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Building a pen is easier than it looks. You need to nail some important matters like the materials to purchase and the tools to use. And, you also have to take into account the place where to construct the ideal pen for raising your chickens.
Okay, the easy yet significant part starts with planning. First, the location, then the size of the pen. The pen size generally depends on how much chickens will be raised. Consider the option on what kind of birds you're dealing with.
Beginner or not, it's still better to begin with the most basic pen – utilizing the wire and post design. The materials that you’ll need are the posts, wire, and staples which can be used for fences. The tools are likewise basic namely a sledgehammer, the regular hammer, wire cutters, and crowbar.
To begin, look at the ground you are working at. Observe the stiffness and dryness. When it’s anything like that, you have to take with you a bucket of water. This would help soften the ground. Pound the ground employing the pointed tip of the crowbar. Make a hole.
When pounding, occasionally put a few amounts of water in the hole to soften the ground. Leave your crowbar inside the hole, pull your body weight against it. This is to widen the proximity of the hole. If the hole is large enough and is about 20 cm deep, that will be enough. Be sure that the hole is wide enough to hold a pole in place.
Put the post inside the hole you've made, pointed end first. Using the sledgehammer, pound the pole to the ground. Do the pounding till you are sure that it has stood. Occasionally, it is better to have somebody hold the post for you to guarantee better stability. Always use caution and focus on what you’re doing because you may pound your assistant rather than the post.
If your first post is standing firmly, you can now begin on the rest of the posts. Give at least a meter from where the previous post stands. That will determine elaborate spacing. To function as a gate, allow 2 posts to stand about 1½ - 2 meters apart.
The instant you have firmly put all the posts in place, put the wire around it. Carry the wire on one corner. Using your regular hammer, pound the fence staples at the end of the wire to the post. When the end is tightly secured, unfurl the wire going to the next post then staple the wire that meets the post. Do the unrolling and stapling method until you have finished wrapping around the entire posts. When you run out of wire, get more then take up where you ended.
Doing the gate is also easy. All you need to get are hinges, door latch and a particle board. Begin by cutting the board to meet both ends of the posts. Now attach it with the hinges and the latch.
There you go. Raising chickens is easy as long as you know the basics.
Copyright © 2011 Athena Goodlight
