Self Contained

great design! how many chickens you can house in this space?

4 chickens with plenty of room to move around.

Oh my! Techno chicken coop. very impressive. I wish I understood all that stuff. especially the thermostat that turns on the fan and such. And a cute coop to boot! your not going to add a hen-cam?

Thank you Joan, LOL @ Hen cam. Anyone can get and use this stuff at afordable prices. Thats why I posted it.
The Thermastate is a $20 item you can buy at any hardware store, it's made to plug into a wall, set a desired temp, plug a lamp into it and set the lamp in a window of a vacant house to alert the Neighbors the heat went off and the pipes will freeze.
The Solar thingy is just a 4" fan with a solar panel. $20 at Amazon. the fan fits in the egg access/ vent and only comes on when the sun is out "When you need it". I'm just using simple stuff for other purposes, the elecrified fencing is just a $25 dollar Modulator I got at Tractor Supply It plugs into a $2 Timmer from Wal Mart one wire from the modulator hooks to the chicken fence and the other one to a rod to push in the ground (In the first picture) Thats it. I have Bears in my area and they have been known to rip a coop apart, this will stops them.

How well is the piping working for galthering eggs?.Can you tell whatyou are doing or do you just need to feel for them?. Nifty set up!

There is enough clearance to look inside the holes before reaching in."I am not Indiana Jones; I would never stick my hand were I can't see" It works out better than building an external mounted box that gives preditors a better chance of getting in not to mention all the heat loss in the winter. The boxes are in an unused space in the coop and the chickens don't seem to mind going up to lay there eggs, just make sure you don't put a threshhold on the box to hold in the hay, It is the highest point in the coop and the chickens will use it as a Roost and crap in the boxes. Good luck