Another coop question

[SandraMort]

C. and I have been trying to plan out our coop in our heads. It's going to be outside and not near the house, making cosmetics unimportant. But the thing's only going to be four feet tall and fairly heavy. I'm trying to figure out the hygeine involved. Sooner or later, it's gonna need to get cleaned and I may be short but 4' is too short even for ME.

I was thinking of putting wheels on it and just rolling it forward a few feet each day once the birds are let out to range, to avoid having to clean it. But as I said, it's going to be heavy. What kind of wheels will support a solid wood structure made with at LEAST sixteen pallets?

Siiiigh. Can you tell I failed shop? Heaven help those poor birds... at least I'm good at the feeding part.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Er, to answer your question as such -- wheelbarrow wheels would be best. Also fairly expensive and annoying to engineer. Failing that, use the largest-diameter highest-quality lawnmower wheels you can get.

HOWEVER:

This is going to be 8x8 and only 4' tall?

Please pardon my bluntness, but are you NUTS????

Even if you made it bottomless (which is going to be a whole BIG lot less hygeinic than you may think, and extra difficult to predator-proof) you will have to get yourself in there for hygeine or to catch chickens or fix things sometimes, and 4' tall is just going to be horrible for you to deal with.

Also, you are going to have one HECK of a time getting an 8x8 (if I'm understanding that dimension right) solid structure built rigidly and strongly enough that it can survive being moved more than just a few times. Rigid strong construction means a lot more weight. More weight, when you are already on the verge of going to need a lawn tractor to pull the thing, will mean... well, you know

Can't you possibly make it taller. Perhaps a pvc or cattle-panel style arched roof, if you want inexpensive.

Alternatively make it *shorter*, just 2.5' high, with parts of the roof hingeing upward a la meat-bird tractors, so that you can actually step in to access the coop.

Just trying to help,

Pat

 

[Chirpy]

I'm with Pat on this one. I think you need to seriously rethink the size of your coop. If you want a chicken tractor then make it shorter/smaller and easier to move around and easier to step into to clean. If you want the 8x8 size then make it taller (so you can walk in) and a permanent structure. Or, put it on skids at that same size so you can move it around with a tractor or car pulling it. (I have friends who did this... they still find that they seldom move theirs as it's a hassle even being on the skids and being pulled by a vehicle.)