Yard art.
Although I have two works-in-progress that I can't wait to finish, I've been neglecting my art for the last few weeks in favor of intensive garden and yardwork. My weekends were MIA for so long that I have a lot of neglected projects to catch up on. Top on my list was building a new chicken run. Awhile back, maybe 2 years ago or so, Greg built us a big beautiful Chickydoo Fort Knox, with an attached bunny hutch. It's really magnificent, with big doors, a skylight for the chickens, and 2 stories and a secret window for the rabbits. But right after he built it, we realized the chickens needed more space, and they needed a space where they could feel like they're outside while still being protected from coyotes and hawks. So we threw together a monstrosity of a playpen which ultimately required that we wriggle through a small finicky opening to tend to everyone and I always had to put my workboots on to visit the bunnies cause there was chicken poo right in front of their door. It was all pieced together and junky looking and then we let it get all cobwebby and it just did not suit Greg's magnificent coop at all. So I spent months (well, years I guess) trying to figure out how to give the chickens a new run. Seems simple until you factor in predators, our dogs' love of chicken poo, rodent issues, our chickens' desire to find any and all ways to break out of the coop, and our complete lack of spare time. And also, there's a massive tree right in the way, the dogs still need some space to run around, and I'm super particular about the design of such things.
I'm not good at remembering to take "before" photos, but here's some crappy cellphone pictures of our crappy front yard before. This is the cobwebby and cobbled playpen. So gross.
And here's the other part of the front yard under our awning. Super gross!
And here's the new run. Not gross anymore! The chickens get into the run through a little hinged door inside the coop, which we close at night to keep the rodents out. Then they go under the rabbit hutch and behind the tree, out into the sunshine.
Now we can step right up to the doors without putting on the workboots. There's no chicken poo involved in visiting with Cinnabun! Kinda makes me want to get another rabbit...
I also ripped out the soaker hoses I had buried in the front yard and replaced them with these neato sprinkler heads that tie right into our existing drip line.
This shot shows the bird netting that I stapled from the fence to the pickets and then staked at the ground. I went back later and reinforced the bottom of the entire picket line with hardware cloth, after our little badger hunter Sasha tried to tear through the bird netting to get at the tasty chicken poo.
The other side of the front yard under the awning is much improved too, but it's just a boring patch of mulch right now so I didn't take photos. Sometime in the not-so-distant future there will be planter boxes and some pretty little shade plants. But it might have to wait until I finish drawing french macarons.
I'm not good at remembering to take "before" photos, but here's some crappy cellphone pictures of our crappy front yard before. This is the cobwebby and cobbled playpen. So gross.
And here's the other part of the front yard under our awning. Super gross!
And here's the new run. Not gross anymore! The chickens get into the run through a little hinged door inside the coop, which we close at night to keep the rodents out. Then they go under the rabbit hutch and behind the tree, out into the sunshine.
Now we can step right up to the doors without putting on the workboots. There's no chicken poo involved in visiting with Cinnabun! Kinda makes me want to get another rabbit...
I also ripped out the soaker hoses I had buried in the front yard and replaced them with these neato sprinkler heads that tie right into our existing drip line.
This shot shows the bird netting that I stapled from the fence to the pickets and then staked at the ground. I went back later and reinforced the bottom of the entire picket line with hardware cloth, after our little badger hunter Sasha tried to tear through the bird netting to get at the tasty chicken poo.
The other side of the front yard under the awning is much improved too, but it's just a boring patch of mulch right now so I didn't take photos. Sometime in the not-so-distant future there will be planter boxes and some pretty little shade plants. But it might have to wait until I finish drawing french macarons.