Things You Wish You Would Have Known?

[Shezadandy]

On the subject of creating a watering system- Uniseals --- are marvelous. No caulk, no plumber's tape- just use a hole saw to cut the appropriate size, stick the Uniseal through the hole, push the 1/2" or 3/4" PVC pipe through the hole- absolutely wonderful for use on the awkward curve of a bucket front. Never had so much as a drip leak.

In the "wish I had known" section as it applies to watering systems, I wish I had originally thought to put a separate drain (made with a Uniseal, 1/2" pipe, 1/2" elbow, pvc ball valve) in the bucket's side for the purpose of emptying the bucket without ever lifting it or messing with the stuff it's connected to... as good as Uniseals are, if there is still water in the bucket and you pull the pipe out, the water will come gushing out.

Today I wanted to drain out the warm coop water and replace it with cool fresh water. It didn't have a drain so I went through the whole dance with an almost full bucket- getting the lid off without damaging the other PVC work that is glued- well, now it has a drain. Having a 2nd Uniseal with the above described set-up gives means to flush the bucket in seconds and refill with clean water. Another wonderful place to have a drain is at the end of each PVC pipe line of poultry cups and/or nipples. Overkill? Maybe, but for that one-time $3 expense, I can flush the pipe quickly and often- good way to keep things clean. In places where water conservation is especially vital, having control of the discarded water makes it easy to reuse in the landscape or garden.

 

[Coop de Grass]

Quote:
One of my neighbors has a rescued border collie who was trained as an agility dog. His original owner couldn't handle a dog with hip displasia. My neighbors benefited! So well trained!

 

[Coop de Grass]

I am very sorry for your losses.

I knew I couldn't live without the joy of a dog to greet me every day. It wasn't planned, but 1 month later an abandoned dog at the park adopted me. I cried hard when I was falling in love with her because I felt like I was betraying my boy, Sonny. But I know that wasn't true. At the time he was my best friend, helping me recover from SEVERE depression (I also got treated at that time). The loss was tremendous. Time does not heal all wounds, but it does let the pain fade a little.

There are tons of cats and dogs for adoption at shelters if you are considering getting Pixel a friend. Sounds like you are blessed to have animals that live a long time, it must be a loving home!

Hang in there, best wishes.
~Alyssa

@EggSighted4Life , thank you for your understanding! Pixel is a bit of a handful! He was clearly a feral kitten when we came home with him. We couldn't tell at the shelter/Pet Smart adoption day. We have had him for 10 years now, and know how to handle him. I can pick him up as long as I put him down when he starts to wriggle which is about 15 seconds! He will come and sit on us or sleep with us as long as he wants to! When I was ill, he used to sleep on top of me with his face in mine, like he was keeping an eye on me.

Unfortunately, I don't think that he would tolerate a new companion, so at least for a little while, he will be the focus of our attention!

He is being spoiled rotten!

 

[Coop de Grass]

On the subject of creating a watering system- Uniseals --- are marvelous. No caulk, no plumber's tape- just use a hole saw to cut the appropriate size, stick the Uniseal through the hole, push the 1/2" or 3/4" PVC pipe through the hole- absolutely wonderful for use on the awkward curve of a bucket front. Never had so much as a drip leak.

In the "wish I had known" section as it applies to watering systems, I wish I had originally thought to put a separate drain (made with a Uniseal, 1/2" pipe, 1/2" elbow, pvc ball valve) in the bucket's side for the purpose of emptying the bucket without ever lifting it or messing with the stuff it's connected to... as good as Uniseals are, if there is still water in the bucket and you pull the pipe out, the water will come gushing out.

Today I wanted to drain out the warm coop water and replace it with cool fresh water. It didn't have a drain so I went through the whole dance with an almost full bucket- getting the lid off without damaging the other PVC work that is glued- well, now it has a drain. Having a 2nd Uniseal with the above described set-up gives means to flush the bucket in seconds and refill with clean water. Another wonderful place to have a drain is at the end of each PVC pipe line of poultry cups and/or nipples. Overkill? Maybe, but for that one-time $3 expense, I can flush the pipe quickly and often- good way to keep things clean. In places where water conservation is especially vital, having control of the discarded water makes it easy to reuse in the landscape or garden.

This sounds like a great set up! Do you have any photos? I would really appreciate it because it sounds like a logical way to deal with cleaning out the water systems.

 

[RollerDerbyLexi]

I moved from Mesa AZ to Santa Fe Tx. Both hot climates but I totally think I upgraded as far as weather. Here humidity is a big problem. Here's my gauge on humidity and temp.



And this is what I wanted to share.

I just bought this on Amazon and can't wait to get it!

It's a solar powered Fan Vent. I hope it works as well as I picture in my mind.

Anybody have one of these or something like it? Tips and Picts appreciated!



http://www.amazon.com/DC-HOUSE-Powe...id=1465144075&sr=8-15&keywords=fan+solar+vent

 

[JaeG]

@EggSighted4Life , thank you for your understanding! Pixel is a bit of a handful! He was clearly a feral kitten when we came home with him. We couldn't tell at the shelter/Pet Smart adoption day. We have had him for 10 years now, and know how to handle him. I can pick him up as long as I put him down when he starts to wriggle which is about 15 seconds! He will come and sit on us or sleep with us as long as he wants to! When I was ill, he used to sleep on top of me with his face in mine, like he was keeping an eye on me.

Unfortunately, I don't think that he would tolerate a new companion, so at least for a little while, he will be the focus of our attention!

He is being spoiled rotten!

Sounds like our cat Mistletoe Snowman Santa Claus (named by our three year old daughter just before Christmas). She was dumped at my husband's work and fostered by one of the girls who worked there as she was a very sick kitten. The girl almost had her put down because she was so sick but couldn't bring herself to do it. I'm very glad she didn't! Mistletoe is white, deaf, has scarring on her eyes so she can't see that well, but she is feisty to put it mildly! Having had no siblings she plays hard and bites hard! We already had two indoor ragdoll cats so she came to live with us. She was still tiny so one of our ragdolls adopted her (after she'd got over being terrified). I know how to handle her and she trusts me completely - I know exactly how far to push her before I'm going to get bitten! We know that when our older cats pass on we will be a one cat household for as long as Mistletoe is with us. She hates seeing strange cats outside and it will cause her to toilet in the wrong place, but I love her and couldn't be without her. She's becoming more and more tolerant of the kids and my husband (who likes to wind her up) but if you smell different she may attack, which is hard for visitors because she's so darn cute. She hilariously perused shadows and reflections and being deaf she doesn't care what she knocks down in her hunt to catch them. Our poor dog gives her a wide berth (psycho kitty is scary) and doesn't dare get on her bed if the cat has claimed it.

On the subject of chickens be aware that some breeds are very broody and will brood much more than they lay. If you want to hatch eggs this is a great thing. If not there will be arguments over nest boxes and less eggs than you perhaps would like. You can break the broodiness but this is not a long-term fix. I have a bantam Wyandotte who lays for 6 weeks then goes broody for at least 6 weeks and takes 2-4 weeks to recover before she's laying again. I let my Old English Game bantam hatch eggs the first time she was broody. She was fantastic and got back to laying quickly, only to go broody again a month later! I'm going to try giving her some chicks to foster.

 

[Shezadandy]

This sounds like a great set up! Do you have any photos? I would really appreciate it because it sounds like a logical way to deal with cleaning out the water systems.

I will take some good pictures and post them either later tonight or tomorrow. I'll make sure and quote your post again so it should show up in your email.

 

[Lisa Wood]

So far, there are a bunch. Wish we would have known they grow likw weeds, and brooder is outgrown way before 6 weeks.wish we woild have known we LOVE some chickens! I am trying to know about chicken fleas and obtaining a vet if needed. Wish we would have known about smell before we put coop too clise to house.

 

[Shezadandy]

This sounds like a great set up! Do you have any photos? I would really appreciate it because it sounds like a logical way to deal with cleaning out the water systems.

OK! Here are some photos and more detail about a watering system with Uniseals and PVC Ball Valves for draining purposes. This might be more detail than you were looking for, but I figure if someone else sees this and gets an idea, it would be good to have all the info in one place.

Good reasons to have a drain at the end of a PVC pipe, especially outside, with poultry cups/water nipples include a way to drain the bucket itself without actually touching the bucket or moving anything- if some small debris is clogging the waterers along the way, it can be flushed in a way that just bleeding the cup or nipple cannot accomplish- and my favorite: an easy way to drain that small amount of hot water from the pipe on a hot day so the chickens have access to the much cooler water in the container.

Good reasons to have a drain at the bucket itself include a way to remove water without ever lifting the bucket that is attached to all the PVC pipes. To me this became especially important for the waterer inside the coop- being able to control the draining water is important to keep bedding clean. On a hot day like we had today, being able to drain the warm water into a dump bucket was SO much easier than trying to lift the whole set-up out of the coop and drain it without tweaking anything. This includes my back AND all those waterers, pvc connections etc. Having a ball valve allows you to turn the draining water off, so if you can't lift 5 gallons, you can just drain the amount you can lift, dump it, return, drain etc.

An edit: ** I'm adding one more good reason for both drains, but especially an end of pipe drain for outdoor waterers. Eventually many of us face the winter issue of water freezing. If water freezes in a PVC pipe it will expand and it could crack the pipe or fitting. Empty pipes don't have this problem. If there's a drain at the end of each pipe, you can be sure of emptying the bucket and all the 'arms' without ever lifting the bucket and trying to invert the whole system. **

I like to have both the drain on the end of PVC pipes and at the bucket because the $2.50-$3 per valve installed at the beginning will save lots of awkward bending and lifting later. (learned the hard way)


1st, a Uniseal (backside shown) next to the 1 1/4" hole made with a hole saw. To the left you can see one already in place. No caulk, tape, glue- nothing.


For anyone not familiar with a hole saw, it is an attachment to a regular old drill. Search "1 1/4" hole saw" at Home Depot, Lowes, or Amazon- some say "with arbor" or "with mandrel" - do make sure it has the stem that attaches it to the drill- from the picture you'll see if it comes with the normal hex that fits into the power drill. I don't think I would try and cut this hole by hand.

The bucket hole for Uniseal-- both 1/2" PVC pipe and 3/4" PVC pipe is 1 1/4".



Next picture: Uniseal on the left has the 3/4" pipe that feeds all the poultry cups. Uniseal on the right will become the drain with 1/2" PVC.


For outdoor system drain, I just use a straight piece of PVC and a ball valve. The end that fits into the Uniseal is on the right- no glue, no caulk, no tape, just the pipe.
The piece in my hand is the "1/2 in. PVC Sch. 40 Slip x Slip Ball Valve" -- "Slip x Slip" just means there are no threads inside so the pipe just slides in after it is glued.
I used purple PVC primer and Wet/Dry PVC glue any time I'm connecting PVC pipe to any connector- elbow, ball valve, whatever...


Then I slid the 1/2" pipe side (bare pipe, no glue) into the Uniseal opening, and voila! a bucket drain.
While glue sets, I like to leave the valves open to allow air flow.
Below you can see part of the 3/4" pipes with the same kind of ball valve at the end.
A quick note here- I just happened to have a bunch of 1/2" PVC ball valves hanging around along with the do-dads that allowed me to attach a 3/4" pipe to the smaller, 1/2" ball valve.
The very simplest way to add a drain to the end of a 3/4" PVC pipe is to get a "3/4" in. PVC Sch. 40 Slip x Slip Ball Valve"


The red bowl below is one of those fountain type drinkers. This particular one leaks like nobody's business but I used it while waiting for more poultry cups to come in the mail. Now that they're here, I will convert it to the poultry cups.




Now for the inside waterer:

To me, having a controlled drain inside the coop is more important inside the coop to keep bedding dry.

Pictured below: Supply bucket, left side is the supply line to poultry cups which ends with a blue-handled PVC ball valve. This pipe drain location is temporary while waiting for more cups in the mail- obviously a corner dead ending to a 2x4 isn't a good spot for a pipe drain. A shallow bucket would be needed to catch water draining from the PVC pipe inside the coop- so good for flushing a small amount here and there, but the primary means of cleanout is from the bucket itself. On the right side is the bucket drain. (off-kilter because the bucket was empty for this picture)




For an inside bucket drain, I add a 90 degree elbow to the set-up so the drain is pointed straight down into the dump bucket. This can be done outside too.
Here it is in action:





Anyways- hope that helped, any questions, let me know!

 

[Coop de Grass]

Sounds like our cat Mistletoe Snowman Santa Claus (named by our three year old daughter just before Christmas).

On the subject of chickens be aware that some breeds are very broody and will brood much more than they lay. If you want to hatch eggs this is a great thing. If not there will be arguments over nest boxes and less eggs than you perhaps would like. You can break the broodiness but this is not a long-term fix. I have a bantam Wyandotte who lays for 6 weeks then goes broody for at least 6 weeks and takes 2-4 weeks to recover before she's laying again. I let my Old English Game bantam hatch eggs the first time she was broody. She was fantastic and got back to laying quickly, only to go broody again a month later! I'm going to try giving her some chicks to foster.

Mistletoe Snowman Santa Claus sounds wonderful!

I've had a Buff Orpington hatch a clutch of eggs, and managed to slip some day old chicks under her. It was very successful. Then I had bielefelder hen go broody, and managed to break her of it by removing her from the nest box endlessly. It took a couple of weeks for her to start laying, Then, a month later, she went broody again. This time I put some eggs under her and she started to get off the nest after 3 days. She is not a very good broody hen! If she goes broody again, I may just slide some about to hatch eggs under her. I've heard that this works and that hens don't know how long they have been sitting on the eggs!

Thanks for the info!