Progress

Another day of physical labor for me.  Thankfully, I've not been sore at all from it.

Dad and I worked on the duck pond enclosure today.  Er, I should say, Dad did most of the work on the duck pond enclosure today.  I ended up having to exchange some of the PVC pipes at Lowes which is 30 minutes away.

Before we began working, we did some last minute modifications to the design but I think it will work much better this way since I needed to be able to access the window and the trap door below the window.

During the winter months, I need to be able to close the window and the trap door is used to shovel the old hay out of the coop (or to just peek in on the chickens!).  So, we decided to install the hoops parallel to the coop rather than perpendicular.  The new area is almost square so it wasn't too big a deal to change the direction.

While I was gone, Dad got the base framing almost completed.

After a quick bite to eat, I was finally able to get to work.  I started by filling in the trench I dug yesterday while Dad continued on the framing.

Can I just say how much easier it was to throw the dirt back in the trench than it was digging it out, ha!  Piece of cake!

Once the framing was done, then we cut the PVC stakes.  We used 2 inch Schedule 40 PVC cut into 2 foot pieces for the stakes that the hoops would slide into.

Once the stakes were driven into the ground it was time to see if the hoops would work. 

We used 30 feet of 1 1/4 inch drain pipe (because it bends easily) to make the hoops.

Here's how it turned out so far...

There's still some framing work that needs to be done to secure the hoops before the chicken wire can go up.  And, I have to make another trip to Lowes before our next work day sometime next week to get some pipe clamps, a 4x4x10 and some screws so that we can finish this up.

Meanwhile, I'll be doing some smaller jobs like adding trim to the bottom of the coop to secure the chicken wire better, installing a pulley for the windows so that my rope doesn't fray from opening and closing the window and ripping some boards I already have to be used as hip boards (I sound like I know what I'm talking about, heehee!) that will be used to secure the chicken wire from the existing fence to the hip board.  And, if I have the time, I may even put the liner in for the pond.  Oh, and I have to finish digging the hole at the end of the drain pipe so that I can set a bucket in there to catch all the good fertilized water whenever I drain the pond!  Mercy, I'm pooped just from typing everything I need to get done...

All in all, I think it's going to look pretty cool and will be as safe as I can make it!  It's a shame the ducks and chickens could care less what it looks like in the end, hahaha!

Till next time,