It was quite a while ago when the chicken fortress was compromised by pesky critters, and since then I’ve just not had the time to get it back in action. So it’s come as a saving grace that Itay (from Israel) got in touch through Earth Neighbours with the intention to come visit and help out. He helped me out with a few things, one of which was rigging up a more secure door for the chicken fortress. Thank you Itay! And then I can’t not mention Bart, my crazy polish friend who has left me all that scaffolding. Real nice stuff! It’s come in dead handy as a temporary solution for the refurb project. In fact, I reckon with all that scaffolding I can turn the chicken fortress into a chicken hotel! We just put the scaffolding up, used a few old pallets, an old 44 gallon drum, some old tyres and some roof sheeting that I picked up from Manuel the Junk Yard Dog around the corner (for only 4 bucks a sheet – Bargain!) … and what a better way to make use of the recently acquired mulch than to use as bedding in the chicken fortress. The overturned bath tub on top of the tyres makes for two nice cosy little nests for those looking to get away from the crowd. Nicely done that is. Only took us a few hours to get the interior sorted. With my truck now and the mulch collecting I reckon I could make this a seriously deep litter system. It will be like a 5 star hotel for chickens and they’ll be producing for me lots of good compost!
I’ve also used Bart’s scaffolding to cover the tank that I have located just outside the chicken fortress. I needed to put some permaculture strategy into action. i.e. slow the water down. In this case slowing it down from going up through evaporation! The shade cloth is not great, not my favourite solution, but until I get vines planted then it will have to suffice as a crappy plastic solution (I hate plastic!!).
So I’m all geared up and ready for chickens again! Anyone got any for sale or up for doing an exchange then I would love to hear from you. Otherwise I might have to visit the local market and salvage some of those poor scruffy little creatures that are sold down there. Perhaps that might be the most humane thing to do. Save them from a life of despair and bring them into a life of luxury! Maybe they’ll be so overjoyed they’ll start laying eggs like there’s no tomorrow 🙂
More fotos of the chicken fortress during it’s development …
No Comments