Our old backyard fence was never very good. I never really took a picture of it, it was supposed to be temporary, so I had to collect an image of it from one of my video clips. It was far too short and the chickens technically could have flown over it months ago, but chicken psychology being what it is, they never cared to test that boundary until we started pasturing them on the other side. Once they spent a few days grazing from the comfort of their mobile pen, their territory magically expanded to include the land on both sides of the fence and suddenly they realized that they could come and go to either side as they pleased.

Chickens are perfectly legal in Pittsburgh, except when they are "fowl-at-large". That is, fowl unencumbered by a barrier, free to go where they like. Our chickens never cared to leave our yard, but the fence-hopping had to be curbed immediately.



We built our new one out of wire fencing and metal fence posts, the kind usually used to keep deer out of vegetable patches. The posts can be installed in a few minutes with the application of a shoe to the the flanges and pushing the lower part of the post a foot into the soil. The fencing then be strung across and held in place by built-in hooks on the posts, and finally, cut to size.

I installed our fence using my dainty hands and feet in less than ten minutes. We have plans for a gate, but for now we just unhook and rehook the fencing when we need to get through.

***

BTW, I never made a formal announcement of it, but our two ducks are now back living at the farm from where we purchased them and the chickens. Their persistent ability to wake up our entire block with loud, echoing quacks everyday precisely at 6:00 am, weekends included, lead us to our decision. This farm is run by someone who won't eat fowl of any kind and we like to think they are happier now and have lots of boyfriends.

Labels: menagerie, projects

posted by Alison 8/23/2009 09:46:00 PM : (1) comments : splink