Hey guys, I haven't been on the forums in ages but I wanted to show off my latest coop improvement. I travel a lot and so I use PVC pipe feeders to extend the time I can be away from the coop. However, in order to keep the feed dry in the rare chance it will ever rain again, I felt it necessary to keep the feeders inside the coop. This made it difficult to refill them as I had to crawl and twist and do no less than the seven basic ballet movements to get the feeders out to refill them and then return them to the coop. Well I had enough and while I was adding a third pipe feeder, it dawned on me! Cut a hole in the coop floor, slide the pipes through, and cap the tops so mice are kept out. Check it out!
This method raised the feeders, too, which had the unintended benefit of placing the food at a better height for the birds and I've noticed a huge decrease in waste. Score.
I also added an outside access nest box, three total, to the coop. I never had to crawl into the coop to gather eggs but the original nest box episode awkward and currently occupied by a broody hen. The girls wasted no time moving in!
So my coop is ugly as sin. Originally, it was a scale model of my own house, but has since taken on so many mods that it doesn't look much like itself. With the auto door and it's now new "eve" to protect it from the sun and the wind and the hail, as well as the solar panel that powers it, to the new nest box and the latest self-filling water bucket, it looks more like some mad experiment.
Your coop/run is MUCH nicer than mine. Mine is functional at best. LOL
