Steadfast's 1st Coop (Ton's of Photos)

[Steadfast]

First we will start with the new holding pens:
before the doors where added

 

[BigRooNTN]

The white one is a store bought "large grade A". The brown ones are our chicken's eggs.

Gee... which one is store bought?

You know that omelet cost me $800.00 to make?
$1000 for the coop, divided by 5 eggs so far, 4 eggs used in the process.

It was such an "oppulant moment"
that I cut it in half and gave my wife the other
so she too could eat a $400 breakfast this morning!

Great job and great use of a resource that would have gone to a landfill somewhere. Sorry for the late post. I will keep reading and catch up to the end.

 

[BigRooNTN]

love the pic comparing the eggs, that the whole reason i got chickens this year. the quility of food in the us is awefull. not only did i get chickens but i got ducks, 2 apple trees, a pear 2 cherry a peach a cherry 2 blueberry 4 rasberry a ton of strawberry and expended my veggy garden. i dont trust the supermarkets anymore. if it wasnt so much work i'd get a goat for milk!

and a partridge for your pear tree

 

[3 Golden Girls]

This is an awesome coop and run. Really enjoyed following your building through pictures...so thanks a bunch for sharing.

 

[Steadfast]

 

[Steadfast]

Over the past 7 months I have been building my own wind turbine and solar array to power my shed's workshop.

here is a link to THAT project:
(it was so difficult that it made my chicken coop project look like playing Candyland)
http://forums.silverseek.com/showthread.php?59626-Im-building-a-Wind-Turbine

Here is the Turbine Fully Built!

Hooking Up the Stator

The two solar panels on the roof of the shed are pulling in an alrarming 135 watts a second, my batteries loaded upto 14.25 volts and my load dump switch came on and the dump sytem was instantly painful hot, but not burning hot to the touch, (that yellow light was a-flicker-in) all day LONG...
I want to use that electricity for more than running a dump...

I still have 35 feet of some left over 14awg wire... It is long enough to reach my Chicken coop too...
I know my chickens would LOVE to have a few fans running on them in the summer and perhaps some small heaters in the winter. I would also like to be able to light up the chicken coop or the coop's side shed at night from time to time.

So here are my NEW wireing idea plans...
The top drawing is using the inverter I already own inside my sealed shed with a outlet switch in the shed.
The bottom drawing shows a new 2nd inverter inside the shed as which also is the on/off switch. The difference is that the top one requires that I unlock my shed to switch on the inverter everytime I want to run the coop. The bottom all I gotta do is switch the power on on in the scoop shed.

and now, my questions... I can not decide which one to do...

The coop side shed has only chicken wire as one of it's walls and no door, would that pose a moisture problem for a new 1600 watt cobra inverter if I added one in the coop shed? (why the 1600 watt cobra inverter: I might as well be able to run power tools at the coop as well) The PVC houses the wire and is buried. if i use the top plans can i simply leave the inverter on forever inside the locked power shed?

Site informitive photos:

Two "young bird" and/or "Bad bird" holding pens inside the coop shed.
(new product of my wife's recent honey do list)
you can see the chicken wire wall that seperates the side shed from the chicken run.

The out side of the finished side shed:

 

[amedmonds]

This is my Idea for a coop, making use of my kids old play scape/
The Empty Nester.

 

[Steadfast]

YOU CAN DO IT!

and... I won an award for showing folks how I did mine...
In THIS VERY THREAD!

Just start on page 1 and read...
I cover every detail of the build except where to put your nails.
your does not need to look like mine, BE CREATIVE...

But My build will help you with the basics...
and it was posted in REAL TIME....
so my reactions to every problem and frustration will be shared by you...
but unlike me, you can always read ahead and get the answer...
Something I did not have.

I cover everything from plans thru "finish" and the add ons!
like play grounds, extra storage, self watering systems, and soon, adding solar electricity!

 

[Steadfast]

amedmonds:
dont forget to start your own project thread...
Start with those plans you just posted here and take LOTS of PHOTOS as you Progress...
Even of the mistakes and trivial stuff...

why?
because the Devil is in the details...
and if we see you making a mistake ...
we can TELL YOU by looking at your photos
and help you to TURN AROUND, and stear clear of stuff, before it become a Long Term regrete!

You will see others doing this for me in this thread...
.
.

 

[Steadfast]

Quote: by the way... just to mess with ya...
Your drawing looks like you have a few FOXES running about in that hen house of yours...
... also, if your garden is THAT close your chickens are going to LOSE THEIR LITTLE BIRDY MINDS and you ARE going to have a prison break out and WHEN your birds escape they will throw a wild party in your garden.... wooohooo!