After really thinking about things, I decided to implement a new plan regarding the chicken yard. Since we got the main gates up, we pretty much turned the birds loose across the whole yard. While this is fine, the time will be coming to start planting and these assholes are all over the garden. Plus there is still the threat of air attack against the birds. The plan I have is going to be to move the fences on the west and east ends of the garden in closer to the car and cab coops then create a screened front wall along the front of the car coops, and topping everything off with large chicken wire fencing along the top, supported on a frame, creating a structure that will be part aviary and part shed/canopy. The rear section, set up along the north fence, would have corrugated sheet metal reaching out 6ft to create a covering that would allow for setting up things like bulk feeders, nest boxes and roosting posts, among other things. The vision is pretty colorful in my mind. With these plants set into motion, obviously I'll be dismantling the west chicken yard fence, including the gates. I started off with the removal of the short section of fence that connected to the house and to the gate post. The ground in this area was eroding anyway and the fence posts were already unstable so it was just as well that this fence is coming down. Another thing I thought about was the issue with the main gates. Since we used off the shelf fence panels for gates, this created the problem of one of the panels warping. Even with the support of the caster wheel and tension wire and braces, the 2x4's that make up the panel started bending unevenly, causing the panel to twist oddly, creating unsightly gaps and making the gate sag and drag and be a bear to open at times. Something had to be done about that, and this is where the old chicken yard gate comes in. The plan will be to disassemble one of the gates, using the gate kit to build a long gate to span the length of the old gate, which is around 90". There are tubes that connect the two ends to give the gate support, but these tubes won't reach the whole 90". I'll have to take three of the four tubes from this kit to make a span for the top and use some round tube from the scrap pile to do the same thing on the bottom end. At least this gate kit will be stronger and less prone to distortion unlike the unseasoned wood in the fence panel, and it will be lighter too. If all things work out I may even do the other gate panel the same way with the other gate kit left over from the chicken yard. More to come on this.
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May 2023
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