Caged In

Whitney 

Carter 

   This past week, I got out of the shop and traveled to Minnesota to see Chad's family.    The kids (and I think Whitney is the proud owner) have this small collection of exotic birds.   I was introduced to each one, but I seemed to have forgotten the names of these feathered little buddies.   There were all different kinds and all seemed to be used to being held or played with.   (Not me.    I'm barely into holding on to the cat.)     While we were there I was asked if I could help the gang build a chicken coop.    They needed a little fenced in area so these chickens could exit their little hut indoors and maybe have a little outside time.   (You know, scratch in the dirt, look for bugs, try to escape, or what ever exotic chickens do for fun.)  

Breeanna & Chad

     This turned out to be one of those fun little family projects where everybody pitched in and did something.    Chad already had the posts cemented in place before we started and he also had purchased a roll of chain link fence.     We went through the process of building this coop right next to the shed which housed the tractor and also this shed had a little pen in the corner for the chickens.  (I looked for some eggs in the nest, but I guess they are too young to lay.) The first thing we did was to create a frame to lay the wire on and around.
 

Danae & Pam

Even grandma got into this project.    (I'm not sure that the insurance company would approve of the usage of that ladder, but it worked in a pinch.)     We stretched the wire over the top and all around the frame that we had built.    We stapled the wire fencing to the posts and everything seemed to fit in place.

Chad 

Quite well in fact.

    (During the process of building this coop, I was reminded that if I live to an old age and if I reach that point where I developed dementia and if I have spent all of my money on tools and shopping at Menards so that they could not afford to put me in the care center - if all that came true,  the kids promised to watch over me.   I thought that was really a thoughtful idea until I learned that this cage or coop would be converted over to  my living area.)


When we got the cage built, we grabbed some older siding boards and built a door with a spring on it so we could go in and out of the coop.     This was a fun project to work on with the grand kids and hopefully it works like it should.  

Breeanna, Carter, Dayton, and Whitney - (And whatever that chicken's name is.)