Coop placement help or my DH is a doofus.

[patandchickens]

You asked about running electric and water:

The major step for both of them is to dig a trench, distinctly below local frost depth for the waterline (deeper if it goes under a heavily-travelled area) or at least 1+' deep for an electrical line. Over a long distance, unless you have a great deal of time and energy on your hand, or free teenage labor, the only sensible way to do this is to rent a trencher e.g. Ditchwitch. Half a day or a day's rental later, the job will be done and you'll still be able to move your arms and legs the next day

Running electrical line is not something your husband should do himself, beyond digging the trench and buying/assembling the general materials. I strongly recommend an electrician be involved, not just to make sure things get hooked up safely but to make sure the circuit you're attaching to has *room* for the extra load. Talk to the electrician, get him to tell you what stuff to buy, dig the trench and lay the conduit or whatever into the trench, then have the electrician take over. You can refill the trench yourself of course

To run waterline, you just lay, well, water line

in the trench. Again, make real sure the trench is well below your local frost depth, remembering that in places where snow gets trampled down or blown/shovelled away the frost will penetrate even more deeply. I cannot tell you how much it sucks to have a water line freeze in winter at some unknown point in a hundreds-of-feet run, especially if it ruptures the pipe and renders it useless until repaired. Your home depot (or whatever) store will steer you to the right materials. Add an elbow at the house end of the run, insulate the bejeebers out of the pipe if you're connecting it to an outdoor faucet (better is to put a hole in the basement to run the line to your household plumbing while it's still underground, but not everyone wants to do that). Buy a "frostfree hydrant" at the hardware store or plumbing store or farm supply store, and install it TOTALLY FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS at the coop end. Making sure it has real good drainage bed below it. And there ya go.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Bigdaddy101]

I am with Pat on all accounts. The problem with stringing extension cords that far is the resistance (besides the inherant risks of water and mowers) The longer the run, the larger or less resistant an electric line needs to be. This is why an electrician is the best bet. At 250 feet, you are looking at #10 solid wire at least. This is very costly to buy the supplies, let alone the installation. The water is easier. A hose will work. Static presure should remain good, but the flow will be effected by the line size. Once again, a good plumber can recomend the size for your system as not to adversly affect the presure in the rest of the system.
If you decide to move it, that really is not that hard. Get some pipe, it needs to be about 3-4' wider than the coop, and about one piece of pipe for every two feet of coop. Then a car jack to raise it and lower it on the pipe. The larger diameter the pipe the easier it is. Once the pipes are placed about every two feet or so, and all the weight is on the pipes, start pushing (or pulling with a tractor, truck, 4 wheeler, whatever). Once one pipe clears the back, take it out and replace it in the front. Chain gang style will get it there. It does take a while, but it will work. If you are on a steap grade, safety is paramount in this. 800lbs hurts. Just some thoughts.

 

[Wifezilla]

We bought a couple of $20 solar shed lights at harbor freight. Those will help if you don't want to run electric.

 

[CrazyFowlFreak]

My Dad is an electrician, so next time they come for a visit, Dad can wire the coop! :lol As for water, I will call a plumber to do that.

I doubt it can be moved now as it's on legs. Ugh. Oh well, you do what you have to for fresh eggs and meat!