sn0wwhite's Wichita Coop for the Twin Cities

[chickiegrrl]

jbher-you don't have to bury PVC. If you get wire that is for outdoor use, you can just sink a spade into the ground a couple of inches and push the wire in, then tamp it down with your foot. My husband and I put electrical out to our coop (100' from our house) this way. I have a light and outlet in both the run and coop. We just have the wire plugged into our outdoor receptacle. It's a lot easier than burying PVC.

 

[jbher]

I love Egg|Plant. They are the first people that were recommended to me when I first considered chickens. They have endless patience for the urban chicken keeper and my silly questions.

I've read Hokum Coco and his posts and I strongly considered not doing any heat, but I think our MN winters are pretty harsh and dry. My dad's grandparents also had a chicken farm and he really thinks I should provide some heat so I keep going back and forth on it. Maybe I'll just prepare a heat light and if I never turn it on then I never do.

I hope you will post some this winter with how things go! I would love to follow along and see how they fare and what you decide to do and what your thoughts are on it all after this winter. It's nice to hear from others who live in the same area.

 

[jbher]

jbher-you don't have to bury PVC. If you get wire that is for outdoor use, you can just sink a spade into the ground a couple of inches and push the wire in, then tamp it down with your foot. My husband and I put electrical out to our coop (100' from our house) this way. I have a light and outlet in both the run and coop. We just have the wire plugged into our outdoor receptacle. It's a lot easier than burying PVC.

Really!? That is great to hear! Even though the ground will freeze too?

 

[jbher]

jbher-you don't have to bury PVC. If you get wire that is for outdoor use, you can just sink a spade into the ground a couple of inches and push the wire in, then tamp it down with your foot. My husband and I put electrical out to our coop (100' from our house) this way. I have a light and outlet in both the run and coop. We just have the wire plugged into our outdoor receptacle. It's a lot easier than burying PVC.

How are you running outlets and lights off of just an outdoor "outlet"? I can't imagine that it could handle that much power? Gosh I really know nothing about electrical stuff - my mind is just spinning haha... my brother in-law wired his whole house so he's always my go-to guy for that kind of stuff.

 

[sn0wwhite]

Well, my coop is literally 10 inches from my house and there is an outdoor GFI outlet just on the other side of the patio door a few feet further away. The guy at the store says my city will not like to see an extension cord when they come to inspect but we don't expect them until I renew my license a year from May. By then I'll either not have the cord or I'll run electric to it.

My big issue will be that I did not leave an extension cord size gap anywhere in this coop. I don't want to make a hole.

 

[chickiegrrl]

The line is on a GFI. We're not going to be running everything at once. The automatic door will only be going on and off to open/close. The lights will only be on when I'm out cleaning the coop. We're not putting heat in the coop. The only thing that will be running constantly is a water heater to keep the water from freezing in the dead of winter. The line should be able to handle the load.

 

[sn0wwhite]

Is it easy to change a regular outlet to a GFI? I believe the outlet on the back of the house is not GFI. We also have an electric line on the 2nd floor that the previous owner's hardwired in spotlights on motion sensors. The only problem is we cannot turn them off and they are so sensitive it's like a disco party strobe light in our backyard all night long with every little breeze that blows a tree. We had no luck adjusting them so we just took out the light bulbs but I can still hear them clicking away trying to turn on. I'm thinking of getting an electrician friend to just move the line down the the first floor and pop it over to the coop.

I may be getting dangerously close to needing a building permit at that point though... and I didn't get one.

In other news, I discovered a new danger with chicken keeping this morning. I was outside setting up the new food and water fount and Daughter locked me out. The garage door keypad was dead so I got stuck outside. Happily the neighbor was home and I called for help.

 

[chickiegrrl]

I believe any outlet can be a GFI, you just need to replace the receptacle. I'll ask my husband for sure.

I can't even tell you how many times I've been locked out of the house since we've had the hens! I usually go out with someone. We do the supervised free-range and whoever I'm with punks out in a short time. (I can spend hours outside with the girls!) When they go in, they lock the door! I'm happy that my family is safe, but it would also be nice to be remembered.

Then they freak out when I come to the front door and ring the bell.

One time my son locked me and my daughter outside and he would NOT answer the door. We were ringing the bell, the Doberman was barking at us, we're yelling his name. Eventually he came downstairs with his Nerf gun and opened the door. He said he was worried it was zombies.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote: There's the correct answer::
Quote: The amount of AMPERAGE you can use will be determined by the circuit it's wired to and the fuse or circuit breaker

 

[sn0wwhite]

I need to go add that to the what you wish you had known before you got chickens thread... that there is a serious risk of both being locked INTO your coop and OUT of your house.

By the way, you've all probably seen this, but one of my friends realizing my chicken obsession has shared it with me and I love this. I think I'm going to do this to Sunny today.

http://www.sciencedump.com/content/chickens-ability-stabilize-its-head

Today I'm going to rubberize the floor, etch the glass and work on window frames. And roosts... I hope.