First coop build in Michigan - I should have done this years ago. Pics..

[John Smallberries]

Hi;
My daughters have been asking me for backyard chickens and ducks for several years now. We moved "out to the country" just north of Ann Arbor, Mi five years ago and have a 3-acre lot that it very suitable for having a coop/run and yard. We took the plunge during a recent visit to Tractor Supply where we walked out the door with 10 chicks and 3 ducklings. A smart person would build the coop before buying the chicks. That was not me - so I spent every spare minute for the next few weeks knocking it out. I based my design on a YouTube series by "Pask Makes" - "monkey-see, monkey-do". My goal was to apply every automation technique I could find to minimize the daily maintenance work: water, food, doors, temp, eggs. The entire setup has been running for a few weeks now and we LOVE it. I should have built this 5 years ago. The chickens and ducks are fascinating to watch. I hope to start seeing eggs in 3 months. Here are my pics:

These Run-Chicken doors are well made, but I don't like the photocell setup. I am modifying them to work off a timer that adjusts sunrise/sunset based on my location without depending on light sensors.

I have gutter ice melting cable running through the water system to keep it from freezing. We will see if it works this winter.

Two 200-watt heater and a vent fan operated by a closed-loop controller. I'm not trying to fully control the temps, just knock off the very highs and very lows.

I learned that the ducks can't handle the ramp up to the coop. I made them a duck box. The first time they saw it, they simply marched right in and layed down.

Auto-valve to keep fresh water in the duck pool.

The pool overflows into a drain to avoid a muddy mess.

I added a Ring 2 video doorbell to keep an eye on things. I use it mainly to confirm that the doors are closed.

The girls love these chickens.

 

[aart]

Lay it on me...

Sorry, but having been trained to assess equipment design failures, I can't help but notice these things.
Would love to have a direct link to the youtubers design you followed.

Coop(8x4?) is probably too small for 10 chickens, let alone adding 3 ducks.
Roost are too slim to hold up full grown birds....and nest perches will be pooped upon.
Water pipe system will not hold up in winter, maybe you have another plan for that.
Storage shelf, and outdoor feed trough, will likely get wet.
Fan is doing next to nothing....unless it's pulling fresh air from a source I cannot see.
I see no winter ventilation for coop, open eaves are best for our climate but short coop interior makes that harder.
Foam board will be pecked by birds....and is unnecessary expect to deter condensation on metal roof.

Duck pond drainage is very clever!
But will not be usable in winter....but I guess you know that.
Ducks need water deep enough to rinse their nares(nostrils) at all times.

Seems you have more than adequate skills to handle any improvements.

 

[John Smallberries]

aart: THANKS for the excellent feedback. See my comments:
[QUOTE="aart, post: 23225044, member: 175197"
Coop(8x4?) is probably too small for 10 chickens, let alone adding 3 ducks. The 3 ducks now sleep in a duck box on the ground in the run. I fully agree they are BIG. Do you think the coop is OK for 10 hens alone?
Roost are too slim to hold up full grown birds....and nest perches will be pooped upon. OK - I can beef those up easily.
Water pipe system will not hold up in winter, maybe you have another plan for that. Let's see how the gutter anti-icing cable works. I have 50 feet running through the gutter, wrapping around inside the barrel and running through the clear hose and through the PVC pipe holding the poultry nipples. I used this stuff to keep my floor drain from icing up outside my garage last winter. It will be an experiment!
Storage shelf, and outdoor feed trough, will likely get wet. We have had a few hard rains so far and we are OK. I am thinking of some barrier along the hardware cloth near the feeder to keep any snow from drifting in. I will watch that carefully!
Fan is doing next to nothing....unless it's pulling fresh air from a source I cannot see. There are windows on each main door and both ends of the coop with hardware cloth. I agree that fan doesn't do anything without the open. It may not do much with them! We have only had a few very hot days since I put it in.
I see no winter ventilation for coop, open eaves are best for our climate but short coop interior makes that harder. There are large gaps at the top of the coop that are hidden from view by the insulation. I have them screened off and I expect they will flow a good amount of air. Again - Time will tell and I may have to cut some more.
Foam board will be pecked by birds....and is unnecessary expect to deter condensation on metal roof. Believe it, or not, one of my hens actually wiggled her way onto the top side of the ceiling insulation and got stuck there. I have since sealed all of that off. So far, they haven't pecked at it - but it is early days in my first coop experiment.

Duck pond drainage is very clever!
But will not be usable in winter....but I guess you know that.
Ducks need water deep enough to rinse their nares(nostrils) at all times.

Seems you have more than adequate skills to handle any improvements.
[/QUOTE]

Thanks again! This is exactly why I joined the forum and posted my pics. I need to learn from the experienced crew!

 

[aart]

This is great!
Got a temp sensor in nipple pipe?
I hope you keep this thread updated thru the winter.....good and bad.

 

[John Smallberries]

Next up: automation. What I don't like about the metal feeders is the inability to see the feed level easily. So - I'm throwing some electronics at the problem. I bought two cheap capacitive proximity sensors (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072C35ZDC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) that can detect the presence of chicken feed. I wired them up to an indicator LED that I can see from the house. It took a bit of tweaking - but it worked for the first time over the weekend and came on just as the food level uncovered the sensor.

 

[aart]

It will be an experiment!

OhBoy, I've used that one!
The clear hose will be the first to freeze.
I contemplated a complex piping system for quite awhile and decided to KISS it with this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples.67256/

Do you think the coop is OK for 10 hens alone?

What are the dimensions, of the coop itself and the overall run?

There are large gaps at the top of the coop that are hidden from view by the insulation.

On the high edge of the roof?

So far, they haven't pecked at it - but it is early days in my first coop experiment.

Sure is early, they are tiny yet.

Thanks again! This is exactly why I joined the forum and posted my pics. I need to learn from the experienced crew!

Glad you appreciate my critique, many do not.

 

[John Smallberries]

I think all engineers are tinkerers.
What kind of engineer are you?
I'm an engineer by nature but not degree, drafter/designer in Pharm mfg for 20 years. Now mostly a chickeneer

And where in MI are you.....
Here's how to add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!
View attachment 2422249

I have 34 years in the automotive industry doing product engineering for automatic transmissions, hybrid transmission and electric drives. I'm in the last 3-year sprint of my career at which point I'll retire and focus on adventure motorcycle trips, chicken coops and grandparenting. I live just north of Ann Arbor.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Forgive my newbie question: but won't that make many of my eggs ineligble for Omlets?? Wouldn't I need to candle each of them?

Pick up eggs at least once a day, make sure to refrigerate if weather gets super hot, and it'll never be an issue. Nothing wrong with eating fertilized eggs, most people never realize they've eaten them.

 

[John Smallberries]

Well .... I knew having my chickens escaping and wandering around was risky. I had planned to spend my day after Thanksgiving extending my chicken wire yard fence up to 10 feet with bird/deer netting. Too late. My birds liked my camo lean-to, but they like the neighbors pine tree stand better. On Thanksgiving morning, their old, slow, peaceful, friendly golden retriever killed three hens and our rooster. It was my fault. I should have kept them more secure and dogs are dogs.
We managed to wrangle the six survivors back into the yard. I extended the top of my yard gate with a 3-foot plywood panel. This obstructs their common escape route: jumping up into the 2x4 gate and then hopping down. I have now strung up 7’-wide plastic bird/deer barriers along paracord “clothesline’s” to provide a continuous 10-foot-high chicken-containing barrier around the yard. Let’s hope this does the trick and we keep them in.

 

[John Smallberries]

Lots of coop updates in the last few months.
1) Feeding: My first auto-feeder worked just fine. However, my chicken-experienced neighbor warned me that it would be come a mouse feeder in the winter. Not good. I scrapped Version 1 and replaced it with two SmartStep feeders that are advertised as "rodent proof". They work fine, but I made two upgrades. First: the levers to open the food door are designed for Chickens, not ducks. The distance from a duck's feet to their bill is very large, so they could not use the levers. I had some 1/2" PVC sheet left over from the coop floor and used it to make some extensions for the levers. They work very well, as long as I rake out beneath then occasionally.