Two bedroom efficiency, all-electric solar, high-rise, enclosed patio, sunrooms, security fence…

[AJMD429]

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[COSteve]

Just a dot? A bit small don't you think?

Now I see. Yes, the pictures took a long time to load.

[AJMD429]

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Photos slow to upload…

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[AJMD429]

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After our hen count going from 24 or so to 11 in a matter of a week, and the remaining ones too terrified to go in the old on-ground portable coops, we started work on the new coop, and put out a raccoon trap. We caught 14-15 raccoons in three weeks, but of course there will be more (a wildlife rescue place not too far away legally takes, rehabilitates, and releases them on their private property so maybe we have an ongoing influx from there).

I don't think any coons will be able to breach this coop though.

Sadly, our big black rooster, who we called 'BBC' for short......

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....disappeared about a week after all this, and I had just been injured by him (there is a funny story there about what my daughter (who was the nurse on duty) told the ER doc (who didn’t know me or that I was her dad) about 'the next patient you're going to see is kind of odd, and wouldn't give the details, but just said he was injured by a big black cock...' - should'a seen the funny look on that ER doc's face as they were walking into the room to see me and she was just finishing that sentence - he got a good laugh when he realized she was pranking him (and me I guess)... ).
Anyway, I didn't murder him in retaliation. Although his spur penetrated my patellar tendon and entered the joint space (very dangerous injury), I took a ton of antibiotics and it kept me from a septic joint, and I held no animosity - he was only trying to protect his hens. We think he was got by a bobcat, due to tracks we had seen and where he was in the woods nearby within 30 yards of those tracks.

Anyway, we got a new rooster from someone getting out of the chicken business, so hopefully now things will be better on the chicken-ranch.

[Grizz]

patent that thing ! you've just solved the "housing crisis" :)

so many eggs, so little time _ _ _

[Streetstar]

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(a wildlife rescue place not too far away legally takes, rehabilitates, and releases them on their private property so maybe we have an ongoing influx from there).

Rehabilitating raccoons -- its a shame when they turn to fentanyl laced powdered products





--- and in a serious note - sorry about your rooster- it sounds like he lived by the warriors code

[AJMD429]

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He was a real macho rooster for sure. Protected the hens, and herded them into the coop at dusk.

Normally if I slipped up and my body language inadvertently 'challenged' him, he would warn me, and if I persisted, and my hands were busy, he might lunge and try (with only minor success, other than the one time) to spur me in the legs, but I found if I put my hands out to the sides he couldn't deal with two 'threats' at once, so I'd fake with one hand then slap him good up side the head with the other hand, and he'd cool his jets and leave me alone, yet still keep the dogs or other threats away. After a 'slap' he would back off a bit, but still strut and protect.

His replacement needs more testosterone I guess - I did have to give him a slap, but when I did that he ran away and hid for half a day.

Clearly this one needs a 'different parenting style'...

[GunnyMack]

Be careful or he might call Chicken services on you for being slapped... Division of Youth and Fowl Services I believe it's called.

[AJMD429]

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Now, a year and a half out, I can definitely say there are some things I would have done differently.

I may have mentioned that I realized I should have sloped the coop slightly to make it easier to flush out with water not leave residual puddles.

(…geez…this pic is upside down…)

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But the biggest thing is although I was smart enough to know that the galvanized metal would rot, I felt compelled to use it where there would be heavier things like a heated water bowl in the winter, Because the fiberglass roofing panels just weren't that strong. I could have either supported them better or used fiberglass in the construction with a slip on galvanized please to distribute the that I could easily replace every couple years.

One thing that did work well was that instead of putting down to the bottom I supported everything on inch and A half outside diameter PVC, so even if the manure the galvanized metal, it's not going to affect the structure overall.

(… and this one is 90° off…)

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I also should have made the width precisely so that I could replaceable fiberglass panels that would make cleaning much easier versus reaching in there with a hose and scrub brush, because I could simply slide out the panel and then clean it separately; as it is the width is slightly wider than the panels, So although the panels can be slid out and help quite a bit there is still more cleaning to do.

I also should have wired it so that I didn't have to hang lights but would have just installed separate porcelain fixtures for heat lamps when needed, eliminating cords and so on.

(… along with this one 90° off as well…)

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The same thing for the electric fence charger. Solar doesn't quite do it in the winter so I should have just put a plug in one interiorly to the the charger.

I did run electricity, but I probably should have buried a water line at the same time and run a yard spigot right up into the structure. It would have saved carrying buckets of water.

Finally, I think I should have made the ends where they roosted during hot weather not only open from the top but I should have made the ends hinged. I did provide for a gap at the bottom where I can hose out debris or slide out a panel at least.

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The other thing that I did in the meantime was since some of the birds refused to go inside at night and went to roost on a perch of some sort, I was finding that they would roost on the top of a fence line and be vulnerable to owls at night. So I made a separate roosting rail that just has a next box at each end. I will be wrapping the posts electric wire just like I did the support post for the chicken coop. The More claustrophobic birds seemed to use that and it's working pretty well.

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I can’t figure out why some of the pictures turned sideways after I post them and some of them aren’t even in the order that I embed them, but maybe I can sort that out later. Anyway, I just thought it might be helpful to post an update.

[Bill in Oregon]

Dang, that's a serious coop!