I hooked up a new watering setup the other day using a 55 gal plastic barrel and auto waterers. My outside one works fine, but the one in my 8x8 chicken coop is being difficult to get adjusted without over flowing. I went out this afternoon to check on my 58 2-4 week old chicks and there was about a inch of water on the floor and everything was a sloppy mess. After slopping out the mess I was going to hookup a heater and fan to dry everything out. I picked up a 500,000 btu propane torch the other day and thought what the heck maybe that would work to dry things out. What a great tool!....if you've raised chickens you know how much stuff collects all over the place. After 3 weeks I had cobwebs of dust and junk hanging all over the place. I used the torch to burn off all the hanging junk and cleaned out the coop till it looked like new again. It took me about 15 min and another 15 to dry out the plywood floor. Only problem was I lit a few of the cornish cross on fire, those suckers sure can run when their on fire!....NO JUST KIDDING! Usually the only time I can ever clean out the coop this well is when it's the middle of the summer and I can get in with a hose and pressure wash everything and then let it dry for a few days. Has anyone tried this? Now don't go out and burn the chicken coop down and blame it on me. I kept the torch on low and if you move it back and forth it won't burn. Wear a dust mask. Also had a hose handy incase something did start burning.

-- Kent in WA (kent@premier1.net), April 13, 2001

Answers

lol roflmao hehehehe gawd i had tears in my eyes from laffin so much...........giggle guffaw snort

whatcha trying to do?? give the ol' colonel some competition? fried chicken!!!!!! what a knee slapper

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), April 14, 2001.

we do our rabbit cages this way [ remove rabbit first, ]as it gets rid of fur mites, but since i dont show my angoras any more I dont get fur mites any more, but it is a good way to get fur and stuff off.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), April 15, 2001.

Kent and Kathy - you are way too funny for a Monday morning!!!! (Ok... afternoon...)

I should think this would be a great way to clean out a chicken coop OR rabbit cages... After all - you would be sure to kill anything that might be lurking unseen that could infect them. I think I will have the hubby do it, though... I might burn down the whole blasted house if I tried it!! Klutz, ya know!!

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 16, 2001.

Well, I tried your idea. It started the chicken coop on fire which spread to the barn which spread to house....my husband had to take time of work to clean up the mess and lost his job and now....my 10 children are homeless...GEEZ,JUST KIDDING! But does sound like something that would happen to us! LOL...anyway, this sounds like a great idea and we are going to try it next week. I'll let you know if I do end up homeless!!!

-- KBall (db0421@yahoo.com), April 17, 2001.

LOL....Ok I warned everyone just don't go toasting any bunnies or chickens. Here are some pics of that waterer that I made. I have the valve adjusted now and it works great. Cost me about 50 bucks total. Nice not having to worry about running out of water if I leave for a day or two. I have room for another barrel, but that might be a bit over kill. I'll have to see how long the 50 gal lasts when we get some hot weather. That is usually about 1 week in late July!

-- Kent in WA (kent@premier1.net), April 17, 2001.