Electrified Hoop House???

[farmzoomom]

Quote: buckabucka, isn't a hoop house this size incredibly heavy? Can you move it yourself?

mine is 14x20 all metal pipe frame, and it's so hard to push around on our flat Kansas prairie farm. I have been trying to figure out how to make it easier to move, but am at a loss. If I used schedule 80 PVC conduit, I don't know how I would attach it to the bottom pipe frame that is already there. i have been searching forums for hours to get ideas with no luck.

 

[Peruvian]

My hoop house is 8x10' made out of two cattle panels. I don't think PVC would hold the weight of snow very well. Even the cattle panels have buckled, so I've used a 2x4x8' as a center pole. I doubt you need to electrify it to keep out predators in the winter. Just wrap the bottom 2' in 1/2" hardware cloth and then cover it with tarps. Wrap the front and rear with chicken wire above the hardware cloth.

 

[buckabucka]

Quote: buckabucka, isn't a hoop house this size incredibly heavy? Can you move it yourself?

mine is 14x20 all metal pipe frame, and it's so hard to push around on our flat Kansas prairie farm. I have been trying to figure out how to make it easier to move, but am at a loss. If I used schedule 80 PVC conduit, I don't know how I would attach it to the bottom pipe frame that is already there. i have been searching forums for hours to get ideas with no luck.

We use a tractor to move our hoop houses. To attach the pipe to the schedule 80 PVC conduit, holes were drilled in the 3 inch PVC every 4 feet, to fit 1 1/4" white PVC. The white PVC pieces are about 6 inches long, and cut rounded to match the 3" conduit. The 6 inch pieces were glued into the holes on the bottom and on the side. The hoop fits in there like a hand in a glove. A screw was put through the white PVC into the hoop. Our mobile coop is just beginning construction, but we are using the method described above, which we used for our garden hoop houses. We did not have trouble with snow weight this year, but there was not much snow, and I brush them off when possible. The PVC is only for the bottom skids, all other parts are metal hoops. For the chicken coop, we intend to use aluminum on the north side. The other side will have hardware cloth covered with that really thin clear corrugated roofing (not sure what it is called, DH is the builder).