square cattle panel coop?

[Ariel72]

I've been thinking about trying to build a square moveable coop using four 4 ft X 16 ft cattle panels lined with chicken wire. I may also have a chicken wire skirt around the bottom to deter digging by predators. There will be a tarp across the entire top and the back and part of the sides will be covered in tarp. The corners and top will just be attached with plastic ties or wire. I'd like to move it everyday because the chickens will need to be in it most of the time. I have 23 hens and 2 roosters. Is this big enough?

Do you see problems with this design? I seems like it would be easy to build. A possible downside I see is that it could be too heavy to move by hand. Two people may be able to do it. Another possible downside could be water pooling on the roof. I could combat that by either standing under it and pushing up the roof to get the water off or by poking a hole in the low part to drain the water.

Do you think it would be possible for the wind to blow it over. I thought I'd look for used cattle panels on CL to keep down costs.

 

[BarefootMom]

I think it will be too hard to move daily. How do you plan to secure the panels? Fence posts? Are you going to dig them up each day? Why do you feel the need ot move it every day? Why not just make a pen for them and let it be?

 

[sawmane1]

You should probably give them an actuall hen house too, for them to lay there eggs and to keep warm( were you going to do that?) But all in all sounds good. Just remember those cattle pannles can be pretty heavy! Good luck!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
a) rotsa ruck getting a 16x16 tarp not to sag to the ground, and when it rains (at all) it'll catch water and collapse the whole thing onto the chickens.

b) unless you have an absolutely predator-impermeable fence around this whole thing, and darn few fences are *that* predator-impermeable no matter waht their owners may *think*, predators such as raccoons will simply rip thru the tarp at night and eat yer chickens.

c) you won't be able to move it very well, it will flop and distort and drag REAL bad all over the place.

If you want to use cattle panels I would suggest a hoop-style coop, you will not be able to make it nearly as big but I suppose you could make 2 that 'dock' together with doors that mate to enable chickens to use both when they are properly parked; or just do a permanent run; or make a mobile henhouse and use electronet to rotate around (be aware though that electronet doesn't help vs hawks or chicken escapes, and doesn't do well with high winds or ice or snow, and is a lot of maintenance to keep it working properly)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[HLAC]

I used two cattle panels for my hoop house. I bent the panel over and attached the 4"x4" runners. There is 3/4" marine plywood as the backwall. I wanted it to be heavy so that it wouldn't blow over in our strong winds. I can move it by hand.... just barely. (I use a tractor to move it)

I 'winterized' it by putting up more plastic around it and some additional plywood. 'Cept for the last major blizzard we had (70 mph winds) it did fine. I had to bring the chickens into the garage during the last blizzard because some of the cheap zipties I used failed in the gale and snow started filling up the inside.

I'm going to build a permanent coop for my layers but I like the hoop house to grow out birds.

some crummy pics of the cattle panel hoop house

 

[HLAC]

Here's the 'winterized' hoop house in the last blizzard... before it got bad and before the tarps let loose.

It's pretty ugly with the wood and plastic all over it. Other than that storm, it's done well. I don't heat it and the hens don't seem to mind.

 

[Ariel72]

Quote:
I thought cattle panels would be stiff enough to not need posts. I can see I'm going to need to rethink this though. I wanted to move it every day so I could still have pastured eggs without the hens getting into so much trouble with the garden and neighboring farm fields (and my flowers). I could also move it over the hay field to fertilize it. I have a permanent coop but it gets hot in the summer. I'm probably just better off building a run for now that I can close at night to keep every body safe. Would probably be cheaper too. I don't think a hoop house would be big enough but I'll keep looking into that. I think Joel Salatin has big hoophouses.

That's why I love this site. All of your real world experience is invaluable!