This past Monday, I tackled a project I’d been putting off for a while. And by a while, I mean several months.
Check out my struggle on my YouTube
I had the day off. It was sunny out. And I knew I’d regret
not doing the project now while the weather was nice. Because even though I knew
I’d hate almost every moment of it, I’d hate it a whole lot more if I had to do
it in the snow.
What could possibly be so awful that I would put it off for
so long?? That I even tried to talk myself out of doing it, because I reasoned ‘it’s
not so bad right now’?
My chicken run desperately needed new bird netting over the top.
I’d previously slapped up four mismatching pieces after a hawk attack
killed two of my birds, and due to the time constraints, I was forced to use
any piece I was able to get my hands on. This meant that there was a wide gap
in the middle of the run that was still exposed to predators. But the majority
of the run was protected.
It wasn’t ideal, but it worked. For a while.
Each day that I would go out and spend time feeding and
watering the birds, and collecting eggs, I resented the job I’d done more and
more. There was hangover where the nets overlapped that I got caught on every
time I went into the run. I was constantly fighting to keep the nets up when we
got any sort of wind. The gap in the middle also meant that my one Houdini hen
I’ve never been able to contain had a clear escape route.
Finally, I’d decided enough was enough, and it was time to retire
the old netting and hang up all new.
The problem is, I still remembered what a complete pain in
the ass it was to put up the original netting. And this time, I wanted to install
a giant 50 foot by 50 foot square of the stuff.
It wasn’t hard to find the material I wanted. And it was
surprisingly inexpensive (less than $15). But I knew that the hard part was on
its way.
The biggest annoyance with bird netting, is that it tangles
on everything and anything you could possibly imagine, always and immediately. I
spent more time detangling little bits of wood, branches, dirt, feathers, you
name it, out of the net than I actually spent hanging it up.
If you ever have the absolute displeasure of working with
bird netting, I’ll offer a few tips that might lessen your headache.
Don’t install it by yourself. I had close to two
hours of footage I sifted through to make a semi decent video of my struggle,
and after all that, the battery on my camera ended up dying and I still wasn’t
done. Even having one other person assisting would have cut down on the amount
of time I spent untangling everything out of the net, since I’d been stuck with
having to let it drag or lay on the ground while I worked on a section.
Pick a side and work outward. I, thankfully, started
the project with this idea. It made it so much easier to stretch the net taunt
when I had one side fully secured in place. I no longer have any sagging
sections, there is no hang down, and I’m not brushing my head on the net every
time I go in anymore. Working from one side to the next also cut down on the
amount of detangling I had to do the further into the project I got. So, it
ended up going a lot faster closer to the end, and the hardest part was at the
beginning when it was all dragging on the ground.
Give yourself a lot of time. It’ll be easier on you
and your birds to get the job done in one shot. Like I mentioned earlier, I had
two hours of footage of me fighting with my netting, and after the camera died,
there was still work to do. If you think it’ll take two hours, double it, just
to be safe. If you end of up having time left over, rejoice, for the suffering
is over!
Avoid putting up your netting in the wind. You’ll
already be struggling enough, don’t make it harder for yourself.
Measure your space. Nothing sucks quite as bad as not
having enough. Especially when it’s almost enough. I’ve found this goes
for anything, sugar, jars, bird netting, compost, toothpaste, etc. Give
yourself the best chance you can at doing the project well by measuring
everything. You’ll thank yourself in the end.
That’s really all I can think of. Hanging netting is a pain.
It’s frustrating and tedious and will have you questioning your life choices
more than once.
But the results are worth it in the end. I’m so incredibly
pleased at how the netting looks compared to how it had been before.
Would I ever choose to do it again in the future? Only if it
was the only option available and nothing else worked.
Thank you so much for checking out my blog. Be sure to hop
over to my Instagram LINK and YouTube LINK for more. Have a
freaking awesome rest of your week, and I’ll see you next time!
-Alyx
