Tracy, I am trying to find the link but can't locate it. I think it was a chapter from a very old book, when everyone had chickens. I just followed the instructions and built one like it said but modified the height of the opening a little by shortening the leg length. If you want measurements, I will have to get those tomorrow, but roughly 2x3 feet and maybe a foot and a half tall. The article called it a chicken hover as I recall. You could use it in any small pen. We just used it in a cage which had a wire bottom, but we put a piece of thin plywood on the wire so air didn't come up through into the area we had the hover. The plywood we laid in the cage was five or six inches larger than the box on all sides, which looked like it had a wrap-around porch. The hover is basicly a plywood box turned upside down. I used 1x2 in the corners and left them longer than the plywood sides. This created legs (on the open side of the box) for the birds to come and go as they pleased. We bought two of the cheapest kind of light sockets for a couple of bucks and mounted them on the ends of the box a few inches from the solid top as not to be a fire hazard. We wired in one light, then ran the cord across the top of the box on the outside and over to the other end. I don't even think we bought new wiring and a plug to run from the box, but instead used one from a lamp or something we were discarding. The lights created an amazing amount of heat in that box but since the sides were open all around they could move in or out as they wanted to. Some would be just under the edge so part of their body was under, but not all which is why we used a bigger piece under the cage. Almost all of the time, one bulb was plenty and we just unscrewed the other one. If we had a lot of wind, then we just placed a board on the side with the wind and left the other three sides open. They quickly learned to move in and out based on how much heat they wanted. Since I had scraps of plywood and 1x2 (or maybe 2x2) and screws, the only thing I had to buy were the cheap light sockets and Al wired it. I bought the plain ones, but you could use the one with a pull chain and not have to unscrew the bulb. The most critical measurements were the height of the legs so the chicks could walk under, and the height of the box so the bulb wasn't too close to the top but high enough that a chick couldn't touch it. You want the bulbs mounted on the end pieces, not the top. I made mine with legs shorter for the tiny quail, but I could use the same box for chickens, by lengthing the legs. I was going to make a drop down side or curtain to block wind, but my DH thought I was complicating it to much. Actually a piece of 1x4 on it's edge worked just fine. I just left it in the cage and moved it back and forth as needed. I know it probably sounds really redneck but it didn't look bad at all. A little paint would have made it look even better. I am probably a little off on the measurements but it had to be narrow enough that we could move it through the cage door. We didn't lose birds after we built it even when the weather didn't cooperate. It was one of those simple things that worked great. Since you are starting yours in the summer in Arizona your problem is probably too much heat instead of not enough. Spring and Fall are so unpredictable here but with the hover they could go inside when they wanted heat and go out into the wire bottom cage when they didn't. The quail would just stretch out flat under the heat and look like they were dead. Then they would jump up and move around, eat and drink, and go back under the light.

Neatfreaknot, I could not agree with you more about the owners manuals of most FL'ers out there on the market. Most of them just give basic directions for machine use and pay little if any attention to maintenance or even proper machine use. While the ideal material for the outer drum would be stainless steel, it would add a significant amount to the cost, probably upwards of several hundred dollars. Plastic drums are fine if they are maintained properly, but like you just said the manual needs to communicate this to the user. I see more damaged machines from improper installation than anything else, removing the shipping bolts and laying the machine down to transport and attach pedestals often times destroy the suspension system of the machine. Dealers and installers need to do far better in this department. Manufacturers need to do a much better job of temperature control on these machines, Bosch is the only one I know of in the U.S. that uses the heating element in all cycles to reach the target temp and then maintain it throughout the washing cycle. Other makers may do this, but they don't communicate this well if at all in the owner's manual. People have hooked up a Killawatt device to there machines to see if they do in fact use the heater in different cycles, this should not be necessary as this info should be in plain english right in the manual. Another manual pet peave of mine is using fancy technical terms to describe a feature, but then not explaining how it works. A good example is the manual states something like this, Our adaptive sensor technology uses multiple sensors to assure your clothes are clean and free of detergent residues. Ok, so what sensors are used and how does it work? Who knows, it's never explained in the manual. For all I know it's just some fancy words that are used as a marketing gimmick.

OK, I have an issue that does not allow me to purchase without over researching a product. So I did consider a few brands. I really like Miele, and they do have a larger unit. Nothing like the size of these, but I don't think you need something as big as these Samsung units to wash a comforter. Although I keep going back to Miele, the issue of their warranty and the lack of local people to sell and service the units takes them out of the running. I did look into Asko, but the small size and the bad reviews (over many years) makes them just an interesting read. I had a hard time deciding between LG and Samsung. I chose Samsung because of their Diamond drum technology. Although I was unable to find out much about it, it was similar to the honeycomb drum idea of Miele. That really closed the deal for me. I really felt that more manufacturers should have put more into their drum designs and make that information available. Sadly, only two lines have taken drum technology seriously and serious enough to flaunt it to the public. I ended up with the largest Samsung units because of the steam and the internet connectivity. (And frankly the deal I got.) I was hoping that if there was a problem, Samsung could just hook into the machine and tell me what is wrong. I'm not sure they can do that, but they can certainly update the units over the wireless. I would say that I was also impressed with the anti vibration technology. I wish they had explained the difference between the regular antivibration and the upgraded antivibration of these units. I imagine it is some computer sensing thing. I was also impressed with the warranty on the motors and the 2 year warranty. Oh, I just registered my units and got an additional 3 months warranty for registering. Thanks Samsung. I would add an extra year on my own by purchasing with Amex and eliminating the purchase of extended warranty. I looked into Speed Queen because they are American. Solid units but lack the modern technology and efficiency I was looking for. Rough sturdy brutes was all I could imagine from what I could find out about these products. I think the companies do themselves a disservice by not putting out all the information they can on their products. This is one case and point. I went as far as looking into purchasing commercial units, but when all is said and done, I felt that the Samsung units were a better deal. Service and warranty work is much different for commercial than on consumer models. Here is a really cool washing machine I found that I really wanted to get. I have a friend in CA who used to own Laundry Mats. He said, "That's a commercial unit. What do you need a commercial unit for?" Well, it looks so cool and is so well engineered etc. It was too much of a machine for my needs, but I really would have loved to have one. The Crossover Washer. (http://www.laundrylux.com/crossover.html) The world's first small chassis washer engineered to commercial laundry standards for your business needs. I think for the person who wants to have what no one else has, these units would be an interesting choice. Here is some more information on the Crossover: 3 Engineered to be superior to all competitors 3 15,000 cycle machine life design 3 3 OPL liquid chemical injection ports and signals 3 3 compartment soap drawer 3 4 professional wash programs + 2 cycle options 3 Field adjustable water levels 3 Top quality SKF bearings in heavy duty assembly 3 3 seals with 5 lips 3 Professional grade 8-point suspension 3 Pump-drain standard 3 Solid steel counter-weights�no concrete 3 Energy Star compliant The costs were about 2,000 a piece or less from what I remember. Stunningly beautiful beasts these are. They are made I believe by LaundryLux. I also looked at Miele Little Giants. Just amazing little laundry units, but way out of my price range for what I want to spend. I think these are made for people with yachts. These are also stunningly beautiful. The bottom line is I spent months looking at units. For me, with the space that I had and the money I wanted to spend, I settled on the Samsung. I had to use my Samsung units again tonight as the baby had an "out of diaper" experience. Not something for the faint of heart. Loved I could go and select sanitize on the computer screen and choose extra rinses and steams and prewashes and super hots etc. If they had nuclear radiation I would have chosen that too, but as of now, it is not an option on my units. I got a 3 hour cycle and trust me that is exactly what the job called for. I think I'm very happy right now with what I purchased. Look, as long as the darn units stay working without needing service etc, anything you buy will be fine. Again, I'm not happy about having to stand on a stool to see the dryer screens, but it really is not a big problem. The anti vibration on these really works great and the noise level is very good. The calming music the machines play to signal the end of the cycle is still OK with me and I'm not ready to beat the machine to death if it plays that tune one more time. Just if anyone wants to see how these machines do on a soiled white one piece baby garment, here is how it just came out of the washer. I don't think I can believe how clean and white this is. You cannot see where the mess was. I have had experience in the past with my other machine where the white clothing was stained yellow after such an incident. All I used was about 1/4 of the recommended amount of ECOS plus natural liquid from Sam's and a tiny amount of delft liquid softener. No bleach. I did hit it with some Oxy prewash spray before putting it in. Look, I have a laundry upstairs that I am doing. I decided to make it a "sound proof" room because of my experience with my old front loader. It was loud! Probably had gotten worse over the years because the bearings were going. So I double sheet rocked with green glue and put heavy clay on the backs of the electrical boxes. I put in a sound proof floor which I am waiting to tile right now. Well, I did all this because of my fear of the noise I would get from the front load machines. I think had I placed these Samsung units upstairs, the sound proofing would have been overkill. I'm hoping the GE unit I have for upstairs will be as quiet. I bet most of the better machines will be quiet. I think that the other companies caught up with Meile and have incorporated many of the concepts and bring these machines at a value price. Will they last the 20 years Miele says theirs will? I don't know, but these machines have a longer warranty then Miele and they can be found everywhere. This means that your chance of getting service should be good.

Go with a rubber hose. Like the suggestions said, Goodyear or Sears are nice. They do mark up your hands, just rinse off when done putting it away. The alleged non-kink hoses that are not rubber are just super thick and heavy, and have memory which gets annoying when you try and coil them. The key to be able to pull out your hose without kinks is how you store/coil it. Circled like a snake has twist which will eventually lead to a kink. When you put it away, make a figure 8. That way the twist for each side of the figure 8 negates itself. This is how you store reppelling/climbing rope so you can toss the rope bag down the climb and it unravels without kicks/knots. You will be able to grab the end of the hose and walk off without any twist or kinking. There are tons of videos on this practice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6U5BChpMq4