DIY Thread - Let's see your "Inventions".

[bruceha2000]

One more quick question - what would you use to glue in the fitting if putting these into a plastic bucket since it will be curved and more likely to leak?

You can always use aquarium grade silicone sealant on any sort of "through the wall" fitting if you have leaks. Put a little around the outboard end of the part that goes through the wall, push/screw it in, then some on the inside and screw the nut down to pull it all together (*). Make sure everything is dry first or the silicone won't set properly.

With a "tube to pipe" fitting like mehjr posted, there are no nuts but you can buy a threaded connector or other short "pipe to pipe" fitting to act like one.

Bruce

 

[LindaB220]

I am currently un-inventing my waterers. I just ordered several of those rubber feed pans, 4 inches high and 17 inches across to put the water in. Since I have 10 chickens and 6 large geese free in the yard, the water is always dirty because the geese take a mouthful of feed and then dunk their mouth. Then the feed in the water stinks. So I am continuously cleaning and refilling waterers. Not to mention the ease of dropping ice in them. It will make things so much easier.

That's so funny.

I have one of the rubber pans that I have been using turned over to set my 1/2 gallon waterer on. This morning I took the waterer out and turned over the rubber pan. Gotta be better. My birds are 11 weeks old and I'm getting new babies so a swap out is necessary.

 

[seminolewind]

Now if I could just get the juniors to stop sitting in the water all day!

 

[the510flock]

Just finished my very first DIY on my own!! I built a small enclosure for my month old chicks so they could be outside and protected from the older birds. The enclosure is actually big enough for 2 of my full grown chickens (added bonus!). I feel super accomplished! I made the enclosure with. Chicken wire,freen plastic fencing,and scrap wood left over from the coop we built last year. Its roughly 3ftx1ftx2ft and ill be using this for chicks,broody hens,and for separation purposes so much versatility!!

 

[perchie.girl]

Just finished my very first DIY on my own!! I built a small enclosure for my month old chicks so they could be outside and protected from the older birds. The enclosure is actually big enough for 2 of my full grown chickens (added bonus!). I feel super accomplished! I made the enclosure with. Chicken wire,freen plastic fencing,and scrap wood left over from the coop we built last year. Its roughly 3ftx1ftx2ft and ill be using this for chicks,broody hens,and for separation purposes

so much versatility!!

EGGcellent... they are going to need some shade too either in the form of a towel or a feed sack zip tied on top....

deb

 

[ihunt]

Nest boxes w/e

gg-catcher

 

[perchie.girl]

Nest boxes w/e






gg-catcher

Very nice @ihunt And Welcome to BYC

from San Diego county.

Love your hoop coop. What is the angle for your roll out bottom.... looks somewhere around five degrees. On the inside do you have a visual barrier so the chickens cant see the eggs in the back? And did you put a lid over the tray so outside critters cant get to the eggs?

deb

 

[dheltzel]

There was a big storm and both of my hoop houses (8x12) blew over and sustained a lot of damage. I fixed them and put them back, but I thought I'd ask the smart inventive people on this thread how to weigh them down. I could use stakes, but I'd have to move them every week when I move the coop (the wonderful part of a portable hoop house). It was the tarps I attached very tightly that made it work like a big sail.

 

[perchie.girl]

There was a big storm and both of my hoop houses (8x12) blew over and sustained a lot of damage. I fixed them and put them back, but I thought I'd ask the smart inventive people on this thread how to weigh them down. I could use stakes, but I'd have to move them every week when I move the coop (the wonderful part of a portable hoop house). It was the tarps I attached very tightly that made it work like a big sail.

Wind is exactly why I could never do a hoop coop. Believe it or not its going to have to take a lot of wieght to keep them on the ground during a wind storm. The Hoop shape is pretty aerodynamic. You might give a 55 gallon drum filled with water a try. 1 US Gallon of water = approx. 8.35 lb so 55 gallons weighs 459.25 pounds.

But I believe that you might be able to anchor them by using Dog tie out anchors.... You know the kind they screw into the ground.... and you should have at least four one for each corner.

Here is what a shed anchor looks like.
http://www.amazon.com/Arrow-Shed-AK600-Earth-Anchor/dp/B00097D1SW

Here is what a dog tie out anchor looks like
http://www.amazon.com/Easy-In-Dog-Tie-Out-Stake-Profile/dp/B001ELMBEM

Dog anchors have a hand grip on them for easier insertion. But even the shed anchors could be inserted by hand by slipping a bar through the ring as a hand tool.

The other deal is setting the coop so that the flat side faces the prevailing wind. and making sure the tarp goes all the way to the ground on that flat side. This way you wont be accidentially creating lift by using the least aerodynamic part of the coop.

Here I cant be assured the wind will come from one direction so I cant take advantage of that. So Even my Dog kennel panels are anchored with Tposts. Just because I have tarps on top. I have seen all steel horse barns flipped on their backs from the wind.... San Diego and the out lying counties are known for wind... it gets going thrgough the canyons.

At my house up in the desert in some places it gets to hurricane speeds due to Santa Anna Winds. They blow in gusts over a hundred miles per hour on occasion.... And have been known to blow over Semi Trucks....

http://www.theweatherprediction.com/weatherpapers/049/

deb

 

[dheltzel]

I did orient them for handling the prevailing winds and the tarp covers to the ground on that side to make the prevailing winds go over the curved part, hopefully pressing in down, not up. This wind came from the opposite direction and was short lived (in a thunderstorm).

I'm not sure I trust stakes that I have to put in and take out, moving a bucket of sand seems easier, but if it's less effective . . .
I now have to prepare for something that should not happen again (or at least not for a long time), so I think I might get tempted to cut corners on stakes if they are a lot of work to put in. I'm trying to engineer around my own laziness.