I ran across used refrigeration panels and thought that they would be a good thing to make a chicken coop out of for my newly acquired polish chicken. You can see the 2 pvc pipes that I made for her food.
I try to let her out during the day but the squirrels are getting inside and stealing all of her food...
Does anyone have any thoughts about this?
It was easy to build but there was quite a bit of trim work that I had to do with galvanized trim.
I wanted to have the coop open in the front so I made a panel that covers the front opening and I will put it on when It starts getting colder out.
You can see the PVC that I cut into the side of the cooler so that I can easily drop a nipple waterer in the side. I cant get my chicken to drink from the chicken nipple however...
Here you can see the lighting controller that I thought I would install and also the thermostat. I am in Colorado and thought it would be a good idea to add heat or at least have it available if she needs it. The trim that you see to the right of the thermostat, covers the heat traces that go all the way around the inside of the coop, So she has in wall radiant heat. They use them around freezer doors so that the doors do not freeze.
Just as a test, I was really surprised to see how this thing heats up....
In the middle of the day yesterday 68F, as I was checking it, it got to 90 deg inside the coop...
I am not sure I want to add heat during the winter or suppliment with light but it is available if I need it. I currently have the thermostat set to 40deg and the lights go on at 6am and off at 7pm...
Is this a good plan? Your help is greatly appreciated
