Check Out These Cool Ideas I Got From Here

[bigoledude]

I posted this in the wrong place initially. I didn't know how to move it, other than coping and pasting the whole thing. Please allow me....

I am building a tractor set-up for about 18 chickens. It has been a fun challenge to make the coop & run easier to maintain and keep clean. My mobility is hampered and, I don't wanna make coming to my house a skull-cramp for the kids and grand-children. Keeping things easy and requiring as few trips as possible to keep the chickens very well taken care of is important. So far, these are some of y'all's ideas I have planned on using:

The "Poop Hammock" Instead of a Poop Board. The hammock is made of canvas or other "breathable" material that will allow the poop to dry out somewhat. It will be very easy to remove and will have very narrow uncomfortable side rails to discourage the girls from using it as a perch/roost.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/534564/poop-hammock-rocks

One entire wall of the coop will be hinged so that I can do any number of tasks without having to enter the coop. The bottom board on the opposite wall will be removable so that I can stand at the opened/hinged end and hose or sweep everything through the opening where the bottom board has been temporarily removed.

Roll-out nesting boxes so anyone can gather eggs easily.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1463000
Sheet metal flooring for ease of cleaning. I may build this floor to be removable so that I can have a hardware cloth floor beneath during the hot summer months.

I will be able to divide the coop & run evenly in half to keep two different breeds segregated.

Several screened-in, predator proofed, hatched windows. Here in SE Louisiana heat is much more of an issue than cold is. Maybe a fan.

Planning on using 26-inch mountain bike tires with no-flat inner-tubes.
http://www.amazon.com/Bell-No-Mor-Flats-1-75-Inch-1-95-Inch/dp/B000BOCA44/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1338276281&sr=1-1

Moving the tractor should be less difficult with this lift idea but, I will have to change the design using 26-inch mountain bike wheels instead. Go three posts down to view.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/608390/best-wheels-for-chicken-tractor-where-to-look/10

Install a pop door using bigole wooden pulleys with an inner-tube for a drive belt. No switches, just a timer that will be set to turn the wooden pulleys just long enough for my door to fully open and then fully close.

This feeder will keep vermin out. Keep food dry. And is just sooo cool! I need to design a way to fill it from the outside of the run and hold more feed, requiring less refill trips. Probably will make it out of something a little more weather resistant for this monsoon weather we get.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/automatic-wood-chicken-feeder

I will install a nipple water-er. My piping will include a coil of irrigation tubing inside a cooler. During the hottest days of summer if I see them really stressed, I will fill the cooler with ice to cool off the water some.

My plan to hold water is a 55 gallon drum with a sightglass made of clear surgical tubing. I will have the roof catch rainwater or, of course, possible to fill with a hose when lack of rain makes it necessary.

I need to ask a question here. Do y'all provide food and water inside the coop?

Please add any ideas you think might help an old guy.

 

[rachlore]

ummm.... of course you provide food and water!?! do want them to starve? but anyways... great ideas, you're pretty good with chicken coops

 

[Cockerdoodleduo]

I put it in the run not the coop

 

[Kikiriki]

I was keeping water in both the coop and run until I broke a waterer which I have not yet replaced. I do move their water in and out of the coop with them. If I cant get to them right away, I want to know they at least have water. If they do not have too much left over food, I srinkle it on the coop floor (sand) so they can have a nibble when they wake up if they want. I do not have an auto door, but I would do this even if I did, just in case. It would be pretty simple for you to just add a second water line with nipples into the coop with a T fitting so you dont have containers to mess with.

I really like your idea for having an entire side open up! Wish I had done that.... I ended up making the bottom half of the front of the coop open like french doors after I had to hang half my body upside down inside the coop to clean the bottom!

I find myself doing modifications every week or two as they grow (had to lower the roost today) and as I observe how what I have done works or doesnt work! They dont have room to fly off the roost to the bottom so I am looking for a better way to set up a ladder now.

Maybe I can put the roost on a elevator and teach them to push the up and down buttons

 

[7 Biddies]

I have an auto door but, like most teenagers, the girls like to sleep late. J I keep their water and food in the run, but they can go out to eat or drink the moment the door opens at sunrise ... and, don't. They take their sweet time. So, I guess it's ok to keep their meals al fresco.