Improvements

With the addition of the new goats I knew we needed to do some structural improvements to provide better shelter for the new kids. What we really needed was a new goat house. I started looking around trying to find a good place for it and the chicken run caught my eye. Back in 2010 Sean built a run for the chickens right off of the shop where the hen house is located. I used to coop up the chickens in the run when I was scared they would be eaten by predators. Eight years later I've become a more relaxed chicken farmer and the girls now enjoy free ranging all day and being locked up in their hen house at night.

The outside run has sat unused for several years now. Sean built it like a tank to keep all predators at bay even digging down and layering pressure treated wood about a foot deep in the ground for digging predators. It had good bones and I knew it would make a nice 10 foot by 16 foot goat house. Here it is, with the "temporary" fence (that's been there since 2010 also) that was put up to keep the horses and big goats from rubbing all over it and destroying the chicken wire. This is also after we have pulled all of the chicken wire and clap boards off of it.

Here is what it looked like right after Sean got done building it, he did a beautiful job. Look at tiny three year old Wesley!

The chickens loved it too, but love free ranging more.

So we tore down the old fence and removed all of the chicken wire and door from the coop. Sean added a slanted roof to the top of it and we put up siding and a new roof. We repositioned the new door to be on the south side to keep it warm in the winter. We also built a new fence to keep the the horses out of it (because they will hog it and not allow anyone else in it).

Still needs a coat of paint on the inside and outside.

Sean added electricity so we can put a stock tank heater back here if needed. It was also nice for power tools while building it.

We built it in two days, two very long days. The goats like it and I'm happy to have a nice warm building for them this winter. While we were at it we put in a new fence in the horse pen to keep the baby goats completely away from the horses and bigger goats. I was really tired of seeing Tag being bullied, so the kids won't be in with them until fully grown. We designed the new fence to share the stock tank so I won't have to haul warm buckets of water this winter (the stock tank has a heater in it). I'm really enjoying the new set up, it sure looks a lot more professional.

Daphne is always so curious about the cats.

Rocky and Desi. Desi in doing well with his new boots.