Chickens got a new home

Got paid today, so I used a little of the money to buy three more fence panels. They are 6 × 20-foot panels of 2-inch mesh.

I formed each panel into an arch measuring 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall. The arches were overlapped by 6 inches, and the wires were bent over to weave the panels together. Four pieces of ¾-inch rebar were cut for stakes, and a single 7-foot center post was installed.

The work went reasonably well, except that we were dealing with 4-foot-high weeds, so two of the panels did not join perfectly. It was raining, and the birds kept wandering out of the half-finished enclosure, so we pressed on.

The completed run uses four panels to create a length of roughly 20-odd feet, with one additional panel cut in two to form the ends and a door.

Oddly enough, this is the tamest batch of chickens I have ever kept. The Rhode Island Reds, Plymouth Rocks, and a couple of pure-black birds were easy to catch. My worker has trained them to come when he calls. I easily caught two of the largest roosters to check whether they were heavy enough for the table; unfortunately they still need a few more weeks to make good roasting birds. One of them seemed to enjoy being handled—Sexytary caught it and was petting it while the bird made no protest.

Tomorrow it is back, yet again, to the plastic pellet mill project that i posted previously. I know I need the large professional unit; however, I lack the roughly $8,000 required to purchase it. Hence the continuing experiments with the feed mill.

I also gave away approximately 15 tons of plastic this week from the old shop. I simply have no room for it without densifying it into pellets. I am also tired of paying rent on two locations.

In addition, the last time I was at the old shop, my nemesis—the Chinese forked-tongue devil—stood across the street glaring at me. I now have workers performing the heavy labor and another handling the logistics, which is a welcome relief from that stress.

Hopefully that chapter of the old shop will be closed in my life next week.