The Middle Tennessee Thread

[TinTennessee]

Help!!! Donna if I build the case for my bator will you do the rest ? Wires, bulbs, Thermostat, fans etc... I'm not electrically inclined. :/ I can build just about anything out of wood & I can do simple wiring , I just don't quite understand how everything has to go together.

 

[DMRippy]

DMRippy - Thanks I'm just soo wanting some hatchers on NYD and I've had Murphy's law of temp. flux etc. the past week, so I'm just a nervous little broodyhen atm.

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So to get my mind of it I'm gonna post this pic. my DH found someplace to see if I like it as a design for the breeder pair/trio pens I want to build.
These would just be for pure breeds for ensuring the eggs for hatching, not reg. flock coops/pens.

I've seen alot of designs I do not like so I was pretty thumbs up on this one.

To me the advantages appear to be total clean out ability -- see both end panels are full open doors
The nest box is accessible from outside.
Materials are very do-able.
While not cookie cutter gingerbread cottage cute, they could be done w/ clean lines & perky paint to look nice
(prior pens are well, ugly is an understatement, embarrassing eyesores starts to hint at them, although they function very well)

I'm just not sure about the half tall thing, All my flock ones are full walk in height...

What do ya'll think about this design?
I'm talking 4 the same, so I want a good design not something I'll regret for years to come!

You will regret a short coop, run. The first time you have to CRAWL in to get, say an egg.... it will not be that bad... the next time and the next time and the next time.... it will get old. My runs are about 4 1/2 feet tall... I wish they were taller, but I didn't have a choice in that.... materials dictated the size.

It is kinda cute with the garden on top and all. you can add some cuteness to it with paint and such. ALWAYS ALWAYS make the biggest coop you can.... that you will not regret. I need more pens

AFTER I MOVE I can have MORE PENS

 

[DMRippy]

Help!!! Donna if I build the case for my bator will you do the rest

? Wires, bulbs, Thermostat, fans etc... I'm not electrically inclined.

I can build just about anything out of wood & I can do simple wiring , I just don't quite understand how everything has to go together.

I don't do that stuff either

I get my son to do that stuff. He loves it really. You need to build it with the electric stuff in mind to allow space for it. I used flexwatt and a light works great. The flexwatt should not burn out and if the bulb does the flexwatt will keep it warm. Just figure out what you want kinda and I will ask my son if he will help you. He is working a lot of OT so not sure when he could do it. He keeps wanting to build me a new one, but I like what I have....

I would LIKE it to fit through a door though....

 

[TinTennessee]

LOLYou need a MEGA-MEGA Bator. thanks, i'll try to figure out what i want. I dont plan to be a hatch-a-holic. Maybe a couple dozen a year. Untill i can buy more land then it'll be game on... That'll probably be a while though.

 

[DMRippy]

LOLYou need a MEGA-MEGA Bator. thanks, i'll try to figure out what i want. I dont plan to be a hatch-a-holic. Maybe a couple dozen a year. Untill i can buy more land then it'll be game on... That'll probably be a while though.

My bator just needs a little thinning... It is just too wide to go through a 36 inch door..... My front shop door must be 38 or 40 inches.... it will go through that door just not the other REGULAR doors to the other shops.

 

[FeyRaine]

You will regret a short coop, run. The first time you have to CRAWL in to get, say an egg.... it will not be that bad... the next time and the next time and the next time.... it will get old. My runs are about 4 1/2 feet tall... I wish they were taller, but I didn't have a choice in that.... materials dictated the size.

It is kinda cute with the garden on top and all. you can add some cuteness to it with paint and such. ALWAYS ALWAYS make the biggest coop you can.... that you will not regret. I need more pens

AFTER I MOVE I can have MORE PENS

Agreed!
(All the pics I showed my DH had full height pens&phonebooth type full height coops, I believe he was trying to save on matterials, half height = half matterials)
I think I will remind him about our Dairy Barn, that he & some buddies built too short for him (6ft5in) so he **always** hits his head when cleaning it.
Then I will remind him of our lovely large walk in coops/pens that I insisted on being tall enough for him.

I think the very same plan as above, just full height tall (omit the planter box replace w/ real roofing). That would work for breeding pair during egg collection time I think.
I'm thinking to line up 4 along a 40ft long grape arbor such that any jap beetles attracted to the grapes will have a row of birds to pass through,
and any run-off from pens will run down and pool in the arbor where the thirsty grapes will drink it up (I'll have to lime the ground poss. to offset that).

Anyway that is what I'm gonna spend the winter drawing out on graph paper in color coded fashion while I incubate eggs : )
When I'm not quilting etc.
FeyRaine

 

[TinTennessee]

make it thinner but taller.Let me know when your ready.

 

[TinTennessee]

Agreed!
(All the pics I showed my DH had full height pens&phonebooth type full height coops, I believe he was trying to save on matterials, half height = half matterials)
I think I will remind him about our Dairy Barn, that he & some buddies built too short for him (6ft5in) so he **always** hits his head when cleaning it.
Then I will remind him of our lovely large walk in coops/pens that I insisted on being tall enough for him.

I think the very same plan as above, just full height tall (omit the planter box replace w/ real roofing). That would work for breeding pair during egg collection time I think.
I'm thinking to line up 4 along a 40ft long grape arbor such that any jap beetles attracted to the grapes will have a row of birds to pass through,
and any run-off from pens will run down and pool in the arbor where the thirsty grapes will drink it up (I'll have to lime the ground poss. to offset that).

Anyway that is what I'm gonna spend the winter drawing out on graph paper in color coded fashion while I incubate eggs : )
When I'm not quilting etc.
FeyRaine

you may want to check on the lime, I'm not sure but it could be harmful to the chickens

 

[FeyRaine]

Clarification--
Lime the area around the grape arbor where the very acidic coop poop run-off would go during those 10 inches in 2 hrs torrential rainstorms we get whenever we aren't having an everything fried or died of thirst last week heatwave/drought. (Not lime directly in the pens while occupied)

 

[DMRippy]

Hydo? lime is fine. Agricultural lime is what I use in the runs to keep odors down. You can paint your coops with it too (white washing) I forgot what it does.... bugs and mold can't remember for sure. NOT quick lime that is BAD!