Building the Chicken McMansion (Part 3)

[pokeytolman]

Hey Chieftan another journeyman Electrician here and from your neck of the woods . if you are going to protect the circuit with a G.F.C.I you only need to bury it at 12" deep its in the N.E.C. in article 300 specifically for residences. might save you some nasty digging.

 

[Chieftain]

Quote:
Really?? Thanks for that tip! That will save me some digging and I appreciate the advice. I don't think I mentioned the GFCI when we talked about burying the wire, but I'm glad for even a 6" break on the digging.

My neighbor and I put in three sprinkler systems a couple of years ago, mine, his, and another neighbor, so we could rent the big power trencher and do all three at once. We did pretty well, but this area is just loaded with rocks, and some of them are enormous. We hit one during the dig at the neighbor's yard, and it was right where we had to have passage to get all of the piping into where the water supply was. We could not get it out so we trenched around it, and tackled that rock the next day. It took an entire day to worry that boulder out, and in the end it was the size of a bushel basket and weighed will over 200 pounds, and the excavation was just enormous. It took some doing to fill that hole back in afterwards...talk about some digging! I'm on my third wheelbarrow here since 1998...

The point is, once you start digging here there is no telling what you might find along the way....

 

[pokeytolman]

Yeah I here you. Most of Vancouver and north-northeast Portland is old river bed from the Columbia floods lots of rocks everywhere. the worst is Gladstone though there is an impenetrable layer of bedrock there. Have fun digging in this weather Cant believe it got this nasty again this year thought we were done with it. I am still working on the coop and found out that paint doesnt dry well at 49 degrees.

 

[Chieftain]

I know what you mean! I painted my coop in January and February, and it was a LOT nicer then than it is now. I did have to set up a 250 watt infrared lamp inside when I painted the floor, I used epoxy paint and it had to stay above 50 for 24 hours in order to cure properly. It still took a couple of days for it to fire off completely.

And you're correct, most of Vancouver and Portland was laid down back during the Great Missoula Flood eons ago, that scoured out the Badlands up in Eastern Washington and laid all of that nice rounded rock down all over the place here. I dug a flowerved for my wife several years ago, and I had to build a screen to sift the rocks out. I was building a shed on the side of my shop at the time to store garden tools in, and I used all of that rock to backfill underneath that shed floor so the local 'possoms couldn't dig under there and nest. I had one do that under the shop, and it stank something terrible until we trapped it and sent it to a better place...

 

[Chieftain]

HOO RAY!! My wire is buried!

We had a really nice day today with no rain for a change, and I was able to get out and finish digging the last ten feet of trench, and got my wire run trenched and reburied. It took a lot less effort than I had expected, and I was able to get my 18" depth anyway. I have a trenching shovel with a narrow blade that is 18" long. The soil back along the fence was not as bad to dig as I expected and I only hit a couple of roots.

The bottom line it that the wire is in the ground, the conduit is installed, and the bitter end is inside my workshop. The next step is to run the wire in my shop over to the circuit breaker box and then hook up both ends. I have a bunch of wire staples so that is no big deal. The hard part is done and with any luck the extension cord across the yard will be gone sometime tomorrow...

Onward!

 

[pokeytolman]

Cool the Weather was great yesterday I spent it at a track meet in Sandy. I will have an extension cord for a while yet. lol typical for a sparky. its good you were able to get the depth you might be real happy later on when you cant remember exactly where its buried and you are trying to plant that azalea

 

[Chieftain]

Its been quite some time since I looked at this thread, and I feel compelled to update it.

The Chicken McMansion lives! We adopted out the last three hens from our first flock earlier this spring, to make way for five new Rhode Island Red hens. The older girls were down to producing 3 eggs a week between them, and it was time to make a change. Our new girls have all come into lay in the past month, & we are getting four eggs a day reliably, some days five.

The coop has held up tremendously. I repainted the outside this spring, and had to make a new window for the weather end, as the old window frame had rotted. Other than that, the coop has been remarkably maintenance free. I add more sand to the run a couple of times a year, along with a good shot of DE. I built an outside sandbox for the girls, and they love that nice warm sand for dust baths.

The coop has proven very easy to clean. The big door on the end gives me clear access to the whole inside. The porch paint I used to paint the walls inside has not worn one bit, neither has the garage floor epoxy on the floor. The corrugated fiberglass roofing has also been remarkably durable and holds up very well to the very gusty winter wind we get here. I fill the hen yard 2 feet deep in shredded leaves each fall, and the girls churn it into beautiful compost by Spring, which I share along with the eggs.

In the first full year the original flock laid, they produced 117 dozen eggs! I kept my egg logs from then, and it still amazes me how many and how large those eggs were! These days, the Farmer's Markets around here are getting $6.50/doz for large brown eggs, and $9/dozen for extra large! We're not selling eggs, but our family and friends enjoy the bounty with us. Half a dozen fresh eggs makes for a great way to meet a new neighbor too...

My neighbor down the street, who has enjoyed our eggs for a couple of years, built himself a coop this spring and now has five hens of his own! He studied what I did and it encouraged him to take the leap. Like us, if you did not know he has chickens, you could not tell, and we like it that way.

Raising my own backyard chickens has proven to be one of the most rewarding, satisfying things I ever decided to do. I am constantly amazed at what social creatures chickens are, and how much pleasure I get from taking care of them; along with the amazingly delicious eggs the produce.

All continues well with the McMansion...

Cheers!

 

[MandalaMaMa]

It was so encouraging to read your update. Thank you for sharing your joinery. We are 3 years into having chickens and have enjoyed every moment. BYC is an amazing resource because of people like you who take the time to share. Thank you for that. I'm so glad to hear you are still enjoying chickens. Once they have touched your lives it's hard to think of life without them.