A urban coop that turned into an anchor?

[swatskee]

I've been building my coop for the past few weeks (on weekends and here & there)... With the weather we've had here in Cleveland (Rain for the entire month of April) I've been building it in my garage with plans to move it outside... Well, let's just say it got pretty stinkin heavy and I have no idea how in the world I'm going to move it now.

I keep adding a 2x4 here, a 2x4 there, shingles, windows..... really, it's only 4x4' but I can't even move it by myself.

Seriously, I need to move it to the side of the garage AND lift it 32" off the ground... anyone wanna help? Free Beverages!

 

[ranchhand]

Very nice! Hope you can find some helpers!

 

[cbrown86]

If you want to fly me out there, I'll help.

I could use a vacation... On a serious note, beautiful coop!

 

[lisa_anne]

Hey, I am in Cleveland as well. Care to share your design plans? That is exactly the coop I want to build! It looks great! I picked up my 5 birds today!

 

[eggscrement]

i built mine the same way when the time came to move it outside i attached training wheels from one of my kids bikes
to the heavy end then a rope around the base of the lighter side (run end) i put the heavy end up on 2x4s
by tiping it to one side and slidin them under i then screwed the training wheels to the side i left them on the bracket
they were on the bike with i had to add a hardware strap across the bottom to keep them from splaying apart i then moved the coop to its location
with ease by myself

 

[Kudzu]

Tractor with front end loader will do the trick. BTW, nice coop.

 

[ChooksChick]

I use landscape timbers that are fully rounded to roll my coops- fulcrum action to get the thing on the first one by a corner, then the next end...it takes a bit, but once you have it on two (my coops are bigger) you can push it and keep taking the one that falls out and put it in the front...it takes 3 or 4 poles, but you can roll the thing all day long like that.

 

[Weiden Farm]

Get a movers dolly and wedge it on top and move it to where it needs to go. Getting it on the dolly will be the most challange and heavy lift.
When you get it to your location, Go to an auto parts store and purchase one or two mini pump jacks. these are about 8 inches tall.
While the coop is still on the doyy, get the jack under it and start pumping it up, as you start getting it up, start supporting the bottom with blocks. The higher you go, add more support underneath it. When you can no longer lift because the jack is too small, put a block under the jack and start over. It will slowly go up the 32inches.

One jack is enough and you just lift it from one end and then the other. Always make sure that you have support underneath it and keep in mind that it could waddle from one side to the other, so continusly adding the support (a 2x4 or block or something) will keep it from tipping drasticlly. Also keep lifting it all around so it goes up from each end - you don't want a drastic slant.

BTW - it looks good

 

[Patricia Jane]

Quote:
Sounds like a plan to me. Nice looking coop. Very well built. We started building ours in our barn in two pieces then moved it to the area where we had leveled and layed foundation blocks where the legs were to go. Set the legs on the blocks and screwed them in. Even then it took 4 people to move it. Good luck and enjoy. Having chickens is a happy experience.

 

[swatskee]

Quote:
Hi Lisa-Anne (funny, that's my sister's name).. Anyway, you're more than welcome to stop my to see the coop of you'd like... I have a rough drawing, but you can measure everything and create a drawing. If you look at my page here on BYC i have a crude overview of what I have done so far. I've been looking for others in the area that have chickens!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=83109