Coop placement help or my DH is a doofus.

[CrazyFowlFreak]

I wanted the coop placed in the front field, within reach of the garden hose. Hubby thought it would smell too bad being 70 feet from the house. Sooo....he put it in the front field, way down by the driveway. About 250 feet or more from the house and there is no hose that'll reach down there. If we add more hose to make it reach, will there be any water pressure? Also, the coop has a "glassboard" floor. How do I clean that? And what's a poop board? Should we put one in? The coop is all finished, as is the run. The only thing left to do is shingle the roof of the coop. I want to move the coop to where I wanted it originally, but the thing weighs about 800 lbs.
What would you do? thanks!

 

[AHappychick]

well sometimes farther can be better especially if you are in an area that gets a lot of rin since wet=stinky

a poop board is something that catches the poop fropm going into the litter where they roost, there are several ways to make them some very ingenious just do a search for them and a bunck will come up. here is a pic of mine.

I built a box under the roosts and put harware cloth on the top, and pine pellets inside to absorb. the poop usually falls through then I can lift the top and clean it out when I want. this helps to keep the rest of my litter clean since they do a lot of their pooping while roosting it seems.

 

[OrpingtonManor]

I'd make him get out the trencher, and run a water line to the coop. I didn't notice if you have a deep frost line in the winter, but if not, I'd seriously consider this one.

 

[tomato lady]

Quote:
And while you are at it, have him run a power line too. It is nice to have a light you can flip on when you need it, and a plug for a heat lamp if you ever get chicks.

 

[Rebekah]

I have no advice, but every time I read a post like this I realize how "urban" my chickens really are. If I walked 70 feet from my house, I'd be sitting in my neighbor's living room-two houses away! My coop is exactly 6 feet from the side of my house and about 20 from my neighbor's. No smells, thank goodness... I survey my neighbors constantly to make sure my chickens aren't a nuisance.

 

[Garlydog]

Hello:

I have run hoses this far. In my situation, the pressure was fine. The problem I had is the hoses would get damaged by mowing or just weathering.

Good luck

 

[CrazyFowlFreak]

Thanks for the advice! I'm not sure if hubby can run a water and electrical line. He just started building things and fixing stuff since we bought the farm two months ago. He is a desk jockey and wasn't very handy until like, ohhh, yesterday.

How does one run water and elec. lines? Dumb question, I'm sure but bear with me.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I'd move the coop, frankly

Honest. That way I could have the option of electricity there too. (250' is a really problematic distance for stringing extension cords without asking for trouble...)

But, failing that, if the coop had to stay where it is and be forever unelectrified unless you want to trench in a proper circuit, I would do one of the following two things.

If it were like a dozen or fewer chickens, I'd just carry water from the house every coupla days in lidded square cat-litter type buckets. The lids snap on tightly enough you can use a wheelbarrow if you don't want to manually carry the buckets that far.

Or if it's more chickens than that, or you have physical or topographical issues that make carrying water seem impossible for some of the year, then slice the turf and lay a hose (preferably one of the super heavy duty lifetime guarantee 3/4" hoses, but normal hose will work too if it's decent diameter, none of this 3/8" stuff) in that shallow trench, going all the way to the coop or as far as your hose budget allows. This requires a little work slicing the turf and tucking the hose in as you go along, but is way easier than trenching in a real waterline below frost depth. The hose cannot be used during weather cold enough to put frost into the ground, and if it's a normal hose it needs to be disconnected from the house spigot *before* such weather arrives; but for at least *most* of the year, that'll give you water in the coop at not too awful much work or cost, at least compared to putting in real water line.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Thomas423]

Be nice to hubby and give him a big kiss for building the coop and run especially if he is a desk jockey.

You're a lucky girl.

Yes, you can run a hose that far.

What is a glassboard floor? My coop has a vinyl floor and I just scoop up the bedding and don't worry about the rest. Since the coop is made of wood, I don't want to "hose" it out unless necessary for disease. So far, that hasn't been the case.

And I carry my water jugs from house to coop. Our outside hose hook-up is not connected to the water conditioner and the water is crappy from the ground. I'm working on DH to add an outside spicket that would come from the water conditioner but with all the work he has already done I'm not gonna nag him.

 

[jafo]

If it was me, I'd run 3/8" pex tubimg. It can freeze solid, and it won't break. Cut in a 1/2" tee any where you can into your cold water line in the basement, attatch the 3/8 pex and run it in a trench 6" deep. or deeper to your coop, depending on frost line. Put a 3/8 pex valve on both ends. The one in the basement in case of emergency, and the one in the coop for "convienience". Depending on "local codes" (a homeowner can do what he wants here) I'd run a 12-2 electrical line from the fuse / breaker box to the coop, in some sort of encaesment like 1" pvc (or larger) in the same trench. Our coop is 25 feet from the deck, so water is'nt a problem lugging it. I'm in the process now of running power to it, for lighting, a water heater, and an automatic door opener. (using the automatic car antennea method, still in the design stage)