Portable Chicken Tractor

For Christmas this year, Aaron got an incubator so that we could try our hand at hatching our own chicks.  With our first batch of eggs already in the incubator, it became imperative to quickly come up with a plan to house the chicks once they were feathered out and ready to be outside.  After 2 failed attempts that did not warrant photo opportunities, Aaron and our friend Mike came up with their own unique structure without using any building plans.  It actually turned out great!

Aaron & Mike hard at work:

Showing off their handiwork:

The chicks enjoying their new digs:

 Animal Pens

One of the ongoing challenges we face is how to keep our animals fenced in and the coyotes out.  During the day, the animals graze in the pasture that is fenced with electrified high tensile wire, but in the evenings we put the animals up in their pens.  Being ever the frugal hobby farmers, we found a cheap and simple way to build the pens by reusing material--wooden pallets.  We bought 40 large wooden pallets for $5 per pallet from a company who had posted them on Craigslist.  With a little adaptation (cuttinig off the middle posts and reinforcing the side panels), we had a sturdy solution for our pens with minimal cost and labor.

Mabel's Dog House

We built a dog house for our Great Dane, Mabel, and she absolutely loves it.  We used to bring her inside every night to sleep, but the very first night her house was ready, she went right in and made herself at home.  She hasn't looked back since.  We used the plans from this website:  http://www.mikestrong.com/doghouse/index.html as the basis for constructing the house.  It has pictures from each phase of the construction.  It was really easy, and pretty cheap, too, because we ended up reusing some plywood that we had lying around and 2 x 4s to construct the frame.  It is huge, obviously, because Mabel is a great dane, and she had to be able to stand up and turn around while inside it.  We insulated the walls and the floor to keep it warmer in the winter, and raised the floor off the ground to help prevent it from rotting.  Once it was built, we painted it and added the finishing touches with miscellaneous crap from the dollar store like plastic flowers and the like.

Goat Shed

Coming Soon.

Sheep Shelter

Coming Soon.

Seedling Stand

Coming Soon.

Nesting Boxes for the Chickens

Coming Soon.

Garden Fence

Coming Soon.