finishing touches...roost ??s (was "building a tractor") PICS

[haTHOR]

and i know the gangplank is too steep. sigh. the people who held the power tools didn't listen to me when i said the angle would be too acute.

 

[patandchickens]

Very nice

The (amazingly

)-steep ramp problem is sort of unavoidable unless you want to lose nearly all your floor area upstairs over that side of the coop. One way to fix it would be to hinge the flap along the *long* side instead of at the end, so it is no longer a ramp, and then set a cinderblock or suchlike on the ground underneath the hole as a 'stepstool' for them to hop up and down.

Have fun,

Pat

 

[haTHOR]

yeah, i said cinderblock too until i realized that that will be hard with a mobile coop. dh has the idea to hinge an extension at the b ottom end of the plank that will just hang down while the door is closed but will straighten our when it's lowered.

 

[patandchickens]

Oh, ok, if this will be tractored around then instead of a cinderblock make a platform or such that is attached to the coop structure.

I actually used a cinderblock with my tractor for the past 2 yrs, though (eventually replaced with a small plastic stool, as being lighter weight). It is a bit of a nuisance b/c you have to remove it to move the tractor but I have survived so far

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[haTHOR]

oh, good idea...so, just make a little "dock" or platform on top of the bottom of the frame nearest the bottom of the hatch (in this pic, just above my friend's kneecap), so that when it drops down the hatch hits the platform (and will therefore be at a much less steep angle?)

 

[haTHOR]

ok, so our plan was to have a 2x4 running the middle of the length of the middle section (4' long), but every dang 2x4 we have is warped. i went to bed and dh instead installed a 4' dowel braced at the ends on crossbars. iirc the dowel won't really work for them--they'd have to cling on to it instead of settling down on the wider plank, correct? i think we should just take down the dowel and let the birds roost on the two short crossbars. here's a pic of one of them. we only have two leghorns (1 year old) coming and i think they can both get on one short crosspiece. it'll be a while before the chicks (1 month old) will roost with the hens so we'll have time to do something different if more space is needed...but when they join the big girls that will open up a second crossbar just like the one pictured.

oh, and the crosspiece is 16" long and 8" of bird space from the peak to roost at the middle of the piece, 6" of space top to bottom at the wall. how much height/space do they need, if crouched down roosting?

thoughts?

also, we put up retaining walls around the pophole. they are 8" in preparation for doing DLM. can the hens get over this? it needs to be shorter doesn't it? or other suggestions as a fix?

finally, see that crack b/t the pophole hinge and the floor? is that a problem?

 

[elliemay0305]

i dont know if you think it would work for you but maybe someone else could use it to. what about buying one of those wooden poles you put in a closet and put one or two of them inside it for them to roost on?

 

[patandchickens]

I think your idea of having them roost on the braces is quite reasonable. PLENTY of room there for leghorns, they only need like 8" or less apiece

As you say, you can always modify it later. And yes, they really do better with something larger and/or flatter, not a 1-2" dowel.

I'm not sure why they built the doorway that way, possibly wrong type of hinges being bought, but it will probably not be a huge deal. You can always fix it later if you decide it's necessary, in various ways ranging from band-aid type fix to going back and doing it right

Have fun,

Pat

 

[HennysMom]

is there any way your hubby can replace the hinge on the door with a piano hinge? It will cover the large gap and open just the same..might work a bit better.

Also - for the ramp - you could reverse a hinge and make a "fold out/pop down" stool/leg type of thing that is attached to the actual ramp. Do you know what I"m talking about? Think fold up attic stairs..(sort of) When you pull down the ramp - (or close it up) the "pop out/fold down" attached legs will come out as well, making it easier for the birds to get in and out, but can be secured when need be once ramp is up. Makes it alot easier than trying to put a cynderblock or stool inside of it.

Nice coop - and welcome to BYC!