It starts today and I am so excited!

[Wise Woman]

My new coop project begins today! My boss (I work at a water district) is coming over this afternoon to map out where he will be putting in my new water lines and hose bibs for the new coop and the new goat house. He will be sending the guys that work there over here next week to do the work after he gets the plan drawn up. He has all sorts of great ideas as well. He is going to install two shut off valves for me. One for the house water and one for the animals water. That way if I decide to go on vacation, I can turn off the water to my house and leave it on for the animals. He also wants to run a faucet right into my goat house so I never have to lug a bucket of water out to them again. Due to our cold winter temps, we decided against automatic waterers for now. He feels that I could be letting myself in for leaks and creating more problems than it might be worth. So my new coop will have a faucet in the covered run and the new goat house will have a faucet inside right above the water bucket.

He will also be laying electrical conduit while he has the yard dug up, so I can have electricity added to the coop and pen and he said while he is here, he will also lay conduit all around the house for me as well because he knows our house needs remodeled from top to bottom and inside and out. He is also going to have one of the guys map out a drip system for my whole front yard and get that installed as soon as I can afford it. I am so excited. I have waited for years for this day. Even though I am compromising with my husband and getting the resin sheds for a coop and goat house, I think it is going to turn out just great! We are adding a covered run to the coop and a covered run for the goats as well. This is going to eliminate the majority of snow shoveling for us and we will be putting the houses on the high part of the yard so no more floods in the the coop or goat house. We didn't realize our property sloped when we put them up the current houses and it is just gradual enough that the melting snow and rain runs directly towards the current animal houses. So no more ditch digging as well. I am so happy I could burst! My life is going to be a whole lot easier this winter and the chickens and goats are going to have it a whole lot nicer as well.

 

[turbodog]

Wow, big project going!

Good luck and be sure to post pics of the progress.

 

[flowergirl60]

That sounds wonderful. And we need pics.

 

[Arizonachicken]

How exciting! All your patience paid off!

 

[Wise Woman]

Quote:
It sounds big, but since my yard and house is so small, it will actually be done in less than one afternoon! Well, most of it. He can't install the faucet in the goat house since the goat house isn't up yet, but they will lay the pipe and do as much as they can, then come back in a couple months to finish that part off. Since I work at the water district and will be using our field workers, they know exactly what they are doing and will get it done so much faster and easier than my husband ever would. They also know I don't make that much money and so they will go as fast as they can to keep the costs down. My boss will do the plan for nothing for me. Since my water line runs right to where my new coop will be, it will be very easy for them to run the new line as they are only going a matter of a few feet or so. They don't have to rip up my drive way or anything. Plus putting the conduit in now before we build a new deck on the front of the house will save time and money later and by him mapping out the drip system now, we will be able to better able to figure out where we will need outlets or extra hose bibs. He said I should only have to pay about $2 for each 8 foot stick of conduit pipe, so it will be worth spending an extra $50 of $60 bucks now to save all that trouble later. We do all our welding, construction and electrical work in house at the water district, so our field workers really know what they are doing. I have to pay the same as a customer would, but I know it will be done right and as fast as possible. I can't wait for this afternoon to come! I will for sure post pics.

 

[fireguy56]

Hi, sounds great. I have finished, well almost finished our coop and run. One of my last things to do is trench over 1" water line and run pvc electrical conduit as well to pull my wires through. Have you ever considered a freeze proof faucet for the coop area. sounds like you guys get alot colder than we do in S.E. Louisiana, however I am taking the precaution and installing freeze proof faucet in my run area. If you are not familiar with a freeze proof faucet(hydrant) it is a faucet the has a normal hose bibb connection on the top with a handle that controls a valve that is on the end of the pipe assembly that you tie your water line into. You bury your water line below the frost level for your area, attach the hydrant and the shut off is below the freeze line deep in the soil. They come in various lengths to bury at various depths. I got mine at Tractor Supply for about $35.00. Very simple to install and you wouldn't have to turn off the water at all. If ya interested, let me know and I'll take a photo of one still in box and post it. I won't be installing mine until next week when I rent the trencher. Hope this helps.
Erik

 

[Wise Woman]

Thank you fireguy56, I will mention this to my boss. He came over after work today and what started out to be two hose bibs, one for the new chicken run and one for the new goat house, has turned into a whole yard full of hose bibs and a drip system and conduit for future wiring. He keeps saying it won't cost a lot, but I am starting to get nervous. While I do need all this done, I hadn't really planned to do it all at one time, but he says that it will be cheaper to just bring the trencher over just one time since it goes by the hour. So the guys I work with are coming over next week to get measurements for pipe and then off we go! I guess I won't be seeing much of my next couple pay checks! But it will be nice in the end as my watering with a hose days will be over and so will my lugging 5 gallon buckets of water in 15 degree weather through 3 feet of snow. Hooray!

 

[chicken_noob]

Sounds like a blast! Can't wait for update pics.

 

[Wise Woman]

Well it will be a blast I think. I am excited to finally be getting some things done that will make my life easier. I think it is going to be a big mess for a day or so though. I can't imagine that trencher in my yard digging it all up. But that is usually how it goes. If all goes well, I should have my coop done sometime in August and the goat house before winter. I will post lots of pictures once things get rolling next week.