Housing for animal links.

So,
As usual housing is always a concern with animals. Thoughts of ease of use, maintenance/cleaning, durability, costs and looks always play into the decisions of which form to choose for each animal.
Sometimes--you choose incorrectly as we have done before and end up rebuilding later.
Sometimes---what you thought you needed and what you ended up needing are different---and you rebuild or add on or adjust in some way. Or maybe you just didn't know at all what would work so you chose based on someone else's idea.
Sometimes---you don't have much money and do what you can. Later maybe you can improve when cash flow is better if aesthetically you disliked your initial project. Our chicken housing fell into this category. We now have a very nice chicken coop that I am happy with BUT....I would still like a movable pen so chickens can safely go into the garden or some other places. Sometimes I need them to dig specific areas ---but not destroy everything around them!

In regards to our pig---we really didn't know what we needed so....we made do. However with the advent of a boar and potential piglets at some time, we will need a larger home for them. Again..movable.

So. I have come up with two ideas. One for the chicken coop comes from CoffeeCoffeeCoffee and is really pretty decent. I like the fact that it is constructed from light weight material but has the wood to help keep it anchored. Very good idea. So...one movable chicken house soon to come. I just need to get off my duff and do it! :-D She has a couple of post showing the coop but added a few pics after I requested them to show how to feed/water. I thought it might be under the tarp---but just couldn't tell for sure. Now obviously PVC and chicken wire won't hold up to coyotes or dog packs---but within the pasture or garden that is already fenced this is a great idea for us---and it looks MUCH easier to move that the wood contraptions we have tried and always hated for their difficulty in moving.

Next is this link for a pig ark. Very nice units---this will look fine in my yard with my pigs in it. I will base my on the Kune Kune size since that is about the size guinea hogs are.
Remember---I live in a "residential" area. As a matter of fact I am technically not zoned agricultural but single family residential so....though it doesn't expressly say NO to animals---it doesn't say YES either. Hence....we try and keep things looking tidy so the neighbors with their much larger and brand new homes don't fuss :-)
Sometimes we look a bit cheesy here---but we try to improve with time so they will know we aren't going to be an eye sore always :-D
(Funny thing about people---they want to live in the country but not have any of that "country funk" around them).

Lastly I have 9 more chicks born yesterday. I think that may be it for us with this batch. We had a lot of nest switching and so I think a number of eggs were "lost" to cold ---not sure though that's just a guess on my part.
Originally we had pulled out all the roosters for a while then put in our only Silver laced Wyandotte rooster. I have Silver Laced Wyandotte hens (black laced), Delaware hens (white with black on the ruff and tail) and Cuckoo Maran hens (black barred)
Anyway---look at the pics of these chicks that were trying hard as heck to get away from me and the camera and get under their mommas. Now...with all black and/or white hens where did these little tan birds come from? Their not yellow like a white bird, their not black like the others so...My husband thinks they may be the Wyandotte rooster/Delaware hen cross. Who knows. Wonder what they will look like. I also have one chick that looks as if it could be (maybe) a "blue". We will see.
Fun stuff this cross breeding ---since I have no clue what they will look like :-D
I think I kind of like this.