Chicken Moat Progress!!!

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I'm so excited - all the fence post are up for our chicken moat!!!! It took 80 posts and a day and a half of hard work, but it's sooooo cool! I can't wait to see little chickies running around it. Hopefully we'll get the coop delivered this week and the fence done this coming weekend. We got an old shed type thing from a friend for the coop and all the posts and fencing were free!!! Yippee skippee!!!! I can't believe it's really happening!! Wooo hooooooo!!!

-- Stacey (stacey@lakesideinternet.com), November 05, 2001

Answers

Stacy, Did you make a tunnel underneath the garden gate so you could go in and out into the garden without having any chicken get loose? Congradulation on your success! I know that I have been exceptionally please with my chicken moat. Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), November 05, 2001.

Hi Ernest!!

I'm soooo glad you saw my post. I tried to post to your site but I couldn't get logged in. I wanted to thank you for the idea and let you know that your time in answering my questions did not go to waste! No, we didn't do the tunnel but we made the gates so that when you open the first one it closes off one side and when you open the second one it closes off the other side. I'm just soooo excited about this. I'll send you a picture when we get it done so you can see it. Sound like a new mom, don't I? :)

Hope things are going great for you. Let me know when you get more pic's of your house up. I can't wait to see it!

Stace

-- Stacey Christiansen (stacey@lakesideinternet.com), November 05, 2001.


Congratulations on you "new addition" Stacey. I can see why you would be very excited! When I first saw Ernest & Meli's chicken moat I thought that was so ingenious. When I get a place in the country (someday - sigh), that is one of the things I want most! Congrats again and I can't wait to see a picture of it!

PS - Did I ever tell you I used your "cabin" as a backround on my computer desktop? I just love looking at it - Everyday!

Blessings,

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), November 05, 2001.


Thanks for being excited with me! I think it was a great idea too. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will keep the deer out of the garden next summer.

I had to laugh - I have the cabin pic as my background too! :)

-- Stacey (stacey@lakesideinternet.com), November 05, 2001.


I'd like to know more about the chicken moat. I'll read it where it was posted before if you tell me how to find it (what the title is). Thanks.

Oh, and good luck. We are excited for you.

Can you explain the purpose of the tunnel?

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), November 05, 2001.



I'm not sure where the other post is, but I got the idea from Ernest in the Ozarks who already has one. It's a double fence going around your garden and the chickens run in the area between the first and second fence. This allows the chickens to snatch bugs that are on their way into the garden and gives you handy fertilizer. You have to have two gates to get into the garden so the tunnel is where the chickens would go in the gate area so they don't get out the open gate. You put an elevated walkway for you to get to the other side of the moat and the chickens go underneath. Kinda like a permanent draw bridge. You can see pic's of my moat at http://www.lakesideinternet.com/lakesideinternet/land3.htm. I'm just getting it up now.

-- Stacey (stacey@lakesideinternet.com), November 05, 2001.

Hey, Stacey, Congratulations on the upcoming chicken moat! We also liked Ernest's idea so much that we are planning one for next spring here at our new place:)...I think Ernest also has pictures of his moat on the thread he lists above.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), November 05, 2001.

LOL It sounds great, Congratulations! I had a similar idea that I've been planning when I get to start my own garden. I was also going to double fence it, but put my shepard/bulldog in the run to discourage deer, rabbit, etc.

-- Melody, AL (RealWorld3D@hotmail.com), November 06, 2001.

Wahoo, Stacey! It feels so wonderful to get a big job like this off the ground and nearly done! I have a half moat here. I have the chicken run going down the wild side and the back of the garden, then the compost bin and the garden shed are on the other side. The front has the kids' garden and a small tree there, and it's right next to the house so the deer don't usually come that way (too many dogs, kids, etc.) Since putting the chicken run there, the deer have not been in the garden at all. They do still frequent the orchard, which is right next to the garden on the compost bin/shed side. My half moat seems to keep down the deer damage, the bug damage (the bugs can't get through the run from the wild area)and the weed problem (there are no weeds in the chicken run to produce weed seed to spread into the garden and wreak havoc). I hope yours works just as well. It also makes it very handy to just pitch any weeds over the fence into the chicken run, providing supplemental greens for the hens! Life is good.

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), November 06, 2001.

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