chick have tired of the solitary confinement inflicted on them all those weeks ago. I needed to move them, but didn't want to throw that poor little chick to the "wolves" in the main flock just yet. And, I still had 8 week old Polish in the nursery.
I felt like the Polish needed to be in with the rest of the flock (I'm hoping all goes well tonight and in the morning), but they are small enough that I thought they might need a shelter they can go to get away from the big girls.
So, I set out to build it for them. Mother's Day weekend, we tore down an OLLLD barn and haven't managed to clear all the 'debris' from that away yet. I went scavenging and found 12 pieces of 2 x 4's in approximately the same lengths.
I wanted to do this project by myself, without having to rely on DH for anything. I didn't want to use any power tools (I won't even use an electric knife!! LOL), so I didn't want to have to cut any wood.
I got the frame built, started looking through the scraps from the barn for a suitable piece of plywood for a top. Found a lot of too big, too long, too short, too small; but kept going back to one sheet of 5/16s. It was the right width, but far too long. I broke and asked DH to cut it for me. I know, I know, I could have cut it myself, I just honestly didn't want to. I'm too clumsy to be trusted with power tools, remember? LOL
DH cut it for me, DD and I painted it to protect it from the weather a bit, and this is what I came up with. Here you see the front view. I cut a doorway out of the chicken wire and covered it with a length of old rubber garden hose. I split the hose, fed it over the sharp edges of wire, and basically 'sewed' it on with the wire that wrapped the new roll of chicken wire that I bought months ago.
And, a side view. DD put our silky rooster, Sparky on top for fun.
It measures approximately 24" deep x 28" wide x 24" tall.
Pics are big again, and I KNOW I resized them, honest! LOL
My broody and her lone, 5 week old chick have tired of the solitary confinement inflicted on them all those weeks ago. I needed to move them, but didn't want to throw that poor little chick to the "wolves" in the main flock just yet. And, I still had 8 week old Polish in the nursery.
I felt like the Polish needed to be in with the rest of the flock (I'm hoping all goes well tonight and in the morning), but they are small enough that I thought they might need a shelter they can go to get away from the big girls.
So, I set out to build it for them. Mother's Day weekend, we tore down an OLLLD barn and haven't managed to clear all the 'debris' from that away yet. I went scavenging and found 12 pieces of 2 x 4's in approximately the same lengths.
I wanted to do this project by myself, without having to rely on DH for anything. I didn't want to use any power tools (I won't even use an electric knife!! LOL), so I didn't want to have to cut any wood.
I got the frame built, started looking through the scraps from the barn for a suitable piece of plywood for a top. Found a lot of too big, too long, too short, too small; but kept going back to one sheet of 5/16s. It was the right width, but far too long. I broke and asked DH to cut it for me. I know, I know, I could have cut it myself, I just honestly didn't want to. I'm too clumsy to be trusted with power tools, remember? LOL
DH cut it for me, DD and I painted it to protect it from the weather a bit, and this is what I came up with. Here you see the front view. I cut a doorway out of the chicken wire and covered it with a length of old rubber garden hose. I split the hose, fed it over the sharp edges of wire, and basically 'sewed' it on with the wire that wrapped the new roll of chicken wire that I bought months ago.
And, a side view. DD put our silky rooster, Sparky on top for fun.
It measures approximately 24" deep x 28" wide x 24" tall.
Pics are big again, and I KNOW I resized them, honest! LOL
