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

[colburg]

Here's my waterer for baby chicks. Nipple in the base of a plastic soda pop bottle. The holder is made from a 4" dia pvc grate from the garden supply dept of the hardware store. I cut away some of the grates so that the nipple pokes through. I put in a series of holes in the wood stand so that I could raise the level of the holder an inch at a time as the chicks grew. Once the chicks went into the coop full time, I mounted the holder to the wall inside the coop. That way they have access to water between sun up & when I open up the door & they can get to the run.

Fantastic idea. I'll be using that in my brooder.

 

[greatdanegirl]

great ideas! thank you!

 

[greatdanegirl]

This is one of my waterers. I put 12 nipples on the bottom of the tote. It is supported by heavy duty shelf brackets that also make it adjustable. It holds about 14 gallons of water. Right now I have two aquarium heaters on the bottom of the waterer to keep the water from freezing. By being on the bottom over the nipples, the heaters keep several nipples from freezing also. The plywood over the top is screwed on to the wall with hinges. The plywood cover keeps the birds from sitting on top of the waterer. I wasn't sure if this type of tote would be strong enough with the water inside, but it is working great. One nice thing, is that I don't have to take the lid off to check the water level. This is a pretty dusty coop, and the lid seals well enough, even with the cords coming out to keep the water nice and clean.

I would be terrified of that tote giving out under the weight of all of that water! It could drown the whole flock couldn't it? is it supported the whole way across the bottom?

 

[Bens-Hens]

Hello all, i wondered is a sky light a good idea for the roof of a chicken coop? were i am we get alot of light from the sun.

Hi, I saw this video a couple of weeks back if your still interested in that skylight.

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Love the bottle drinker above too.

 

[4 the Birds]

This is not really an invention but any type of rainwater capture system is GOLD if you don't have water piped to your coop. I can fit and fill 2 gallon buckets under this rain barrel spigot to fill chicken, goat, and dog waterers/buckets. Love, love this during the warm months. I still need to haul water during a few of the Winter months but this barrel is GOLDEN for 10 months of the year!

$5 pickle barrel with window screen at the top as a filter. Down below I made a 1" spigot with ball valve.

 

[Lolipop]

My chick waterer:

 

[Mumsy]

Really loving all the homemade water systems. See a few I'd like to try.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

This is a great thread, and I'm only posting so that I don't loose track of it. I want it to show in my Daily Digest...

Me, too!!

 

[PrimroseMom1]

I love this Thread! My husband builds all kinds of stuff for me and I feel very lucky to be married to such a smart guy

I have these poop troughs in 2 of my bigger coops. They work so well and keep my coops clean for a long time. They have doors that I just park a wheelbarrow under outside the coop and push the poo out.

Some nesting boxes he made me for my BLRW coop

Some awesome feeders that hold 80 pounds of feed so I don't have to feed more then once a week. And the small one is for grit and oyster shell. I have a bunch of these type if feeders in all my coops


Heres the big one full of feed. I purchase locally made feed that comes in 80 pound bags so thats why he makes them this size, he even makes the bottom tapered so that the feed slides up.


Here he is making me another BIG coop a few summers ago.

Heres a latch that he made for my coop doors on my smaller breeder coop condo. Its hammered copper pipe that he brought home (free) and a BIG huge screw he also uses at work, and he ended up getting ride of the white pull handle an making a copper one to match. I should take a photo of the finished product its really nice looking! Almost a little to nice for chickens!!


Heres a chick brooder he made for me


And he put it on wheels so its easy to move.. I now hatch to many chicks for it so hes made me a bunch of different brooders using rabbit cages.




Theres so much more that hes made around here. He loves to make things for free and out of crazy stuff or build me something when we can't afford to buy it.

Love the stuff your hubby made, lucky lucky you! Love the mountain view. Thanks for sharing.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

have you guys seen this chicken coop? Its amazing what you can do with recycled stuff!

I would like to borrow that guy to build a quick coop! That was a very cool movie. Thanks!