- Mar 25, 2009
- 1,299
- 15
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Because it's so much bigger than a tractor. "Chicken freight train" might be even more fitting.
So yeah, this is it, everything together FINALLY after only, what... 3 months of work? XD Just put the roof on this morning. You can see how the mobile coop sits in the run here, and the people door. Watch your step -- I decided to make the people door not open all the way to the group so that I had an advantage over any chicken who might be thinking about freedom. So far I can hang the door open while I'm feeding them, and they don't even notice that there's a way out. I should probably stop that.
Looking from this direction is the big door. Where's the door you say? it's actually this whole side:
There are no hinges, the whole thing comes off, and is held on with bolts and wing-nuts:
The roof is unattached; its weight holds it in place nicely, and it can be raised or lowered depending on the weather/temperature. I may decide to change that, put on hinges, because it getting blown off worries me a bit. On real nice days, when I can keep an eyes on things, I intend to take it off altogether and let the place air out. You can see the opening here:
And here's the whole thing again from the front with the roof-awning down for rainy days:
Here's a people-door to the coop part of things:
There are two of them; one on the left that goes all the way to the floor for easy cleaning (bedding is held in on that side with a board that's held in place by friction) and the other is up one board width. There's also a chicken door, with it's own littlee rain awning (which I'm going to replace with a better slice of tarp). It, too, is held shut from the inside with bolts and wing-nuts at night:
Here are two shots of the interior:
And I didn't get a good shot of the nesting box. It's on the right; accessible from the outside.
The coop itself is moved by hand, and probably weighs between 400 and 450 pounds. I can haul it without any trouble. It gets pulled out through the big door and put aside when it's time to move, then I move the run with the lawn tractor. The run is actually fairly light, and once I'm close to where I want it I don't need the tractor, but it's really awkward, so we don't move it long distances by hand.
Would I do this the same way in the future? No way! If I'd have know that I'd have to move anything by lawn tractor, I would have just ditched the wheels and built everything as one piece, on skids -- or I would have built a chicken moat for the garden and forgot about it. My plan was to be able to move everything by hand. Ah well! But it does work, and the chickens seem happy with it:
So yeah, this is it, everything together FINALLY after only, what... 3 months of work? XD Just put the roof on this morning. You can see how the mobile coop sits in the run here, and the people door. Watch your step -- I decided to make the people door not open all the way to the group so that I had an advantage over any chicken who might be thinking about freedom. So far I can hang the door open while I'm feeding them, and they don't even notice that there's a way out. I should probably stop that.
Looking from this direction is the big door. Where's the door you say? it's actually this whole side:
There are no hinges, the whole thing comes off, and is held on with bolts and wing-nuts:
The roof is unattached; its weight holds it in place nicely, and it can be raised or lowered depending on the weather/temperature. I may decide to change that, put on hinges, because it getting blown off worries me a bit. On real nice days, when I can keep an eyes on things, I intend to take it off altogether and let the place air out. You can see the opening here:
And here's the whole thing again from the front with the roof-awning down for rainy days:
Here's a people-door to the coop part of things:
There are two of them; one on the left that goes all the way to the floor for easy cleaning (bedding is held in on that side with a board that's held in place by friction) and the other is up one board width. There's also a chicken door, with it's own littlee rain awning (which I'm going to replace with a better slice of tarp). It, too, is held shut from the inside with bolts and wing-nuts at night:
Here are two shots of the interior:
And I didn't get a good shot of the nesting box. It's on the right; accessible from the outside.
The coop itself is moved by hand, and probably weighs between 400 and 450 pounds. I can haul it without any trouble. It gets pulled out through the big door and put aside when it's time to move, then I move the run with the lawn tractor. The run is actually fairly light, and once I'm close to where I want it I don't need the tractor, but it's really awkward, so we don't move it long distances by hand.
Would I do this the same way in the future? No way! If I'd have know that I'd have to move anything by lawn tractor, I would have just ditched the wheels and built everything as one piece, on skids -- or I would have built a chicken moat for the garden and forgot about it. My plan was to be able to move everything by hand. Ah well! But it does work, and the chickens seem happy with it:
