Articles by Ur-ur-ur-urrr

This is my elevated 12' x 16' coop with a 6' x 12' deck (with 3.5' x 4' landing). I built the coop 3.5' off the ground so as to not waste run space, provide shade in the brutal MS summers, and shelter from rain. The deck serves a dual purpose... an observation deck as well as providing shade...

In anticipation of getting some very high quality Rhode Island Reds from none other than the president of the Rhode Island Red Club of America, I built a 12' x 16' coop for the upcoming breeding season. I thought it would be big enough for the number of birds I'd raise the first season, but I...

This project is a homemade incubator. I have an IncuView bator from Incubator Warehouse, and had very successful hatched using it... but it's limited in the number of eggs it'll hold. 27 chicken eggs. I scored a (dead) mini fridge, and have started work on it, even though I'm in no hurry to...

This is my homemade candle box. Not my idea by any means... just my build. I cut 2 pieces of 1/2" plywood into 7" squares. These are the top and bottom pieces. I mounted a wired light fixture to the bottom piece, driled a 5/8" hole in the center of the top piece, then glued a couple of O-rings...

This is my new pen that will be used for the chicks I hatched in early December and on New Year's Day. I started by forming a square base out of 4"x4"x10' treated posts... which equals roughly 100 square feet of run. Since the roof will be fairly light, I ripped treated 2"x4"s to form...

Here's the brooder I built. It's a 4'x4'x2' box elevated 2' above ground level. I built it with a divider in the middle so small chicks wouldn't get lost and not find their way back to the heater. Once they grew bigger, I could simply remove the divider giving them full run of the space...

This is a brief history of how I entered into the wild and wonderful world of chickens... and how I came up with my goofy member name. I'll start with the name. When I joined BYC, I tried every catchy name I could think of, but all were already in use. I don't like numbers in my screen name, so...

Here's a quick, easy, and inexpensive water container that's ideal for use inside of a brooder or coop. The water stays clean so it doesn't need to be changed daily, and there's virtually no waste or spatter, so bedding stays dry. This procedure can be used on larger or smaller containers. While...

Here's the feeder I built for my brooder. The chicks made a mess with the plastic flip-top feeder, which kept getting filled with bedding... and the older chicks knocked about half their food from the 7 lb hanging feeder into the bedding, creating a lot of waste. This was a simple built using 3"...

This project is a homemade feather plucker. I had an old homemade bench-type grinder laying around in my basement, and figured it would be an easy conversion to a plucker. I bought a 4" PVC cap, then drilled and slotted 16 evenly spaced holes in it. I also bought 8 rubber bungee cords and cut...

I have eggs from 2 different pens, and want to keep the chicks separated during and after hatching so I can band them accordingly. I bought a couple of small baskets with holes in the sides, padded shelf lining, and an aluminum disposable grille topper... First step is to cut the bottoms...

Here's my 8'x8' coop and 8'x16' run. I used 4x4 treated posts in the corners, 2x6 treated floor joists, and 2 sheets of treated plywood for the floor. 2x4's finished the framework, and 1/2" shop siding covered the exterior. The run is made of treated 2x4's I ripped into 2x2's, and covered with...