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Thanks! Most of it is either donated materials or Craigslist buys...
The Coop itself was a shipping crate from where I work. My wife spotted it being broke down.. and she jumped on it for me! Also used some scrap 2x4s. The Tin came from my brother.. left overs on one of his...
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When they are thristy.. they figure things out quickly!
Had a neighbor once that needed us to watch their dog... said he would only eat 1 type of food.. NOTHING else.. by the next day.. .apparently what I had tasted pretty good to him
My wife leaves for work at 3:30am... when she starts her car.. her headlights come on & shine on the Coop... our Roosters crow! LOL
Ya gotta wonder what they are thinking...
Zzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzz
-Car starts, headlights come on-
Rooster: "Good God the Sun!!!
"Cockle Doodle Doo!!!!"
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I wish I knew.. I think.. he is a Americauna mix... the hens we got from the same source, lay Blue, Olive Green, pastel Green & we have some light brown & darker brown egg layers.. we only have 18 Hens... but enough that I can't seem to keep up with what our friends/family want...
I have a friend that their chick who used to be the sweetest little thing.. changed! Once he became the man of the coop.. he just got mean! They didn't have the heart to put him in the pot.. but it got so bad.. that they couldn't even get into the coop without him attacking...
So he had...
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Schwartzfarmnc
How cool! That would also help keep poo out.. (My chickens pride themselves on Pooing, where I think it's not possible)
I built mine like I did.. because I wanted to feed them, without having to go into our coop.. they would all crowd the door, when they heard me...
The more bends you have, the more potential is has with the food hanging up. Here's what I made... a 4ft 4" dia pvc, 1 90 Degree bend back into a 16" long pvc 4" dia. I've capped the end of it and then cut out the notch for the feed. I'm not having any food hang up at all. It holds 16.5 lbs of...
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I did too... but I've been reading more & more posts, where people say it's the greens... I'm not saying I'm right.. I just was swayed to finally believing it's the greens
I've "heard" that it's the grasses etc that make the free range chicken eggs that nice dark golden yolk color.. we feed ours scraps from the kitchen & hang a cabbage now & then... but due to neighbor dogs, we haven't let ours free range the back acre that we have... I would love too, but not...
I built mine from a donated shipping crate & scrap 2x4's from work. Donated tin roofing from my brother. Had to buy some 4x4 posts & a few misc items. Our Coop has definately evolved. I simply cut out a door & made use of that piece... but it didn't last long.. started delaminating.. so I jumped...
Ok, I've added an inside shot of the home made gravity feeder. When I first made it, I cut a slot all the way down the pvc pipe on the piece that was going into the coop.. but then I found.. there was no friction when I put the end cap and the elbow on it.. the glue wouldn't hold it.. So I...
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The pipe extention is 16" So far, all is working perfectly.. maybe moisture is getting into yours? Only a guess, not sure.
Regarding the rainbarrel I do not have my guttering installed yet.. so the only water that gets in there is what I add. But even if I never added anything else...
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I planned on shutting it down in the winter.. and going back to the water bucket. I might be able to heat the water, wrap the hose & PCV with heat tape.. or similar.. but I wasn't planning on messing with it.
Here's a video link to my Hens trying out their newly installed nipple system.. this was maybe an hour or two after it was installed.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v404/starwarssniper/ChickenCoop/?action=view¤t=Coop.mp4
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When they peck at it.. it squirts water into their beak.. they drink.. then they peck again.. it's really amazing how quickly they took to it. I was worried they might not, or it would take too long & could risk getting too thirsty. But that wasn't even an issue. Maybe 15 mins before...