The pigs have decided: National turkey free day

When it's laying season I pen the turkeys into these calf domes.

Each calf dome is 5' tall, about 7' in diameter. We use them as portable shelters for pasture farrowing, covers for sacks of feed, confining laying turkeys and (gasp) even their intended purpose of bottle feeding calves.

put a 30 gallon garbage can with some hay in it as a nesting box (turkey hens are big animals, and a 30 gallon can is about the right size), and string this recycled construction fence across the entrance. You don't need much of a barrier to keep turkeys in. The orange fencing is mostly a visual barrier.

The orange fencing is also known as pig dental floss. They love it. So yesterday three of the smallest pigs I've got slipped out of their electric fence, and over to the turkey domes, and proceeded to let every single turkey loose. They pulled the orange fencing off the front and out came the turkeys.

This was such a success in the eyes of the pigs that they decided a roadtrip was in order. So these same small pig terrorists chewed the power cord off the electric fence, and then proceeded to lead the entire herd out of the pasture and onto the road. And then down the road. And then over the bridge. All in all, about a mile down the road.

So when I got to the farm, I was stopped at my gate by a neighbor who'd seen the pigs down the road, and the dogs and I herded them back over to the property, only to discover when I got there that all 70 turkeys were out. So I spent 4 hours chasing and netting turkeys, fixing the fence, netting more turkeys, herding pigs back in, and so on.

Moral of this story: Good fences, particularly perimeter fencing, is worth its weight in gold. Guess what my next project will be.

more coops

Finally got a coop design i'm happy with. The base is 92.5" long, the cross members are 44.5". The goal is to have the base covered by a 4x8 sheet of welded wire, 1/2" by 1" holes. I use the small wire so that there's plenty of support for chicken feet.

Once the bases are assembled, you nail the legs on each corner. The front lengs are 76" pressure treated 2x6, the back legs are 66" long 2x4. I use pressure treated lumber for the legs because they're ground contact, and my ground is pretty darn wet. Plus I'll want these coops to last 5 or 10 years without maintenance. The front legs are 2x6 to allow mounting space for the doors. The 2x6 are nailed sticking halfway out.

Once the legs go on, you attach the side supports on each end -- a 4' piece of 2x4 with the end cut at a 15 degree angle, and three roof rafters, which happen to be 8' lengths of 2x4.

From here it's a matter of attaching plywood. That's the 3x8 plywood I listed in the parts list; I chose the 3/8" plywood mostly for cost. It's there for diagonal support and as a wind break, so it doesn't have to be very thick. The doors I make out of 1/2 plywood so that they're a little stiffer and will hold up better.

Chicken breeding pens

This is my first attempt at a chicken/turkey breeding coop. Becuase I'd like to offer purebred chickens and turkeys next year, I need to seperate them by breed, and then provide a nice nesting and roosting area for each breed.

I'm building this mostly by brail. I work on an idea for a while, see how it works, and then make notes on how to change the next one. It's sort of like writing a program for me; you try something, test it out, tear it out, redo it. I love working with my hands.

what I'm after is a coop that is easy to maintain, provides good protection from rain or wind, and doesn't require me to stoop or bend. If you're going to build a coop, might as well build it at a comfortable working height. If things go well I'll be here every day collecting the fresh eggs for incubation.

It has to be tall enough to allow the birds to roost inside if they choose, have space for a couple of nest boxes, and most of the surfaces have to be slanted so chicken droppings are dropped onto the mesh, to drop through to the ground below. I'll probably clean the ground with a shovel every couple of weeks. The mesh on the bottom means that if there are mites there's less place for them to hang around -- they'll mostly drop through. I'll paint the whole thing inside and out.

I'd also like it to use as few boards as possible. The roofing is recycled metal panels I picked up for scrap prices. They're a little rusty and bent, but the chickens won't mind, and it beats the heck out of paying $1.93/foot for a chicken roof.

I'd like the final design to use full sheets of materials, too. So here's what I've got so far for a parts list.

12 2x4x8', $21

1 2x8x8', $7

3 sheets 3/8" plywood, $27

4 2x4x8' pressure treated, $21

4 pieces metal roofing, 5'x24", $2.

1 sheet 1/2" plywood (door material), $12

1 piece cage wire, 1/2" x 1" holes x 48" wide, $24

4 4" T hinges, $24

24 2" hex-head galvanized lag bolts, $12

3" framing nails

2" nails (for plywood to frame)

ridiculously expensive screws with neophrene washers for metal roofing, $9

2 door latches, $8

Materials cost for current design: $167.