Chickens

 Temperature = 43.5 ºF

The chicks inside the brooder.

We tried different ways to keep them off the food container, but it didn't always work.

This is the first Coop we built.  It turned out to be too small for all the chickens. The light switch has an X-10 dimmer switch that can be controlled from the house.  Also, there is Cat-5 wire that runs to the house as well.  This is connected to a 1-wire temperature probe that allows us to read the temperature of the coop. (The dog is optional and doesn't control anything.)

The chicken coop under construction.

The Coop also has an X-10 wireless camera so we can watch the chickens from inside the house.  You can see the door to the outside, water to the left and food to the right.  There is a chicken standing on the droppings board (white streak across the middle of the screen).

When the chicks were old enough they moved into the new coop.  Astro, the dog, was very interested in them and couldn't understand why he couldn't eat them.

The chickens in the first coop (Photos by Paco Ramero)

A later addition was a new feeder.  This tube feeds into a trough inside. The feed can then be put in from outside without having to open the door.  It is made from 3" PVC pipe.

Some of our chickens.  See the great, white rooster?

Our very first egg, laid on July 1, 2009!

But, the chickens outgrew their old coop so we built a new one. The old coop is at right and the new one is in the center.  Both have access to the 10'x10' covered area.  In addition there is an RV port that is fenced to allow them access to a larger area. The new coop is 8' x 8' x 8'.  The picture was taken 1 week after completion 11/23/2009.

Some of the wiring.  The orange box next to the door has the Cat-5 cable from the house (seen in background) as well as the Cat-5 from several boxes around the coop.  These can be used for temperature or to open the door,etc.  There is electricity for lights, cameras, etc.  You can also see the PVC pipe for an inside waterer. The opening to the right is for the nest boxes.  Below that is one of four vents.  In addition there is a ridge vent in the roof for good ventilation.

The chickens wait for me to finish their new coop.  I'm shingling the roof.  You can see the overhang in front (right).  The holes are for the nest boxes and you can see the vent shown in the previous picture.  The orange fencing surrounds the RV port area.  In the background is winter-melon growing on the stairs.

Ready to move in.  There are 3 perches.  You can see two more of the vents as well as the lights on the ceiling.  The vents have slots on the sides to allow for doors to be used to close the vents. The lights are controlled by the X-10 unit from inside the house.  The screen across the top covers the ridge vent in the ceiling.

View from the inside.  The trash can to the right houses the food, up to 2 bags.  There is a hole in the bottom that connects through a PVC L to the trough you see sticking out to the left of the base.  There is a slide around cover that can close the trough when cleaning the coop to keep stuff out of the food.  To the left you see the perches as well as the droppings board.  Notice that the board extends through the wall.  It can be pulled outside through the opening in the wall to allow for cleaning outside.  Also, under the droppings board is an automatic watering bowl.

The view from the back of the coop.  Notice that there are two fenced areas.  Actually, there are 4 separately fenced areas.  There is the 10'x10' under the overhang in the background (where you can see the smaller coop), there is directly behind the large coop and there is one behind that.  In addition, the area to the right, under the RV port, is fenced.  By moving the gate (see next picture) the chickens can be allowed into different areas.  When one is overgrazed they can be sent to another area to allow the grass to re-grow.  The inner areas near the coops also have 6" of chicken wire buried in the ground to keep predators out. In fact, the small door to the coop can be left open in good weather to allow them to come in at night and go out in the morning without worry of predators getting them. 

The door can be swung to the right to keep the chickens in the protected area or swung to the left (as shown) to allow them into 1 of 2 grazing areas.  The inside area is protected from predators.  To the right you can see the nest boxes.  The tops are hinged to allow for gathering the eggs from the outside.

The view from the front door.  You can see the small door at the back as well as the nesting boxes.  Notice the brackets holding the board at the bottom of the nest boxes.  This can be removed to allow for cleaning the nests. In addition you can see the feeder to the left.  The floor is covered with pine shavings.  They are changed regularly and add to the compost for the garden.  The ugly chicken at the back is a Turken.

We put an old porch swing in the small fenced area to give the chickens something to play on.

This is the layout for the coop.  There are incandescent bulbs to the right and an outlet for a fluorescent light to the left. There are outside lights both front and back as well as several outlets to accommodate video cameras and other upgrades.