Mike CHS
Herd Master
I can truly say that fence is unique. 
Any idea what the purpose was - chicken pen?
Any idea what the purpose was - chicken pen?
Bruce's Journal
- Thread starter Bruce
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- alpacas. chickens
CntryBoy777
Herd Master
I thought it looked like some kind of Abstract Art...
Baymule
Herd Master
I think it is a crab trap--all opened up and repurposed as a alpaca trap.
- Thread starter
- #84
Bruce
Herd Master
Hard to say exactly. Some of the mess, the hotwire tape, was a failed attempt on my part to keep the chickens from going over. The tall chicken wire was something DD1 and I trashed together before we went out to CA for my nephew's wedding in Sept so the lady that was taking care of the chickens (*) wouldn't have to worry about them escaping their jail. You should see them complain about not being allowed out of that area behind the barns! Spoiled girls.
According to the people we bought from, at one point or another they had pretty much every type of common farm animal except bovines. The lower part of the little barn (it would be to the right in that picture) is divided in 2, most likely by the owner before the jackass we bought from based on the quality of the divider or even the one before that (transfer happened in the 50's). At some point it housed chickens on one side (maybe by the guy we bought from, has his mark of cr@p construction). There is a ramp and door on each side big enough for pigs or turkeys and broken down pens outside the barn. The roof is bad so we aren't currently using it for anything. Plus the fieldstone foundation is quite "gappie", no way to make it predator proof for chickens. He lost chickens in there to weasels, quelle surprise!
Most of the rest of the fence is similar, way undersized posts (1.5" some maybe 2.5") barely in the ground, not PT. Any can be pulled out by hand. They had chicken wire held up by boards that ran post to post and at ground level with vertical boards between the posts for extra support. But again, not PT, rotting and pulling down the chicken wire they were supposed to be supporting. There was hotwire on it as well which I assume is what kept the horses in. There was hotwire on the perimeter and cross fencing in the rest of the field areas. Similar undersized pointed posts with little more than the point in the ground. Broken hotwire all over and hiding in the grass in the field, often 10' or 15' into the field. I "caught" it more than once mowing and even walking. I've pulled it all out and the posts as well since they are more of a menace than something with function. At some point I will put in a new perimeter fence with hotwire on T-posts. Don't look for pictures of that anytime soon.
* The one that gave us the alpacas after we got back and I finished my fencing on the north end of the barn.
According to the people we bought from, at one point or another they had pretty much every type of common farm animal except bovines. The lower part of the little barn (it would be to the right in that picture) is divided in 2, most likely by the owner before the jackass we bought from based on the quality of the divider or even the one before that (transfer happened in the 50's). At some point it housed chickens on one side (maybe by the guy we bought from, has his mark of cr@p construction). There is a ramp and door on each side big enough for pigs or turkeys and broken down pens outside the barn. The roof is bad so we aren't currently using it for anything. Plus the fieldstone foundation is quite "gappie", no way to make it predator proof for chickens. He lost chickens in there to weasels, quelle surprise!
Most of the rest of the fence is similar, way undersized posts (1.5" some maybe 2.5") barely in the ground, not PT. Any can be pulled out by hand. They had chicken wire held up by boards that ran post to post and at ground level with vertical boards between the posts for extra support. But again, not PT, rotting and pulling down the chicken wire they were supposed to be supporting. There was hotwire on it as well which I assume is what kept the horses in. There was hotwire on the perimeter and cross fencing in the rest of the field areas. Similar undersized pointed posts with little more than the point in the ground. Broken hotwire all over and hiding in the grass in the field, often 10' or 15' into the field. I "caught" it more than once mowing and even walking. I've pulled it all out and the posts as well since they are more of a menace than something with function. At some point I will put in a new perimeter fence with hotwire on T-posts. Don't look for pictures of that anytime soon.
* The one that gave us the alpacas after we got back and I finished my fencing on the north end of the barn.
- Thread starter
- #85
Bruce
Herd Master
Uh oh. You mean I have to keep it after I finish my "should last a few decades" fencing project?I thought it looked like some kind of Abstract Art...
CntryBoy777
Herd Master
Well Bruce...they say that 'Beauty' is in the eye of the Beholder....and I have no 'Artistic Taste'....but it looks as good as some of the stuff on that 'Antique Roadshow' on PBS ....
but it looks as good as some of the stuff on that 'Antique Roadshow' on PBS ....- Thread starter
- #87
Bruce
Herd Master
Here is a picture of the existing north fence line. When I patched up the entire fence 3 years ago (pulling off the rotted top horizontals and running bare wire through the chicken wire to hold it up) this section was so bad I just ran a 100' roll of 4' 2x4 fencing up the outside. You can tell the size of the posts based on the yellow insulators nailed into the tops of them.
Mike CHS
Herd Master
If nothing else you have some good looking grass there.
- Thread starter
- #89
Bruce
Herd Master
True, it does grow pretty well. I pay Al to mow it with his sickle bar mower sometime in July. Since there is nothing eating it, it just grows and grows. Had to take it slow mowing for the fence line. That spot also happens to be where it gets squishy. If I had the machinery I'd dig a curtain drain downhill (left) to the natural wetland. But I don't.
Baymule
Herd Master
Always the encourager!
