Manly Men Doing Manly Things

Growing up, I was always a 'brain-work' kind of person, not a 'physical labor' type. Now that I'm on a farm, that has changed a bit. But even after we moved here, we relied on our oldest to help with a lot of that sort of work, because he likes it a lot, and because I don't. But he's been unavailable for the past little while thanks to working two jobs and spending lots of time with his girlfriend, so it's fallen to me.

And dear Lord, does it ever hurt. Fifty-one years old is not the time to start doing construction projects and working with power tools. But, you do what you have to do. And I had to do it, so I did it.

Yes, it's a chicken tractor. With twenty chickens moved into it last night. We were extremely fortunate that we still had the old tractor that we built last year, or at least its frame, mostly together. It took about fifteen hours of work to complete the frame, attach the wire mesh, and get it ready for its occupants.

I learned quite a bit from our first attempt last year; instead of just stapling the mesh, I used 1x3 strapping for a much more secure setup. Ain't nothing getting through that. And we didn't mesh the bottom this time, to give the chickens the opportunity to scratch at the ground and dig for bugs. So there's always the possibility that a predator could dig underneath, but it's a chance we'll have to take. I added the birch log to give them a place to roost as well. It's still small for the number of chickens in there, but it's just a temporary home, and much bigger than the small crate they spent the past few weeks in.

Kudos to our middle son, Tanner, for helping out; he's learning how to use the tools as well. It's important to learn to be as self-sufficient as possible, especially with the economy going as it is. The more we can do on our own, the better off we'll be. Gardening, raising chickens and rabbits, doing our own repairs and farm projects...it all adds up to free-range living.

This project didn't cost us anything more; the frame was already there, the mesh was reused from the old tractor, and my wife picked up the strapping on the side of the road for free. We had the tools and screws, as well as the framing wood, so all this cost was time. And my sedentary nature. And a lot of Advil. Because dear Lord, this really hurt.

But seeing the happiness on my wife's face when she came out to see it? Worth every ache and pain.