Very Confused Newbie With An Existing Coop - keep, redesign, or redo?

[rendezvous1838]

$500 to get power to the coop might be less expensive than building a new one.

You could possibly DIY with PVC conduit in a shallow trench. Maybe a handy person or electrician would do the final hookups for eggs or beer.

Lights, timers and heated water are all really nice things to have.

 

[SnowflakeMama]

Budget? That is so cute. Good luck sticking to it!

We stopped tallying after we passed $1000. I would definitley move it closer to your house first. Maybe you could knock it down and resalvage the wood? There are many benefits to having it closer - peace of mind, being able to see them from your house, shorter extension cords.

I know... budget... but it has to be done. If I'm going to get chickens I have to do it right, and if my DH is going to allow it, it all has to fit very neatly into his very detailed, balanced, colour-coded spreadsheet.

Not to worry, I have an "oops" fund set aside for when I completely blow it.

Still though, you've all brought up excellent points. I don't think we can re-salvage the wood, at least I don't want to count on doing that and then find 1/2 way through demo that I need to go buy a load of lumber because it's not working and I have a couple dozen little girls waiting for their new home. I need to make a decision - am I going to schlep water all next winter? I'm reasonably sure I can put up with that for one winter, but will I want to do it for a second? Probably not, that would be completely against my couch-potato philosophy!

So that would mean before getting chickens I really do need to work out the logistics and cost of beefing up the current coop for only one year's use, versus waiting another year and spending this summer putting together a better, closer, setup - with electricity (or at least the ability to hook up temporarily without much fuss.).

I think it's time to go over all of this with the Big Budget Guy.