Hidden Forest Coop

[Jetpad]

Well I couldn't leave the waterer with the horizontal nipples alone. I removed all the nipples and glued them into the holes with ABS-PVC glue. I think that fixed all the leaks around the outside of the nipples. I ended up with I think just one nipple that has a very slow leak around the "nipple" gasket that maybe I can live with. It only drips about once a minute and doesn't leak any worse when the pump is on. I also mounted it to a bracket on the side of the run under the coop. I like that a lot better than when it was hanging from chains. It doesn't move around when the chickens peck at it. Haven't had a real good test of it yet in freezing conditions. I think those temperatures are still a few weeks away.

 

[Jetpad]

I found that I made the far corner of the coop farther than my arm can reach so I had trouble cleaning that part of the coop without climbing up onto a stool. I kind-of fixed the problem by making an insert at a 45 degree angle that fits into the corner to keep the birds out of it and to direct the chicken poops closer to where I could scoop them.

 

[vehve]

Any freezing issues with the water yet? What have your min temps been?

 

[Jetpad]

Yea, we had 20F two days ago and it froze up. I think the birdbath heater wasn't working very well because it wasn't in the water. It would only come on for a few minutes and then turn off. The heat wasn't getting transferred to the tank even though it was laying right against it. So I took the coop apart so that I could get to the top of the tank and cut a hole in it so that I can drop the heater down into the water (that had ice floating in it). Now, the heater has been running non-stop since then and I'm wondering when it is going to click off. The outside temperature is now 52F and the tank water temperature is up to 47F. I've also wrapped the pipes with a little bit of insulation. Tonight will be another test, it should get down to the low 20s. I've got my fingers crossed since I'm going to be going out of town for a few days next week and I don't want my chicken sitter to have to mess with bringing them unfrozen water.

 

[Jetpad]

Ok, so last night it got down to 25F. When I went out this morning to check on the chickens, the temperature in the run was 29F and the water tank temperature was 49F so I think I've finally got it working well enough for my area. If I come across some foam board insulation I may wrap the tank to trap the heat for extra measure. The pump and birdbath heater use 66 watts so if they run continuously, it'll use about 47 kWh a month which for me would be a little over $5 USD/month.

One last thing I'm going to do is adjust the pump to run a little slower than the current (full blast) setting it is on. I hate how loud the pump is when running. I'm waiting for a PMW DC voltage dimmer control from China to do that. Hopefully it'll work for me.

 

[Thechickmama]

Ok, so last night it got down to 25F. When I went out this morning to check on the chickens, the temperature in the run was 29F and the water tank temperature was 49F so I think I've finally got it working well enough for my area. If I come across some foam board insulation I may wrap the tank to trap the heat for extra measure.  The pump and birdbath heater use 66 watts so if they run continuously, it'll use about 47 kWh a month which for me would be a little over $5 USD/month. 

One last thing I'm going to do is adjust the pump to run a little slower than the current (full blast) setting it is on. I hate how loud the pump is when running. I'm waiting for a PMW DC voltage dimmer control from China to do that. Hopefully it'll work for me.  

Cool I wish i could have your coop, it sounds amazing.

 

[Jetpad]

Thought I'd post an update on the coop. Just about all the leaves are gone off the small brushy trees around the coop. With the lower part wrapped in a tarp and the upper part in the camo-burlap, it's fairly well hidden. The most visible part is the shiny roof. If I had picked a different roofing material it would be really well hidden. But, for the chickens, the clear roofing material is perfect for them an this time of the year.

Tomorrow they'll be 18 weeks old. They aren't laying any eggs yet but I'd guess my red comet will probably be the first one. She has what looks like a full red comb and wattle. I also opened up the nest boxes a couple days ago, stuck some fake eggs on the fake grass in them and the girls climbed in to checked them out. So far, they aren't pooping in the nest boxes.

We've been getting some cold weather below freezing and the watering system has been working great. I had added a "dimmer" to the power supply for the pump so that I could run it a little slower so that it wouldn't be so loud. Unfortunately, after about a week, I noticed that the dimmer had fried itself and the pump was running at full blast again so I just took the dimmer out.

 

[Jetpad]

Here's a video I captured from a few months ago of a deer checking out the chickens.

 

[ChookRanger]

I like the video. So cool to see Bambi checking them out.

 

[ChookRanger]

The video of the Raccoon, not as nice. Any trouble with him?