Egg-Mobiles

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MotherOfPeepPeeps

MotherOfPeepPeeps

Songster
Apr 16, 2018
283
969
207
Missouri
I have been in love with the idea of Egg-Mobiles ever since I first saw a YouTube video of Joel Salatin's laying hen setup on Polyface Farm. I just discovered five acres of nice level but overgrazed pasture that is available on a reasonable rent-to-own option.

I am trying to crunch the numbers in my head and figure out if a plan that I'm incubating is feasible.

Has anyone here used the eggmobile pastured poultry model with their flock? If so, please tell me about it! How much did you spend on building your eggmobile? How many hens does it house? How often do you move it? How much space do you net off for daily foraging? What is your approximate feed input and cost? What breeds perform well for you using this model? Any details and pictures you can share would be awesome and greatly appreciated!
 
Well I’d like to say I could answer all your questions but I’m still in the beginning phases of our pasture layer expansion. We have about 8 acres of fields behind our house plus another 150 acres owned by my neighbor that will let us use his pastures in rotation with his cows. We currently have 130 chicks that are about 8-10 weeks old and 48 more currently in the incubator. Also have a flock of 13 older birds 1-2 yrs old that reside in our current coop behind the house.
I have a thread on my coop build you can check out. It’s almost finished. I’ll have some more photos to update over the weekend or early in the week. The coop I’ve built has cost a significant amount. I haven’t sat down and counted it up yet but I’m sure it’s going to come in around $3000. Could be even more as I’m sure I’m forgetting something when I try adding up stuff in my head. I Over built it a bit as far as lumber goes. Like having wall studs every 10-13 inches. I wanted it to be strong as the terrain I’ll be moving it over can be rough in a few spots. I quickly blew past my hopes of being able to pull the coop with my atv as it weighs far more than I originally intended it to. Now I’m tractor shopping so I can pull this thing around! Haha.
You can build mobile coops a lot cheaper than I have but I didn’t have to buy any land so I don’t have that big expense to worry about. Having this advantage I figured I’d build a really nice coop with the savings.
We are going to start with 3 164ft rolls of 48in electric netting and see how that goes. Planning on moving it every other day as of right now but will move it every day if need be.
My rough calculations based off how much feed my current flock eats while being allowed to free range gets me to a feed consumption of about 1000 pounds a month. Actually amount will hopefully be a bit lower but I rounded up to a even 1000 to play it safe. I’m planning on buying feed in bulk 1 ton AG bags that I’ll have my neighbor pick up with his tractor forks and load directly into a 1 ton mobile feeder I’m currently working on building. I’ll tow this feeder around just like I do the coop. A 1 ton bag will cost $590 vs over $850 if bought by the 50 pound bag. Plus it saves time not having to fill feeders every day.
It’s a good size investment to get started but I think and hope it will all work out to become profitable in the coming years. Having the land and equipment is the two biggest things that will cost you that’s for sure. The good thing is that it’s easy to scale up and down as needed. Hope this info helped you out
 
adkhunter1590 said:
Well I’d like to say I could answer all your questions but I’m still in the beginning phases of our pasture layer expansion. We have about 8 acres of fields behind our house plus another 150 acres owned by my neighbor that will let us use his pastures in rotation with his cows. We currently have 130 chicks that are about 8-10 weeks old and 48 more currently in the incubator. Also have a flock of 13 older birds 1-2 yrs old that reside in our current coop behind the house.
I have a thread on my coop build you can check out. It’s almost finished. I’ll have some more photos to update over the weekend or early in the week. The coop I’ve built has cost a significant amount. I haven’t sat down and counted it up yet but I’m sure it’s going to come in around $3000. Could be even more as I’m sure I’m forgetting something when I try adding up stuff in my head. I Over built it a bit as far as lumber goes. Like having wall studs every 10-13 inches. I wanted it to be strong as the terrain I’ll be moving it over can be rough in a few spots. I quickly blew past my hopes of being able to pull the coop with my atv as it weighs far more than I originally intended it to. Now I’m tractor shopping so I can pull this thing around! Haha.
You can build mobile coops a lot cheaper than I have but I didn’t have to buy any land so I don’t have that big expense to worry about. Having this advantage I figured I’d build a really nice coop with the savings.
We are going to start with 3 164ft rolls of 48in electric netting and see how that goes. Planning on moving it every other day as of right now but will move it every day if need be.
My rough calculations based off how much feed my current flock eats while being allowed to free range gets me to a feed consumption of about 1000 pounds a month. Actually amount will hopefully be a bit lower but I rounded up to a even 1000 to play it safe. I’m planning on buying feed in bulk 1 ton AG bags that I’ll have my neighbor pick up with his tractor forks and load directly into a 1 ton mobile feeder I’m currently working on building. I’ll tow this feeder around just like I do the coop. A 1 ton bag will cost $590 vs over $850 if bought by the 50 pound bag. Plus it saves time not having to fill feeders every day.
It’s a good size investment to get started but I think and hope it will all work out to become profitable in the coming years. Having the land and equipment is the two biggest things that will cost you that’s for sure. The good thing is that it’s easy to scale up and down as needed. Hope this info helped you out
Click to expand...

Thank you for sharing your your project! I popped over and read your thread. I LOVE your eggmobile, it is adorable and well designed. I hope you will continue to post updates on your progress.
 
MotherOfPeepPeeps said:
Thank you for sharing your your project! I popped over and read your thread. I LOVE your eggmobile, it is adorable and well designed. I hope you will continue to post updates on your progress.
Click to expand...

Your welcome and thank you very much. I’m almost done with it. Should be ready to move chicks in by mid week. I’ll have a new round of pictures soon!
 

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