Treasures from the dump, err... recycled fencing

In the age-old Maine tradition of dump picking, now-a-days known as recycling, Dan and I recently obtained 3 large rolls of wire mesh fencing. Our sharp-eyed friend Karen spotted it at the local transfer station in the metal pile, and told us about it. The next morning, we were at the transfer station when it opened to retrieve it.

While there, we also found a fabulous two-seater metal porch glider, which we gave to Karen for her porch. The glider was in pristine condition. It did not even need cleaning, I cannot begin to imagine why someone would throw it out, but one man's trash....

Anyhow, today, we begain the process of installing the new fencing around the garden, which is currently fenced red-neck style, with bits and pieces of leftover fencing garnered from yard sales, previous dump picking, etc. Once the new fencing is installed, we will remove the red-neck fencing, and use that to fence in the far back of the yard, to control the errant chickens.

Yes, I said errant chickens. Our intrepid explorer hens have tasted freedom, and there is no keeping them in our yard anymore without completely fencing it in. Saturday they committed the final transgression, getting in our neighbor Mike's vegetable garden. Mike was very gracious about it, but he was definitely not happy, so until we enclose the back portion of the yard, the chickens are unhappily imprisoned in their pen. If only we could train them with Fishy's Invisible Fence, but alas, the collar is too big for their scrawny little necks.

Today we dug the postholes and sank the large cedar corner posts, and finished 3 sides of the fence. One thing I like about the mesh fencing is that it is nearly invisible from a distance. In the photo it can barely be seen, more visible is the old red-neck fencing on the inside of the new fence, sagging where we robbed a post from it.

The next step will be to build the gate, and install the last side of the fence. Then we start creating the chicken boundary around the back half of the yard. Perhaps by then, after a few days in the pen, Lewis & Cluck and their feathered companions will have learned their lesson and stay close to home.