Boat Rack Near the Pond

If you have ever looked under a boat near a pond in the summer, you know all to well how bad the snakes can be.  I hate snakes and feared being around when the canoe and pedal boat were moved.  We also got tired of ant piles that seemed to always appear under them.  Eric decided to do something about this problem.

A view of the boat rack from dock, looking back toward the bank.

Getting the spots marked for the post.

One post in, 5 more to go.

Lots of hard work.

It's a very simple design, 6 - 4x4 post buried about 2 ft. with about 18" above ground.

2x4s bolted to the post.

Adding a 2x6 to the top on each side for extra support.

The finished product.

The boats now sit high enough off the ground that snakes can't hide in them.  We also don't have to worry about them getting dirty from sitting on the ground.

I should mention that Eric did this entire project by himself over his Thanksgiving holiday from work, while I was working.  Now when time and weather allows, I will stain the wood so it will hopefully hold up longer.

Building a Chicken Coop

We have been raising chickens for about 3 years and the old shed that we converted to a chicken coop was not the ideal way to keep them.  We decided it was time to build the chicken coop we have been planning for years now.  As with every project we start on our property, we have very little time to work on things.  We do a little work in the evenings when we get off work and on the weekends.  We started this project in November so we had no daylight in the evenings after work.  We were only able to work on it a few weekends before all work halted due to the winter weather and the Christmas season.  The design we chose was based off of a blog Eric found on the which had pictures and directions of how they had built their coop.  We made adjustments to suit our chickens needs and what we thought would be best for us.  Before I go into detail of each step with pictures, I will share a picture of the completed chicken coop which took us over 6 months to complete because we rarely found time to work on it more than a day or two.

Here is a picture of the finished coop with the old shed/coop in the background.

Since we live in the country, we had to make the coop animal and predator proof.  Instead of having it built flat on the ground which can get muddy and disgusting, we decided to put sand in the bottom.  More on that later.

The early stages of construction.

After another long day.

Ready for the roof.

Building the door in the shop during the harsh winter.

I borrowed Eric's helper for a few minutes to get help putting up the birdhouse I built.

Dylan along with 3 other guys, Aaron, Brett and Brandon from our church are always willing to help when we need young strong helpers.  (I don't have any pictures of the other guys, sorry.)

Working on the laying boxes.

Buster and a hen checking out the pile of scrap wood in the shop.  I wonder if they realize we are building them a house? Lol

All of the hardware cloth (small chicken wire), laying boxes and part of one wall installed.

The rest of the wall is finished, waiting on the paint.

The storage area for their food.

The floor to the coop part.

The inside wall for the raised coop part is coming along nicely.

Still have a lot to do, but much progress has been made.

We let them check things out throughout the entire process.

The door to the coop part is complete and hung.

Sand has been added, thanks to Joey and Wade Viator for giving up a Saturday morning to help with it.

Main door finally installed.

All of the painting is finally done!

Ramp complete.

Their first time on sand.  They seem apprehensive at first, but they adjust fast.

Custom built waterer installed.  It holds almost 5 gallons of water.

The chickens drink out of the little cups and as they drink, their beaks hit the yellow lever and it lets more water in.

Outside access to the waterer to refill and a clean-out.  This was designed and engineered by Eric.  

Bedding installed in the coop.  (We have since switched to straw on the floor.)

The laying boxes are ready.

Checking out their new home.

First one up the ramp to check out the coop part.

Letting them enjoy some watermelon.

First one to use the new waterer.  She figured it out fast.

First one in.

First night on the roost.  The did pretty good.

A little privacy please!!

Door to the storage closet finally finished.

I just added this one because I thought it was cute.  They will follow us anywhere as long as they think we are going to feed them.

Cleaning the run is easy.  Eric drilled holes in a plastic shovel and he sifts the sand for feathers and pooh.  This time, they were molting so there was a lot of feathers. 

I rake the sand after he is done sifting.

Their feeder is normally hung from the top of the coop, but we took it down and set it outside while we were cleaning and they decided it was fun to eat from the top of the feeder.

We close the door to the coop part when we are cleaning it out and these two were waiting to lay, not so patiently waiting might I add.

First freeze of the year, the heat light is on and everyone is happy.

Here is a Jumbo egg next to the normal large size egg that the same chicken laid the day before.

It was really a huge egg.  Poor chicken.

But it was a double yoke and Eric was happy!

They say happy chickens lay eggs, well ours must be pretty happy.

So even though the chicken coop took over 6 months to build, I think we did a pretty good job, considering it was in our spare time (which we have very little) and we are not experts.

Yes they are like my pets and are very spoiled.  They are so much fun!