We’ve been busy working on Coop #2 — a smaller version of our design. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos handy. I’ll take some tomorrow and post them up. For now, here are the highlights:

• Built out Coop #2. This one went together a lot faster, because we worked though a lot of our problems during the design of the first model. It had (and has) its challenges, but nothing too horrible. This model is 3 feet by 3 feet and 4 feet tall. Two sliding doors on one side (for nest/egg and food/water access), and a special run door. A tin roof like the other model. We’re very happy with this one because it’s very light (probably a 1/4 the weight of the big model). It’s not as super-modular as the big model, but it incorporates the imporant aspects, while keeping the materials price lower.
• Built out a 3 foot by 6 foot run. This is an attachment for the coops. Made of a frame and ‘chicken wire’. It gives the birds more (safe) roaming area. Important for the smaller coop, which doesn’t have much floor space.  We are also making another attachment which allows this to be connected either parallel or perpendicular to the coop. (It will make more sense when I post some photos.)
• Today Evelyn treated both coops, and all their doors, etc, with wood protector. This will help protect the cedar from the elements, prevent rot near the bottom, etc. The units looks great (a nice natural look) and are drying overnight. It took nearly a gallon to cover everything. Cedar loves to soak up that stuff.
• Designed and completed 4 nesting boxes. These are the units which the hens will have their nests / lay their eggs. Looks like a 12 inch square cube, with an open top and side. At first we were going to do these with cedar, but it was too time consuming. Then we were going to try plywood, but it was a hassle. Ended up using 12 inch pine boards. Costs a bit more in materials, but a LOT less in labor. The end result are rock-solid nests that will be very easy to maintain.

Tomorrow we’re going to be working on some alternate versions of doors (trying to make the chicken run doors easier to make), and building out the run attachment. Then we’ll play with the roost setup a bit.

Let’s see, what else… Finished up most of my wind generator (finally). Mounted it on a short post (as a demo), and Evelyn painted everything black. It looks very cool. We’re going to put it next to the coops as an example of what people can do. For example, you could have a little wind generator charge a battery, and use that to drive ventilation fans, LED lights, etc.

In the next week or so I’ll probably be starting two new projects, a solar oven and a solar food dryer. These will be two more “sustainable urban modules” that will make up our product offering, and will be designed so that they can be shipped as kits.