I need some help

[slystr]

I am having a really hard time coming up with a coop/tractor design for my chicks. Ultimately I will have 4 Delaware hens ( I hope that's what they are!) but will have 10 babies untill they are about 8 weeks or butchering age. I live in Dallas in the city and have a backyard. I need some kind of simple containment unit like a tractor rather than a formal coop. Honestly I don't have the carpentry skills to make a coop. I know I have to provide the hens with a nesting box, a perch and shade as well as protect them from predators. I've looked at the hoop houses and they look like a good idea except I can't find cattle panels around here, nor can I find rebar that is long enough to give me a 6 ft. hoop height( I want to be able to walk into the coop to clean it.)
can anyone help me or are my ramblings to vague?

 

[joanna]

Have you tried the pet stores (thinking petsmart) to see if they have a rabbit habitat (try this link to get an idea http://www.ferretstore.com/wa-01503.html) you could just build a ladder to help them get inside and put som run around it so they can be outside. If you've got big $$ to spend, try looking for an eggloo (google it, should be easy to find), it looks like a dog house...which would also work for a small number of hens.

are you planning on doing the butchering? I only ask because the first couple times it was HARD to do, now...no big deal.

I grew up in the dallas area (N Dallas) so I'm trying to think of feed stores where you could just get 4 delaware hens/pullets.

I'd try PVC to make the hoops for a run if it were me, rebar will be really hard to bend.

I guess you've already looked at city ordinances to make sure you can have chickens, right? a few hens probably wouldn't bother anyone, but occaisionally a hen will start crowing. I've never had that happen, but I've heard stories about it.

good luck and enjoy your girls, once you get started, you'll want more!

 

[allen wranch]

Look at some of the ideas in our BYC coop section.

You can also find some good small coops and tractors at the City Chicken. There are some on the main page, then scroll down to the tractor section.
http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/