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New Alaskan breeders coop - finally!!! (pics)

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How's this for a photo...

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The Brahmas were the first to get a door to the outside... they had never set foot on land before this. One of the hens was brave and slowly made her way out, and the others are looking on as if to ask "Is it safe? What's it like out there?!?"
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They love it, now, and spend 99% of their time outdoors!

I'm making the ramps and nest boxes out of the flitching... keeping it all in the same style of rustic-ness...
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One of my Millies settling into the new box...
 
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I love my babies! They're so fun!

PS... Sapphire went out with the other babies today... oh, my, what a happy camper!!!
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The "flitching" is just beautiful, I mean bee-you-tea-fulllllll!

I will be asking about this at all of our local lumber yards, we live in the Smokies, there are many around here... this seems like a really well kept secret! It's just fantastic what you have there. Congratulations!
 
Almost there... The brooder room is completely enclosed, and just needs a little more trim work. Otherwise, the indoor pens are all functional, with an automatic watering system completed.
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Thank you Hubby!!!
For those of you who wanted to see how it was set up... here ya go!
The door opens to a center hallway 4' wide, with the pens running along the 20' length.
Looking down the hall from the door...
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We start with a 5 gallon bucket, about 4.5' off the floor. You have to be able to fill the bucket with another bucket, so it can't be too high. Just high enough to gravity-feed the system.
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I don't remember the term for it, but hubby drilled the bottom and put a valve in the bucket, sealed it, then tested it for water-tightness.
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The clear soft tubing is held in place with ring-clamps and drains down to the PVC network...
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Where it is again clamped with a ring clamp...
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A little bit of drilling and (I think the term is die-tapping, or threading) is needed.

From there, the PVC goes along the back wall, and down both sides of the run.
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At each pen, a "T" is added...
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With a 90° elbow to a cap that has been drilled/threaded so the cups can screw into them.
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The little yellow lever is spring-loaded... when the chicken pecks at the residual water in the bottom, it hits the lever and more water sprays out. Here's a silkie testing it out.
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We just continued down the line of pens, adding a "T", elbow, and cup to each one...
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The end of each line has a fawcet valve on it, so I can get water whenever I need it.
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Here was some of my haul today (Millie egg and Button quail eggs):
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Coturnix pen...
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Brooder with chicks...
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Above the chick brooder is my Bobwhite Bungalow:
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And my Bobwhite... Barney (Betty is in the back...) They're the parents of the eggs you're getting, Miss Prissy!
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Now I'm using leftover flitching to create another uninsulated enclosure for my layer flock...
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No waste here!
 
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Thanks so much Tori!

Your setup is wonderful! I cannot wait to show Adam when he gets home from work tonight.
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-Kim
 
Just a couple of details to add.

To attach the hose to the bucket I used a "Through hull fitting" it's a fitting designed for use on boats to go through the boats hull to drain water from decks or bilges, they come in different sizes. I chose one with a 1/2 inch hose fitting cause 1/2 inch hose barbs are easy to find for connecting the other end to the PVC.

To attach the auto cup to the PVC pipe end cap (use flat, not rounded end cap) you need to predrill the cap then use a 1/8 inch NPT tap to cut threads into the cap.

Use silicone on all threaded fittings and allow it to dry for 24 hours or longer to cure prior to getting them wet.

All in all it wasn't a hard project it took about 2 hours and 4 beers to complete.
If you don't want to mess with measuring, cutting, gluing PVC pipe and threading end caps, the manufacturer of the cups has complete systems available for extra $$$. I choose to do it myself to cut costs and because the PVC pipe will stand up to the heat trace tape I'm going to run to keep it from freezing up in the winter. With the complete system all you have to do is cut tubing to size.
 

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