Yesterday, it was in the low 70's, and I worked inside all day, teaching cpr..... Today, we now have sleet and snow and its cold, and of course, was planning on working outside today. I had arranged for a couple of teen boys from our 4h and homeschool gang to come help me finish the fencing of the chicken pen this afternoon. It is to the point where I can't do it anymore on my own. The bottom layer of fence is done, now we have to put the top layer of fence up (about 5 foot of the ground), then we will fence the top.

This chicken pen has been a 3 year project. I had an estimate for someone else to do it and they wanted around $4,000. So far I have around $700 into it.

My husband and bro in law put in the croncrete pad, I bought one hen house (display model from Lowes) for $300 at the end of the season, and the other one was free from craigslist. It is taking about $200-$300 of fencing. I found on ebay a poultry net that will cover the entire top of the pen for around $125.

Adding it up, it is far cheaper than the %$4000 estimate I had. My hens have been free ranging during the day, but we have had a hawk carry a couple off and a coyote come help himself in broad daylight, so on days we are not outside, they will have a pen to stay in. It is a pretty large pen, 25 by 75, so they will have lots of room, and I can subfence the inside for babychicks and their momma's if I want and house them in one coop by themselves.