[MUSIC PLAYING]
What are the chances that this thing will fall
and I die right now?
Not that high I hope.
NARRATOR: On the Kramer homestead,
Matt and 16-year-old Rowan prepare the family's
old tree house for a conversion into a predator
proof chicken coop.
The first thing that I'm going to do
is brace the top so that it doesn't
collapse on its own weight.
[SAW WHIRRING]
NARRATOR: Step one, securing the structure
so it doesn't fall apart as they attempt
to move it to the ground.
OK, this thing is braced up.
Matt.
[WHISTLES]
Yeah, got to get it short.
Matt, I got a shackle right here.
This looks sketchy.
So Matt's trying to detach this playhouse
from these big trees.
And it's down to these last four ropes to hold it together.
As he cuts each one, it gets more and more dangerous.
Frankly, he's at the end of his rope.
All right, bring it up.
Here I come.
Man, that red strap ain't tight.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I got it.
OK.
I'm going to cut it loose, and then
you're going to take it out.
Chainsaw.
[SAW BUZZING]
Careful.
[SAW BUZZING]
Woo!
This is definitely sketchy.
But using this old tree house saves us
a ton of time on construction and building materials.
OK.
All right, take that out of there.
Getting this chicken coop out of the trees--
it's just tangled in between framing, and ropes, and knots.
All right, try it.
It's hung up on this 2 by 4 at the [INAUDIBLE]..
Is this still structurally sound?
Not really.
[SAW WHIRRING]
Watch out.
[SAW BUZZING]
That feels free right there.
Yeah, it's looking free.
What do you say?
Yeah, go for it.
Why'd the tree house cross the road?
Why?
It wanted to be a chicken coop, I think.
Love it.
It's working, Matt.
Yee haw.
Oh, don't-- not-- don't get--
don't smash me now.
Yeah.
You guys tell me where you want it.
OK.
Right here.
All right, let's undo the strap.
To have the Raneys here is a huge help.
Thank you.
You got it, Rowan?
Yeah.
It would be huge to have a source of another, like,
livestock and food on our property
because eggs is the biggest thing we eat here,
so it means a lot to us.
Hey, buddy.
[WHISTLES]
You can leave all that there and get it off the bucket.
What's up?
Take it off the bucket?
Yeah.
Working with Rowan and knowing that he's 16 years old,
it's really funny.
He has the same kind of vibe that I had when I was 16.
Like, you know, you're capable, you're strong,
you can do anything, but, you know, you're 16.
You're good.
That'll work.
You can kind of see that he's starting
to wander and keep him on task.
But I like the fact that we're already working well together.
He's my man.
So that went really well.
That thing was pretty flimsy, man, when I-- thought I had,
like, a couple of braces.
And then I walked out and like, just shook the building,
and I was like, no.
I'm amazed it came down in one piece.
You did a good job.
What is the plan for this thing?
We're going to use this as a chicken coop.
There's going to be laying boxes.
You're going to be able to access them from the outside,
check for eggs every day.
Make it real easy.
This would be, like, a little drive-through chicken shack.
Yeah, and we can snow machine through here in the winter
and grab them. - Exactly.
It's going to be perfect.
I can already smell an omelet.
Oh, yeah.
Getting that chicken coop out of the tree
and not crunching it is really, like, the biggest
win because it's the majority of our building
project already done.
And now we just need to close it in and get it as predator proof
as we can.
Let's start figuring this thing out.
All right.
It's late.
NARRATOR: With only 24 hours until the Raneys have to leave
to rescue another homestead--
Are you excited about getting chickens?
NARRATOR: Matt, Melanie, and the Kramer children, Rowan and Nia,
put the finishing touches on their tree house
turned predator proof chicken coop.
Exciting.
It's a good chicken coop, guys.
It is.
For our old tree house, it's doing pretty good.
We got the chicken coop pretty much done.
I'm putting the last touches.
Two layers of defense, different wire, different sizes.
Perfect.
It's going to be hard for a critter to get through.
Done.
I think it looks pretty good.
All we need to do now is move the chickens in the coop,
give them some food and water, and this thing
will be totally completed.
The chickens are here.
Pull forward a little bit.
Right here.
That's good.
Wow.
Oh, nice.
Look at these chickens.
Hello, sir.
We brought in our friend, Don.
He raises chickens for a living.
He is the go-to.
And Don has given us, really, the most hearty,
tough chickens that can survive this really
brutal, long Girdwood winter.
And these chickens are going to provide a lot of food
and a lot of protein for this homestead.
She's so cool.
This is a novogen.
Oh, wow.
And should start laying in a week or so.
And then this is a color pack.
It's got, like, a Mohawk.
Or she.
The breeds that showed up here today
are super good for cold weather.
And in Alaska, that's really important.
A color pack.
And more particularly cool where
you can see there kind of the little Mohawk
on top of their comb.
They've got very small waddles.
They should do really well for you.
Dude, this is awesome.
Thank you.
We're here.
I want to take a quick peek.
I want to see which one I'm going to name.
NARRATOR: Seven days ago, the Kramer homestead
was without livestock or a reliable source
of winter protein.
Now using recycled children's treehouse is a predator proof
chicken coop, the family will have
access to a near constant source of food
right at their doorstep.
That's awesome what Matt did with the chicken coop.
To see what he came up with, I love how he put it together.
They're really cool.
The black ones are beautiful.
I've never had one like that.
We can cruise by in the wintertime
with our snow machines, open it up, check for eggs.
Super cool, man.
I'm excited.
And all these varieties lay about 300 eggs a year
for their first two years.
It's going to be a major help if we're
getting that regularly.
That's going to be awesome.
We got six of them.
Do that math.
That's awesome.
A lot of eggs.
It's great that we now have this food
source to fall back on.
They're already checking the nesting boxes out,
which is pretty cool.
The chicken coop is definitely my favorite part
of the property.
But I think we did really good with that,
especially because it went from my janky treehouse.
The whole entire chicken coop is cool.
Right on.
Well, thank you so much.
All right, good meeting you.
Thanks for the delivery.
Thanks, man.
Have a safe drive back.
I
Will.