Unusual Repair of UTMOST Importance!

I'm Tom Johnson. Thomas Johnson Antique Furniture Restoration and Gorm, Maine. Uh, shop renovation is ongoing. I'm making a video of that. You'll see it soon. But this week, our new baby chicks are coming and I've got to overhaul this chicky pen, which is 16 years old and it's pretty well beat up and I got to make some improvements. So, these tops are hinged at the top. I've got to redo the hinges on this one. This is plastic netting I used to keep the weight down, but it's not good. I'm going to replace it with wire. This is a removable tray. And uh it's pretty much gone. So, I made it out of plywood and I may do that again, but I'm going to finish it this time. As you can see, the tray is removable uh for cleaning. And I'm just going to make a new tray. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Oh, I got enough to glue up this corner. Okay, let's get these clamps off. And uh and I got to get some finish on this tray. All right. Now, I am going to give the this interior a coat of epoxy. All right. I'm just uh coating the interior and uh I'm not worried about the outside. And now I can get uh started on the pen itself. Okay. First thing, get rid of this plastic netting. That's coming up a little bit easier. I got a uh couple more loose uh corners here. So, I'll uh get some glue on these and get them clamped up. Now, I uh built this with the top opens up in sections, which works out well when we keep this low. But I want to make a door in the center section on the side. And that's what I got to do next. And yes, they're just butt joints. I'll uh reinforce them with some steel later. This is a crate. All right, clamps off. I need to uh just fit this here. Not bad. Going to add some hinges. Well, Okay, looking good. I just got to attach these uh put the tray back in and get it ready. Okay, I think I'm ready to go get those checks. Oh man, they're falling asleep. Somebody fell asleep already back there. Okay, the chicks have been in here for about 2 hours now. They're well settled in. I got the temperature right. Uh the first week they need to be kept at like 33 35° centigrade. That about 95° F. Uh, and then each week we'll lower the temperature 5° F. Well, the chicks have settled in nicely. They seem to enjoy their new home. They're very active. We've got a good setup here. We have an infrared thermometer so we can always check the temperature right down there at the bottom where they are. We have a little uh camera here with a setup so we can have a chicky cam. If you remember, this is a pen I built about 16 years ago. It held up fine except the plastic netting I put on there turned out to be not effective enough. And of course the uh I built a new door here so we can have access from the side. And uh and of course built a whole new tray down the bottom. That's a removable tray. You can take it out for cleaning. The other one it was just destroyed. And I built a new one and epoxied it. So it should last a long time. I think it looks pretty good. I think the chicks look pretty good. Come here, you little chicky. Come here, you little chicky. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Look at you. Look at you.