A general forum for the discussion of hunting with beagles, guns, clothing and other equipment and just talking dawgs! (Tall tales on hunting allowed, but remember, first liar doesn't stand a chance)
just got my pens done yesterday. I have been workin on my pens for almost a month. My dad has helped on and off. the floor is all 2x4's spaced 1 inch apart. the barrels on the back are sitting on a peice of osb board and had wedges on either side to keep them from rolling. I made the part where the dogs walk in from the run into their house a solid peice of osb to cut down some wind and i made the doors out of osb. the doors lift strait up and latch. i ran 2 8ft 2x4s down the center on top and bottom to attach the middle fence to. It turned out better than i expected and ive only got about 60 bucks in it. What do u guys think and is there anything u would have done differently...im open to suggestions even tho its done......keith
Good job Kieth! I can see you've put a lot of hard work into your pen.
The first thing I would offer is, seal the osb board with sealant or paint, especially the rear of the pen where you barrel house is resting. Looks as though all the water from your roof is going to land upon this fat area, so there's the greatest chance of that board becoming throughly soaked and warping. Since the hounds can't get to that area to chew, I would remove the barrels and apply a good coat of tar sealant, as well as anywhere else on the pen the hounds can't chew, this will add life to the pen. We used to get creosote and paint all the wood and post on the ground pens but not the wood they had to walk on. Paint the wood top and bottom & all sides for best results to last the longest...
Best of luck...Patch
thanks patch...im waitin for a couple days in a row when its not supposed to rain then im sealing it with some thompsons water seal. probably not the best stuff but im 15 and tight on money....i get wat i can afford lol..keith
PS is the tar sealant expensive? and could i get it at lowes or rural king or a place like that? thanks again
Nice job. I recommend that you add doors to the sides of the pen just in front of the entrance to the barrels. This will enable you to easily reach dog pans that the dogs knock around the pen and will give you easy access to hang flaps over the entrances in the winter. I also put doors in the dog box so I can access the box from the outside. This will allow you to put straw in the barrels easily and clean them out. The dogs will carry their pans back into the barrels also. You could put the doors on the back ends of the barrels.
both of my dogs like to chew on their bowls so i wired them to the fence so that they wouldnt...i never thought of doors in the back of the barrels..thats a good idea..i think i will do that..thanks for the suggestion....im open to more suggestions like yours...thank you big al....keith
I use the white barrels for dog boxes in my truck. I screwed a flat piece of plywood in the bottom to make it more comfortable and probably warmer. The straw tends to break down shortly. The barrels get very cold around here in the winter. If a dog has to touch the side of the barrel when he lays down it may get too cold for him. Hang a flap over the door in the winter also. I bought a heavy rubber pickup truck bed liner and cut it up in pieces that fit the doorway. It stays flexible in cold weather and the dogs do not chew it up.
