A portable coop, but not a tractor?

[txchickie]

This question is for my sister...she desperatley wants chickens (oh what have I started

) but they will only be in the home they live in for another 6-12 months or so, until they purchase a house. It is a rental, but very rural and the landlord is great, has no problems at all with them having chickens and whatever they need.

She doesn't want a tractor, but a semi-permanent coop that can be easily taken apart and moved to their future home. We figure the run should be fairly easy to take apart, but the coop has us puzzled.

She sees my coops and they are all built with 4x4 posts concreted in the ground, that would obviously not be very portable! Is it possible to build 4 wall panels of some sort that can be the 4 walls of the coop, but also be able to be taken apart and layed down flat for moving? We don't need built in nests or anything complicated, just a safe shelter. We live in a VERY windy area (3rd windiest city in the US in 2008

) so any sort of tarps or flimsiness is not an option.

Is this even possible? I want to help my sis

 

[thinmantis]

I am working on a project for school that might be of interest to you. I am working on designing and building a chicken coop that is made within a 55gal barrel. The idea was for this to be designed for urban areas with more space constraints. because it is all contained in the barrel it is modular (additional barrels can be added to accommodate more chickens) and easy to move around the yard or to another home.

Here are links to the brochure that I am working on. Please give me any feedback that you might have.

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/580/chickenbarrelinstructio.jpg
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/580/chickenbarrelinstructio.jpg

 

[elmo]

She could try a hoop coop, like this:

http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/prod1;ft1_coldframes_hightunnels;pg105148f.html

Instead of anchoring into the ground, you just attach the pipes to baseboards, and you attach your hardware cloth with zip ties that are simple to unzip when you need to disassemble your coop for moving it.

People make them out of pvc pipe, too. Just do a search on this site and you'll find lots of references.

 

[foweler]

My coop isn't easily portable but I did build in a friend's shop and then we trailered it to my backyard. We did it with a handtruck on one end and a furniture dolly on the other. I screwed 2 x 4s across the 4 x 4 legs to give something to rest on the dollies.

I later moved it to a different part of the yard where the dollies wouldn't roll but with a guy on each corner it wasn't too bad. I did take the door off to make it that much lighter.

Then I built the run and I wouldn't say it comes apart easy but I can remove it and move with some help if I chose to. The wife isn't happy with the coop and run being the focal point of the backyard and would like to do some landscaping so I will probably move it.


Here's the coop a few days after bringing it in the yard ( and adding the window):

And here it is after moving it and building the run:

Not too pretty but it's not concreted in and can be moved. You can see my wife's point I'm sure

 

[patandchickens]

I guess the first and biggest question is, how many chickens does she want this to be for?

It is definitely do-able, and if you can give us an idea of size (#chickens) we can make some suggestions on what your options are

Pat

 

[Zahboo]

I figure have the roof held down by screws and have the walls held down by screws. Take off roof and then walls. Then you could have the bottom setting on cinder blocks instead of set concrete?

 

[CoyoteMagic]

That barrel one is interesting.

 

[daisy_dukers]

My FIL built my 8x12 coop in 7 pieces and put it together on my property. Pretty easy as long as you have some buddies to help with the pieces.

 

[Kotiya]

We made one of these:
http://4hpoultry.osu.edu/HoopHouse.htm
I'm able to drag it around (slowly) even though its really heavy. Ours is sized to fit on a trailer so we can move it whenever it might be necessary. It was pretty easy to make and didn't cost that much either.

 

[txchickie]

I would looove to do a hoop coop, both for me and for her, but the wind here is atrocious, it would literally shred even the most expensive, heavy-duty tarps

Plus it would be blown away and we would never see it again. I envy all of you with hoop coops LOL! I reeeally want one.

She has no chickens yet, I figure I'll give her a few of my sweet bantam girls...maybe 5 bantams total? Or she may want to order chicks, either way, no more than 5 or 6 (but we all know how that goes

) She def. wants bantams though.

The barrel house is really neat....we have several white plastic barrels behind the barn, I may have to experiment!



Quote:
I talked to my DH and he said he'd help us frame some walls and get them set up outside and he'd figure out some way to anchor them to the ground (bent sucker rod or cables and i-bolts burried 4ft....totally serious, the wind will demolish it if not), and then we'll screw the roof on and anchor it somehow, too.
I just didn't know if it was possible to do it and it sounds like it is!

Now I want one of those barrel houses!