Cattle panal hoop house questions

[Mattsculpt]

If you are familiar with the hoop houses made of the cattle panels please share your experience.

Are they safe from predators like dogs? (With a hardware cloth skirt to stop digging)
Are they sturdy enough to resist high wind?
Are they mobile enough to be moved by one person?
Do you use them for day and night?
Thanks

 

[ChicKat]

Among the variables would be the way the cattle panel house was constructed. If the basis was heavy lumber --- they are generally shaped like skids, (a taper at the end) -- depending upon the one person's strength and the size (length and number of cattle panels) you would probably want to pull it with a vehicle like a 4x4 or lawn tractor. If you were planning to leave chickens there overnight, I think it would also require hardware cloth well up the sides.

Post your finished product if you would be so kind, I am interested to see what you end up with. Thanks.

 

[Mattsculpt]

If I make the hoop house it will all be covered with 1/2 hardware cloth to keep out rats and weasles. I'd use the 2"x 6" base and put heavy plastic garden edging under the wood to help it slide easier.

 

[cva34]

I have seen and made Hog trap out of those panels.Never lost a hog ,they've rolled them down creek bank;made them look pregnant .But never had one fail to hold a wild hog ,caught some close to 300# ...cva34

 

[joan1708]

Have you google "hoop coop"? I have and there are some nice ones that look very sturdy. They look a little too heavy to move around though. I'm making my run out of cattle panel and hardware cloth. I made the frame out of cyclone fence pipe. I framed the doors with old stockade fence wood. You can see them on my page. I think they are going to keep my chickens safe when I finally get them. Good luck with your ccop!

 

[Moogie]

Quote:
Our hoop coop is made up of 3 cattle panels and we may add a 4th next spring to expand it to fit more chickens.

That's the nice thing about them...they're easy to add on to -- just bump out the end and add another panel and extend the skids. (but probably not recommended if you're planning to move it around). I second the comment that it's best to move them with a lawn tractor...they're pretty heavy.

Ours is stationary, since our hens free range (with the supervision of our 2 big golden retrievers) so ours is used 24/7. And here in Texas, our winters are so mild that the HC is suitable for all but a few days. We have a tarp covering it in the winter to keep out the rain and I put up heavy clear vinyl as a windbreak on the west end. Without the tarp, the wind goes right through them. We've had 45-50mph winds with no problems. In the winter, we'd probably lose the tarp before the HC moved (did I mention they were heavy?

)

This winter I added LED Christmas lights that turn on at 4am. They were easy to zip-tie to the ceiling and have really helped with egg production.

We have lots of coyotes out here and have never had any instance of their attempting to get in. We also have a wire apron as you mentioned -- great idea, whoever came up with that.

. We still need to bury the apron - we placed cinder blocks on the edges to keep from tripping on the wire, and now we trip over the blocks, lol. It's definitely next on our to-do list.

Here's a couple of pics of ours...

 

[wava1vaughn]

Hi from GA. I've never herd of hoop houses . I like the idea and will try one to see how i like it.

 

[joan1708]

Nice coop Moogie! But how do you get in and out of it. I don't see a door.

 

[Moogie]

Thank you! The door is at the other end, next to the shipping crate coop - with a Chunnel (chicken tunnel) connecting the pop door to the HC. The door faces west, so I added a vinyl windbreak to that end. I'll try to get a pic and post it.

 

[Mattsculpt]

joan1708 that's a nice looking coop and run.

Moogie I like your setup. How many chickens do you keep in your coop?
Also are your dogs out at night in the yard when the chickens are in the hoop coop? I don't have dogs so I'd need to depend on the coop alone to keep away predators.