The Third Door

On the coop.

Can a coop have 3 doors? Apparently.

(hr tag goes here, in the old days)

Okay, so, it's been almost a year?

yeah, well, , , For one thing, the last 3 or 4 posts I made here disappeared, and that was disheartening, as I am unable to re-compose something once I've finally finished it. One of those posts was all about installing the Woodstock Soapstone woodstove, with cool pictures of how I moved that gigantic monster off the truck and into the house on my own. I was quite proud of that. Buddy of mine used a crane to move his. :)

Anyway, A lot has happened, T moved in, we put up a greenhouse, I took a job, then moved to another job which I like better, and so on.

But today's topic is chickens, , again.

The Box Arrives!

So, I should have done this a year ago, but I finally up and ordered a "Pullet Shut" door for the coop from the good folks at www.chickendoors.com. Seriously, with a name like that, how could one go wrong? I looked a lot of designs, and ideas, concepts, and this seemed like one of the best thought out products out there. Sure, there are plenty of DIY approaches, most of them good, and some of them really over the top, using Arduino controllers, and all that. All that indecisiveness I was experiencing by not being able to decide what was exactly the best approach has had me going out to the coop at least 2x a day, with very rare exception, and causing me endless angst in the form of waking up late in the evening wondering if I really locked up the coop, imagining horror scenes of our little coop being transformed into a abattoir run by psychotic murderous raccoons in a blood frenzy. Anyway, a friend up the valley a little ways lost some of her birds to raccoons a little while ago because she didn't get home in time to lock them up for the evening, and that was that. I needed to deal with this, and share it for others, so that others can learn, and make their own call.

Open the box!

And it's just like Xmas! Lots of packing peanuts to get all over the "shop" (aka, living room).

What's in the box?

The door. Solid aluminum frame, solid aluminum door, what seems like a worm gear drive motor, brass hinges, and controller. I also opted for the 'electric eye' (remember those?) daylight sensor. I'm honestly skeptical about this function, but they assured me that it 'just works'. So, we'll see.

The open door

The instructions say to open the door, you need a 12v source, which is true. I used a battery charger. Gotta open the door to mount it.

So, the task begins:

existing door

So, the old door was actually spot on for width (11") which was nice. I had to frame in the top and bottom a bit for a good fit. This door has served well, proven to be pretty raccoon/opossum proof.

Skeptical Chook

So, with a bit of framing, the door is installed. The chooks, otoh, are not sure about this, no, not sure at all.

Now to hook it up.

Charge controller

So, this is the old charge controller from the original Solar Powered Chicken Coop. It has served me well. I've been pestering the folks at Midnite Solar to make a similar utility mppt charge controller for a while now, and it looks like they might do it.

It has a tap for load, as well as the PV input and battery. At some point, I'll add an actual load center, as I just inherited a bunch of marine grade DC load centers surplus from the Nomadness refit. At that point I'll add a small inverter, as well as some work lights. But, seriously, it is just a chicken coop. A small inverter would be handy for working out on this end of the property. Anyway, ,

Done, , sorta

Well, some more wire management is clearly in order. If you click on the pic for a larger image, you can see the sunlight sensor up on the ridge. Further, you can see the massive overkill PV panel mounted on the low storage roof.

Anyway, that's it for now, we'll see if it works tonight.

Parting Shot

In closing, This 3rd door was built to the tunes of Dan Reeder.
So if you want to click on the images for a better view, you may also listen for a fully immersive experience, you must imagine the delicate olfactory essence of chicken and the heat of the day.

 www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBaSTozYLdI



Update:

It's night time. Fireflies just came out, Chooks have been roosting for some time now. Long days, they head in early. later in the year, they are out 'till dark. Just as advertised, soon as the fireflies came out, and the bats sortied, the door closed. It stays closed for 1 minute, then opens for 10 seconds, then closes for the night. Just in case some recalcitrant hen doesn't want to go in just yet.  

I noted that's been less than a month

since I last posted! Hooray!

So, these last few weeks since the last entry, few things have changed, but they've been a good few things.

Big Dummy suffered from my doting attentions in a bad way. Last month I had done an annual maintenance including taking the bottom bracket apart and repacking the bearings, and it appears that
I didn't bother to tighten the pedals when i was done.

So this:

Which is the stoker side crank arm,

Turned into this:

Because I didn't tighten the pedal, the pedal threads stripped out clean. This was pretty sad. tandem style crank arms aren't exactly off-the-shelf items most places. After casting about for quite some time, it was of all things, Amazon to the rescue. Whoda thunk?

So, after getting Big Dummy back up and running again, I was able to think clearly. Having one's car deadlined for a while can be pretty upsetting for folks, but I was surprised at how crippled I felt without my bicycle at hand. Anyway, it all ended well. A wee bit more broke, unexpected expenses and all that. But no matter.

Attention got turned to the bedroom, as there was an outside chance of guests for Ag Progress days. Was my hope to get the bedroom more or less done. Didn't happen, but the ball got rolling anyway.

The drywall actually got beat up from the time the room was acting as a woodshop. The chicken coop project was a big help in moving the woodshop out of this room. Some time spent patching drywall, and repainting the ceiling, then finally deciding on a wall colour. Again, using milk paint. Figured out how to get a decent mix. The trick, use a flour sifter to add the paint to the water while mixing. Don't end up with a bunch of chalky chunks in the paint this way.

Then laying to floor begins. This went pretty well, I ran out of supplies just shy of finishing of course. Was a bit smarter on this floor and generated a lot less waste than before. Of course, this floor is straight forward, no tricky cut-ins required.

I am out of that really nice sassafras, but I did have a few pieces of sassy that had been epoxy coated. So, a few hours with the belt sander, and I had some more sassy without an epoxy coating. The finish doesn't match the rest of the addition, but it will be fine. I really like working with this stuff.

This window is a crazy old (70s?) Pella from the ReStore. I think I paid about $50 for it. If you REALLY want to open the window, you can really open the window.

Next up, completing and finishing Eagle Spirit Door. taking classes in the old school.

With some help from some new old friends from the ReStore. A bit of effort and these old planes are performing pretty well.

The hand-rubbing with the Formby's begins. Sanded to 250 with the old makita power block, the rubbed with 0000 steel wool, then tack clothed, over and over, and on with the finish. This goes on for days.
I am really impressed with folks who can make a 'real' door. These things are a lot of work, even done the chipper way.

Not sure how I'm going to do the baseboards and the trim for the rest of the windows, as I am now out of stuff I've been using.

And I can understand why folks go with pre-hung doors and 'clamshell' but seriously, is it really worth it? I know, it's just a door. I'm not a great, or even a good carpenter, but if it's something you are going to have to live with, it seems worth it to me.

or rather, last month at Cold Comfort

or rather, last month at Cold Comfort,

It seems I didn't do much, but I suppose I did although I didn't take all that many pictures.

The guest room bathroom is now functional. Cutting the flooring in around the Tardis (shower stall) proved to be a bigger challenge than I expected, and I expected it to be pretty blecherous. I've not yet figured out how to do the final trim around the shower base, as so, I've not taken any pictures of it finished. But it's really nice to be able to take showers again.


Final install of the NSF certified Sun-Mar NE composting toilet was a big leap of faith, I gotta say. Tracey was up over the weekend when we finally 'commissioned' the toilet. I shan't go into details, sparing everyone that undignified bit, but in the end, it's been weeks now, and I can happily say,
No Smell! yes! it works!

Some reading on composting, or rather, the seminal work on composting toilets and you may read it online if you choose, as it raises some very interesting points:

\

Click on image for the pdf

http://www.humanurehandbook.com/

Okay, enough of that for now. Interested folks can learn more at that link than they likely ever wanted to know about poop.

And in the mean time, Tracey was planning to head off the Michigan with the grandboys for a week and the question came up about how to tend to the chickens in her absence, which spurred me last week to see if I could get started on realizing what I had been pondering for some time.





So I dug a hole,

Then another hole
And another hole, then another.

Then I shoveled some gravel in the holes, then set some old treated 4x4s I had laying around in the holes,

Tied it all together with some old treated 2x6s I had laying around, and then concreted the posts in. It was at this point I realized I'd missed my dimensions by 3" all the way around (of course). No matter, onward thru the fog.

In typical cold comfort style, just keep adding wood, and try to keep it in the same neighborhood as 'plumb'.

Then out comes the protractor, the level and some scratching in the dirt math.
Umm, , I'm at 40.8 degrees north latitude, , and the base is about 8' and I want a 7' roof line, and so the inverse tangent is, , ah, no wait;
I want sunlight to start hitting the inside just shy of the equinoxes and fill into the winter, then shade out the summer, so, I'm at 40.8, and the earth sits at about 23.5, so, 90-(41+23)= (winter solstice angle) and 90-41 is the equinox, so, more protractor and guessing, ,

Something like this, (I hope)

Roofing going in

I like skylights, and will probably have to sort out some kind of reflective shade panel for the inside during the summer months.

Jacking the door frames, a chicken coop must have 2 doors. I'm sure you know why.

Now, Big Dummy was a huge help on this build. However, hauling sheets of plywood is -simply put- just asking too much. So, , ,

Prius truck gets into the fun.

The strong 3" mis calculation in my initial layout is punishing me at this point. Well, that coupled with my very sad to non existent framing skillz, but it'll keep the raccoons out I think. Which is really the point. I opted for thick T111 siding despite it's cost for a few reasons. I had initially wanted to use recycled materials, such as salvaged pallet planks as siding, but I was under a ever-diminishing time constraint, and I really want the coop to outlast us, so this was really the right choice,

The warm weather window is a framed in box covered with 1/4" hardware cloth. Hopefully will defeat critters that love tasty chicken. And we all love tasty chicken, so I understand the temptation.
The cold weather window will be an old double glazed sliding glass door panel I have laying around.

The sunlight breaks to the west wall at 12 mins before true solar noon. So, I missed on my dead reckoning of true solar north on my foundation layout by 12 mins. Oh well.

Not yet done, but done enough I think. Still have some do-dads (features) to add, but right now, it's time to go fetch the girls first thing in the am. Besides, it's really hot, and I'm done for the day.

Welcome to your new home!

Happy chickens!
I had to explain the nesting boxes to'em. But once they learned about the raised platform and nesting boxes, they were quite happy with the set up.

A very expensive egg!

Some notes:

The coop's internal floor dimension is 64 sq/ft, adding in the roost and nesting box platform, I have a lot of internal horizontal space. Local codes require a minimum of 3sq/ft per bird, so, technically, I'm good for 20 plus. However, codes also limit the amount of birds we can have on a residentially zoned lot to 8. sigh. At any rate, we've got enough floor space to store the feed and bedding in the coop in critter proof containers. And keep a supply of water and such things. Also have room to add a pen for peeps when that time comes, to keep them safe from the nattering old hens. :).

Now, sadly, the local ordinance does not require an outdoor run which basically means that if the coop is properly sized the chickens may end up living their entire lives 'cooped up', making it possible for folks to have those little backyard coops that I've come to call "My First CAFO". Now, folks wanting to accept some responsibility for their own food is a good thing, a win. So, there are certainly worse things, esp for chickens. Even many of those 'my first cafo' set ups are tended to by folks who love their birds, even if they don't let them out, so it's not as bad as factory farming by a long shot. But moving right along, we want our birds out doing their chores and tending to their business of finding and devouring all the bugs, and kitchen cast-offs, fertilizing and renewing the much abused soil, and so forth. So, these birds will be 'free range'.

So, what does 'free range' even mean? Well, here in the US, not much. Seems that about all the USDA (US-Duh) requires is that the birds have to be able to at least see grass from some place where they are kept. The EU however, is a bit more realistic.

The EU defines Free Range to include (among other things) that the grazing area be covered with vegetation and maximum stocking density is not greater than 2500 hens per hectare of ground available to the hens or one hen per 4m^2 at all times. Translated, no more than 1 bird for 43 square feet.

We will be enclosing the coop area in a 50'x50x hard-fence area as materials are available. This means 2500sq/ft minus the coop. Divided up into 6 paddocks in order to be able to rest the ground 5 days to 1 day of use, or more to the point, rest for 5 weeks after 1 week of chicken scratching (which can really put the hurt on the vegetation, believe you, me) that means we'll be able to accommodate 9.6899 birds, give or take. Since we are limited to 8, we're good.

A Solstice update on the insulation scheme

Those few, those happy few, who have followed this blog from inception might be curious what all that crazy stuff I did when rebuilding the addition is doing.

The summer solstice was a nice clear sunny day. This was the highest solar insolation of the year, so it was a good time to see what all that work was worth.

While the day wasn't particularly hot, the sun was certainly clear and sharp.



Folks might recall the exterior walls on the addition are double studded. A wall inside a wall, with no mechanical connection between the interior wall, and the exterior wall. This was intended to cut down on the thermal bridging effect of the wall studs carrying the energy from the outside through the wall studs to the inside, and vice versa.



After the exterior stud cavities were caulked and sealed. Unfaced R19 fiberglass batts were added to the exterior wall cavities. Then the interior stud cavities were closed with 2" XPS R10 foam boards. Then the wall was closed with drywall, blah blah blah.
So, let's see how that worked



This within a few minutes of true solar noon, so the sun is hitting the exterior siding at a pretty steep angle, so the insolation is low. But the siding temp is pretty telling.



And right on the other side of the wall? Not too shabby.



For comparison, this is an interior partition wall, not exposed on either side to the outside. Almost exactly the same temp. (well, as far as my thermal probe will say). So, I'd say the thermal barrier is working, at least from a conduction perspective. The inside temp, absent any energy forcing, will equalize with the exterior. But what it's not doing, is adding much temp.
Okay, now for the big stuff.



Folks might recall this major headache. The roof is a standard 3/12 pitch asphalt shingle over decking truss roof with ridge vents. I added 1/2 foil faced polyiso to the ceiling cavities leaving a 1" gap between the underside of the roof and the reflective face of the polyiso. The idea was to trap the radiant heat from the underside of the deck, and create a convection current that would carry that energy from the under eve soffits to the ridge vent, without heating up the low attic space. A radiant barrier.




From there, along the low wall edge, added 2 layers of 2" XPS for R20 right over the wall, then adding unfaced batts as space permitted. Going from R20 to R40 in very short order.



Then to R38 unfaced. Then I closed the ceiling with paper faced R12. I'm hoping for R40/R50 on average across the ceiling/roof. So, let's see what we got.



With 20 minutes of high noon, this is the temp of the roof.




There's a small section of roof that is still shaded by the nice shagbark hickory. Now I know that cleaning gutters is kinda a pain the neck, but for those folks who think that having trees over the house is a bad thing.
Anyway, moving along, ,



This is the temp under the lip of the ridge vent. This is as close to measuring the temp of the air coming out of the attic as I could measure.




This is the underside of the ridge vent. The color of the ridge vent itself is adding some energy. In the winter, this extra heat should help force the convection.



This is the temp of a roof truss above the radiant barrier. This should be pretty close to the ambient attic air minus the radiant aspect.



And this is the temp of that same roof truss below the radiant barrier. All in all, I'd say that thin little piece of polyiso was well worth the time, money and effort.



And this is the temp of the ceiling below the area measured above. This incorporates the effect of the insulation batts. All in all, I'd call it a success.

Again, I'l stress that insulation merely insulates, the inside and outside temps will equalize given enough time. But I'm not adding much heat from the structure itself, and I'm slowing down the heat of the day by a pretty fair amount.

It works.