Helpful hints for building coops

[jvls1942]

these two rows are crowding each other.
I moved the row on the left to another area .
.

I also took a series of pictures of the self watering buckets during construction.
I will post them if anyone wants them, or I will PM to anybody interested..
the finished product:

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Because water is life......life for bacteria, molds, insects, etc.
Learned that in training while working in a biological clean room.
You don't want moisture in a chicken coop, hosing down a coop interior will inevitably lead to moisture gathering in the cracks and crevices where it can't readily dry out.

I currently have 7 buildings, I only use water in one. That one has a concrete floor and all the wood is well painted and cracks sealed. I only do this type cleaning when I can have the building vacant and completely empty so it has a couple days to dry out in warm low humidity weather.
Floors, poop boards and nest lids in most cases are covered with HDPE sheets that clean up easily. It is impenetrable so I don't want to get water trapped under that.
Not only does moisture breed bacteria year round, coccidia must have moisture to complete their life cycle.

 

[aart]

Do all you tomato growers snip off suckers?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I always do. That's how my dad taught me to raise them. That was on his family's truck farm where they raised 5,000 tomato plants for vegetable sales every year as well as lots of started plants for sale to others.
Tomatoes were his year round job. Everyone of the sons, my uncles had their specialty. One did fruit trees and grapes, another crops like beans, cabbage, lettuce, etc., anather was the poultry guy.

 

[Molpet]

Do all you tomato growers snip off suckers?

Sometimes
Usually It's humid and I am not even getting the weeds much less suckers

 

[jvls1942]

I don't on my Romas. but when I tie up the beef steaks for the first time, I pluck suckers off.that's when I trim off all the lower leaves that touch or might touch the ground.
way back when , I had little time for babysitting my tomatoes. back then I did not pluck suckers. I had plenty of tomatoes back then, too.
.....jiminwaUSAu.....

 

[3KillerBs]

I also took a series of pictures of the self watering buckets during construction.
I will post them if anyone wants them, or I will PM to anybody interested..
the finished product:

I am very much interested in how you made the buckets.

 

[CapricornFarm]

You must be in construction or a family member is, huh?

Nope, but I have been using power tools since the early 70s. And I love building things!

 

[CapricornFarm]

Do all you tomato growers snip off suckers?

My Dad taught me to do that, but I rarely have time.

 

[jvls1942]

first, drill a 1 1/4" hole at 1 1/2" to center from bottom of bucket. a tiny pilot hole is helpful for this.

cut a 3" piece of 1" dia thin wall pvc pipe.
make a bevel cut at one end.
glue the flat end into a 1" pvc slip to slip elbow.
use a heat gun or hair dryer and warm up the material around the hole to soften it a bit. push the beveled end of the tube into the hole. You have to work at this, the hole is 1.25" and the pipe is 1.3". when it is in it makes a nice tight fit.
ignore the riser pipe shown in the picture.
that was installed for a different reason.
make sure the elbow is pointing open end up..
now cut a piece of 4" perforated drain pipe to 10 1/2" long.
fit it over the pvc pipe and make it tight to the bottom of the bucket.

now pack some potting mix on both sides of the black pipe.
then continue filling the bucket with potting mix or compost.
for the first watering, water from above until water runs out of the elbow.
afterwards, add water through the elbow until the elbow fills up with water.