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

[bigmrg74]

A light covering that I'm hoping the girls will find "Inspirational".

You might have laughed at this, but today we got 3 eggs out of the girls when we've been mostly been getting one egg for the past couple of weeks. I think they got the message.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I am working on a solar heater for the chickens with poo powered back up and grass growing box inside of it. I need to get the compost cooking with some greens, but tomorrow i let the chickens in so they can get used to it. The box needs the hardware cloth top make, and i need to fill it with dirt and seed.
Here is what i made so far:

You can see more about my build on my thread Getting Ready for Winter in the Random Ramblings section. Deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Hey Deb when you get a chance read through this thread... there is a huge amount of useful info... some REally great projects too.

deb

 

[CapricornFarm]

Hey Deb when you get a chance read through this thread... there is a huge amount of useful info... some REally great projects too.

deb

Sounds like a good rainy day thing. Thanks Deb!

 

[gimmie birdies]

I like to make quilts for my baby chickens, and I also make beds for them, I take a cracker box, cut it in 1/2, so it is shorter, (like a trisket box) then tape it and sew cloth over it and put a quilt on top and change it out when needed. this is only good the first 2 weeks though.

 

[ChickyNicky05]

I have a very small flock of 6 - 8 hens and a very small coop. I looked for water heaters to keep water from freezing in winter and found that they were expensive and too large. I decided to try and build something that would be cheaper and fit better and this is what I came up with.
I picked up an electric grill at a garage sale.
I turned it upside down and took the guts out of it.
I then cut the end off a small extension cord and threaded a couple of pieces of flashing and a screen door spring on to it. Then I replaced the end.
I then threaded the cord through the side of the base, putting one piece of flashing on the inside and the other on the outside.
I used a couple of small bolts to hold the flashing in place. This holds the cord and keeps mice out.
I picked up a plugin light socket at the hardware store and a small incandescent bulb. 25 watts is plenty.
I then turned the base upside down onto a fire proof material, in this case a suitable sized metal pan but any fire proof material would work.
A small plastic water font fits perfectly on top. I have used this heater for several years now and it keeps the water from freezing in the coldest weather. No more wading through knee-deep snow to de-ice water fonts two or three times a day. Cost was less than $10 and worth every penny.

absolutely brilliant. I wonder what kind of materials I can find and recycle to create this!

 

[perchie.girl]

been a while since someone posted here I will be interested in seeing what you come up with...

deb

 

[ChickyNicky05]

been a while since someone posted here I will be interested in seeing what you come up with...

deb

I'll keep you posted! We got our first frost last night, so I will be scrambling to come up with something in the next few days!

 

[perchie.girl]

I'll keep you posted! We got our first frost last night, so I will be scrambling to come up with something in the next few days!

Oh Goodie I posted alot on this thread when I first found it. Back in the dark ages.... LOL.

I know some about electrical, but mostly mechanical issues... and repurposing...

deb

 

[Spartyfan17]

I'm sure it'll turn out great and I'm looking forward to the pictures. We have everything out here, been face to face with all sorts of animals and birds, some very scary. And yeah, those are MY girls, hands off, lol. Best of luck!

Was just reading and came across this post, so you just need something to deter hawks? don't actually need a net? We had some issues with a hawk during the winter and tried closing it in but since our run was an odd shape it is an eye sore. Something like this would be so much easier on the eyes.