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

[Penny Hen]

Penny, from the picture I can't tell what it is. An ice cube tray?

On the nose! The blue parts are silicone so if you are making ice you just press and the cubes pop right out. Of course after mushing a couple of quail eggs the first time I tried to hatch them they look like quail egg trays to me. I am wanting to try buttons but I managed to mush some cortunix with my butter fingers. I was thinking that this would greatly reduce those chances for mayhem with the tiny button eggs.

 

[Irishhenman]

I am really jealous of your coop it is amazing!

 

[PrimroseMom1]

Awesome

I love your whole set up

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Thanks, guys. I'd have done a few things differently, and we've made some changes. But it's working out pretty well. We added a double row of roosts down each side of the dorm room that's about 100' of roost space. We've added a bunch more nesting boxes. We have an automatic watering system now. There is a feed room at the far end of the coop ... and a fourth section of greenhouse was made into an additional coop beyond that. There is still stuff I want to change, of course!

Here is a photo looking at the coop from the house in the snow. You can hardly see it's there. We sometimes get a big dump of snow here, but not too many days of below freezing temps.

 

[Angelicisi]

I feel ya on "seeing egg trays" lol I drive by things now and see farm re-purpose-able stuff I'm like, "oh stooop! That broken bench is an awesome roost!"

On the nose! The blue parts are silicone so if you are making ice you just press and the cubes pop right out. Of course after mushing a couple of quail eggs the first time I tried to hatch them they look like quail egg trays to me. I am wanting to try buttons but I managed to mush some cortunix with my butter fingers. I was thinking that this would greatly reduce those chances for mayhem with the tiny button eggs.

Awesome

A while back I saw something in this thread that sparked an idea ... it was a PVC feeder set in cement blocks ... so simple and functional I knew that's what I should do for my fermented feed troughs. But I tweaked it a little ... I added a handle so I can pick it up in one hand.

I just left a little circle of PVC in the very middle of each 4' trough. I sanded everything smooth so it doesn't snag combs or wattles and is comfortable to carry.

Here is a crummy photo taken through the side of my coop. It stays pretty clean and nobody roosts in or on it. The blocks put it at a pretty good height.

 

[aart]

Thanks, guys. I'd have done a few things differently, and we've made some changes. But it's working out pretty well. We added a double row of roosts down each side of the dorm room that's about 100' of roost space. We've added a bunch more nesting boxes. We have an automatic watering system now. There is a feed room at the far end of the coop ... and a fourth section of greenhouse was made into an additional coop beyond that. There is still stuff I want to change, of course!

Here is a photo looking at the coop from the house in the snow. You can hardly see it's there. We sometimes get a big dump of snow here, but not too many days of below freezing temps.

Did you have any trouble with snow load on the coop/run roof?

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Did you have any trouble with snow load on the coop/run roof?

No. That's not normally a problem around here because we don't normally get snow on snow. BUT a few years ago much of the greenhouse industry in the state lost a lot of houses because we had snow, then freezing rain, then more snow.

SO ... we brush the snow off before it starts to melt or get wet.

 

[Penny Hen]

Love he greenhouse coop. Thinking of using some of your design for a smaller one of my own done on PVC pipe. That is the structural kind that can take the UV's.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

this is the waterer we use for our chickens which are mostly silkies..

Credit where credit is due: This is the post I found early in this thread that had a PVC trough set in cement blocks ... but this member is using it for a water trough, and I'm using it for a feed trough. I left the ends of the pipe open as I'm feeding moist feed in these troughs, and moist feed stays put pretty well.

I made sure to cut the opening on the top side of the curve, with the theory that the curve will make it harder for the birds to push food out with their beaks/bills. And I left a handle in the middle.

I'm thinking of making a duck waterer out of a trough like this ... with a float valve at one end. They sell float valves that attach to garden hoses for very little at the farm store.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Love he greenhouse coop. Thinking of using some of your design for a smaller one of my own done on PVC pipe. That is the structural kind that can take the UV's.

I know someone who did this and she has super sturdy & roomy coops with good ventilation ... a takeoff on the cattle-pannel hoop coop design.