Hamilton Zoo Trip

Building a hen-house on a shoestring budget

"Look! They laid an egg!" 

When we were told that we were being given six laying hens, we imagined it would be an easy task getting a henhouse and all of a sudden we'd be getting eggs each morning. No worries.

First of all, the henhouses and runs on trade me and other websites were in the range of $300 and more, plus they were tinny and barely fit three hens. We were going to need to build our own.

The early stages: Still in two parts

After looking a few examples off various blogs we follow, we decided on a simple run and a basic hutch with a door; big enough to fit an old shelf unit which would serve as the nesting area. Using materials we scavenged of the farm and corrugated steel left over from the shed, we were only left with the purchase of some wood and mesh.

The actual construction took a few hours over a couple of afternoons. Transporting it on the back of the trailer down to it's current position was probably the biggest challenge.

It still has a lot to be done; most notably more wood for the door and walls, but we'll get around to that in time. For now it serves it's purpose as a super-budget henhouse and the eggs are rolling in :)

Windy day on the farm.

Windy afternoon on the farm

Farmstead Workhorse

The red land-train

Our farmstead workhorse; transportation, towing and man-toy for the lads.

It's a Suzuki 250 quad-rider that we picked up cheap to be able to tow our little red trailer around the farm. Even though it's only 2-wheel drive, it's proved the perfect little ATV for our purposes.