March 22, 2018 - The Project Continues

Last year at this time we were finishing up the Justin Rhodes Chick-Shaw. At this point in the project I think we still needed the wheels and few other odds and ends to finish up. Check that post out HERE.

I also had some pretty good looking Romaine lettuce growing in the garden. These were transplanted in mid fall of 2016 and survived all sorts of crazy weather! There were a variety of other items as well, but the lettuce really well.

The John Suscovich chicken tractor has been a fairly straightforward build so far. Yesterday's progress was mainly us getting the pieces put together. We were able to get quite a bit done before the rain started. Tom had an appointment at noon so I went to do some grocery shopping during that time. When I walked out of the store I saw the rain...boooo...oh well. We live in the Pacific NW - sun breaks are a treat during the spring and if they last for a couple of days we take advantage of it! The rain keeps us humble...maybe.

The top photo is from the morning and the one below was taken after we returned from errands.

The first side panel assembled and ready for glue - then screws

The different parts of the frame all glued and screwed together

Our favorite glue

There wasn't a lot more to do after we returned, just one more panel to finish up before calling it a day.

Today - it was rainy most of the time, windy at times and there was hail later in the afternoon. I think that today was supposed to be the most rainy of the week. Tomorrow should be less rain, but who really knows for sure?

Welcome back rain!

Before applying glue and then drilling in the screws

Since there was rain the project needed to be moved into the garage. Not because it was dry...but because it was less wet. I'll tell you what this thing is HUGE! The Chick-shaw wasn't nearly as big, it was more of a square. This dude is longer and wider.

It's a different type of coop - this is pretty squatty

It's hard to see just how big this is, trust me - this will be spacious

Today we took the bones of the tractor and put them all together. Since Tom was using lumber that was from an existing shed at the back of our property; all of the pieces were cut to the dimensions that were listed in the book. While the book assumed that the person building this chicken tractor would be buying the materials at a local home improvement type store. So, the pieces were slightly "off," but we'll make it work. The main thing is that the changes aren't terrible and it will still work as it should. That would be - a house for the little chickies that we have. They are tiny by comparison, but when this gets finished and they are big enough to move outside, they will be just fine. 

Today's trip was to Parkrose Hardware where we got the 10' half inch EMT and some brackets. Parkrose is great - the conduit was $3.49-ish which was probably a 1/3 of the price of Grovers. Forget you Grovers! When I decide to do my low tunnels we'll have to go and pick up a few more. 

I believe that we'll be renting the conduit bender tomorrow from Parkrose - $10 per day. We really should have asked if we could bend the tubes there, this job shouldn't take very long at all.

The thing about tomorrow is that I will not be working on anything that is farm related. We will have some friends over for dinner - so I'll be spending a good portion of the day cooking!

As my vacation comes to an end, I'm happy with all that we accomplished in the few hours each day that we spent on the Chicken Tractor. I also have several trays of soil blocks and seeds started, so that's a bonus!

One more day and then back to prepping for going back to work - but until then, I still have three days of staycation time!