Hi-Tech Chickens

Did you know that chickens adapt very well to technology? Perhaps they're smarter than we think they are!

After a VERY long wet season, summer has arrived with a vengeance, and it has now been a full two weeks since we've had any rain in our sector of north TX. We can walk across the yard without boots, and Bob has been able to resume his work on the coop.

It was tough to get a picture of the chickens standing in their doorway, but there they are, peeking at the outside world for the first time. This isn't just any door--it is solar-powered and set to open at dawn and close just after sunset. The beauty of this is that it makes it unnecessary for anyone to shut them into the coop at night or let them out in the morning. That meant a lot to us as Bob set this up during the rainy times.

It took a few days before all of the chickens had ventured into the outside world, but now we can watch them from our window in the morning as they race around the coop. We are learning that chickens love to run just for the thrill of it!

With many hours of YouTube watching behind Bob, he has learned about ingenious ways to feed the chickens that helps to prevent waste and minimizes their messing in it. There are some rather clever people out there, and I thank them for sharing their ideas.

Here, he uses a 4 ft. length of 6" PVC pipe and screws it to an 8" cap at the bottom, with a cutout to allow feed to flow out. A chain is attached at the top so that it can be suspended from one of the beams.The end result is that the chickens can't roost on it (which keeps the feed clean), and they can't scatter it easily (which prevents waste). He rigged this up while the rains were still drenching us, and the system has proved to work very well. He made two of them, and to fill them uses up a 20# bag of feed which easily lasts 2-3 weeks before needing to be filled again.

Trenching was a big leap forward, and Bob spent several hours making his grid for the water lines that need to be set throughout the yard as well as to the coop. He's close to having it set up, and it will be very nice to have hoses at strategic places around the yard and at the coop.

Adapting another idea he found on YouTube, he has set up a length of PVC and installed water nipples on it that act in the same way a gerbil water bottle does. Once the water is flowing, the chickens will have hot and cold running water--cold in the morning, hot in the afternoon!

To prevent the chickens from roosting on the water pipe, Bob will be putting a pitched roof on it. It won't be long before our feathered friends will have "tap" water ready at all times!

For now, the "girls" have become efficient composters of veggie and fruit scraps. It's amazing at how fast a watermelon rind can disappear! It won't be long before we'll have our own egg supply, and we are looking forward to that day!