Chicken Tractor: More Progress

Last week I mentioned that I’ve been making weekly modifications to the Nugget Cage to keep up with how big they are getting. When I say “modifications” I mean that I spent part of Saturday morning crouched inside a dog kennel that is currently sporting the distinct aroma of chicken poop, weilding a pair of bolt cutters.

For real.

That may have been the result of losing my tempter, but, in the end it allowed me to take the top part of the kennel outside so that all of the girls could delight in the beautiful weather we were having.

Since they were well and secure outside, I thought this might be a good time for introductions to other members of the Farm.

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I wasn’t sure how this was going to go, because the cat has basically been sitting obsessively outside the door of the chicken-room for the last six weeks. For about one second he looked like he might be interested, then he realized those chickens were about half his size and not one bit scared of him…

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And he decided he was more interested in a belly rub, actually.

So that simplifies things when it comes time for them to free-range. That time, by the way, is rapidly approaching. I expect they only have two more weeks in the house before “the big move” which means I needed to make some serious progress on their “summer home.”

The last time sneak peek I shared looked like this:

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This weekend I managed to finish the framing…

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And skin the majority of the coop with 1/8″ thick luan.

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I’m actually going to use– gasp!– some old barn wood to side it, but I wanted to make sure there was a good draft resistant backing underneath it.

Next up will be siding, building the doors, and then putting on a tin roof (which, in theory, I’m excited about… in practice, working with metal is not my favorite thing ever, so we’ll see how that goes.)

I also have seven more 3×3 screens and the frame for the run to build which means a lot of time in the workshop over the next few weeks. Luckily I’ve got Friday off this week which will give me a little more shop-time, and hopefully bring me a few steps closer to living in a nugget-free house again.

4 Responses

  1. Wow! When I scrolled down from the “where I was” to “where I am” I was taken aback! It really looks like a little, cute, adorable house! You have some serious skills! 😀

  2. The chicken toe Possibly Related post reminds me to ask how the chicken toe is doing.

  3. The chicken toe is still crooked, but doesn’t seem to be bothering her, so I’m just letting it be.

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