Maine

[buckabucka]

Thanks! It is nice in there on a sunny day. Of course, today was sunny, but I was out taking the photo before the sun was fully up!

 

[IZZYBELLA]

Jazor and Bucka, you have such ingenious coops! Mine is inherited, so there are definitely things I would change if I could build it from scratch. Some day.

Another double-yolker today... poor girl whoever it is! I hope she adjusts soon... I can't imagine how those eggs wouldn't hurt coming out!

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks! The coop/house is certainly functional for us. Sorry to hear about the thieving, sounds like a slight increase in OPSEC is in order

The room in front of the coop is storage for now--shavings, hay bales, and feed--oh do I have feed! I've got the metal cans full of the feed that I've mixed (corn both cracked and whole, soft white wheat, DE, hulled barley, oat groats, sunflower seeds, peanuts, split yellow peas, wheat bran, lentils, quinoa, sesame seeds, and kelp powder) as well as some layer pellets and multi-flock crumbles. Chicken feast!

Eventually, that area will house some Nigerian dwarf goats and perhaps rabbits and ducks as well. I certainly want ducks, and may even house them with the chickens, we'll see how that pans out--but that is the idea for now!

Sorry, I don't know if I am understanding what you mean there--but my idea with my custom feeder system was to make the area where the food is exposed as small as possible to keep them from being able to thrash it around. If you were looking down at the feeder from above you would essentially see concentric circles. The base sticks out maybe 2" from the inner white pail so there isn't a lot of surface area there, if this makes sense. So the "bottom" of the feeder system (made of the bottom of a 5gal pail) is maybe 3" tall. Deep enough for them to peck down into, but not wide enough for them to make too much trouble.

Like I said, some better photos will probably make this easier. It's incredibly simple in design, just hard to explain I guess!

Yeah... like you said... 2 + 2 = 4! I have a cut down spackle bucket already. And I have a smaller bucket that I'm using occasionally for water. So perhaps I'll just use that stuff and not look around too hard for anything else. I'll KISS!

 

[CoopChick719]

Here's the trough style feeder DH made:

The pipe on top has a piece of threaded rod inside and will spin (making it so a chicken cannot roost on there). If you look closely you can see a little slot in the end. The slot holds a little piece of wood that creates a lip over the feed, making it harder for them to fling it around.
Here's the gang digging around early this morning (sorry for grainy IPad photo):

I like the feeder. Reminds me of an old-fashioned toolbox.

Love both coops Jazor & bucka! Now, I wish mine was bigger but then the chicken math would strike.

It's a vicious cycle! Speaking of chicken math, DH helped me transfer the 5 girls that were in quarantine to the coop tonight under the cover of darkness. I hope the morning goes smoothly! I was going to transfer them Saturday night but a surprise 40th birthday party for a friend ran later than expected and it was raining as well.

 

[buckabucka]

Chicken math already struck here. The hoop coop is our second coop!

 

[Jazor]

I love your coop Bucka!!!

I do too, that's a really cool design! Hoop coop all the way

 

[lazy gardener]

I also suffer from coop envy. I'm regretting the design of my coop. fiberglass inside with not enough head room. I fear that the girls will suffer moisture issues from their breath condensing on the fiberglass as they roost at night. If I had the funds, I'd start over with a stick built, about 8 x 12 or so. Funny thing is, we built the same size many years ago... put a LOT of money into it, very well insulated, gave it away.

 

[yankeehill]

Our coop is 10x12, made using rough cut lumber. It has a nice high open ceiling, and the front half is sectioned off from the back half with dog wire. We use the front half for food and hay storage. Last winter we housed our rabbits in the front house, but they quickly became too crowded. We've now built some hanging hutches around the back of the chicken coop. The chickens love to go scraping through the rabbit droppings. I think the coop will be big enough in the winter for all the birds - 4 geese, 5 ducks, and a bakers dozen of chickens. If it isn't, I'll take down one of the dividers so they have more room. We cut the lumber using a friend's sawmill and trees he and my husband felled together. The windows are recycled from when we replaced the house windows. The door was an extra one we had in the attic. I'd love to put flower boxes near the windows, but haven't done it yet. They'll be made of rough cut lumber and might be painted red. Now sure yet.

My one regret with our coop is painting the old door. I should have left it as it originally was. I think in the spring I may ask hubby to build something more like a carriage door for it.

 

[lazy gardener]

Pictures???

 

[Widget]

Trying to find a way to keep the horse water tank from freezing solid this winter. I have two 70 gallon tanks that I can usually use until mid-December or whenever the daily high temperatures stays below freezing. After that I resort to smaller buckets that I can switch out. I do not want to use an electric heater since they tend to jack up the power bill by $100-$200 a month. I have an idea that I hope will work. I have two Rubbermaid storage containers. They are about 4 ft tall and 5 ft wide and 3 ft deep. One tank easily fits inside one container with room to spare. The top of the container is removable and it also has swinging doors on the front that I can leave open so there is easy access to the water.

My thought is to insulate around the water tank (between the tank and container walls) with something. I was thinking straw stuffed into something waterproof or even a natural insulation designed for houses that would also be put into something waterproof. At night I can shut the top and close the doors and just have some smaller water buckets out to get the horses through the night. Leaves and pine needles are another thought but even with all the trees around my property I really do not get too many leaves in the yard to rake.

The goats and birds are easy enough to water in the winter. Carrying out fresh water a couple times a day to them is easier compared to the amount of water for the horses.